March 26, 2011, Mt. St. Helens

Had a nice day on St. Helens on Saturday. I met a friend from Portland at the climbing register late Friday afternoon, and we drove to the sno-park, cooked some dinner, and settled in for the night. We woke up in the morning to some very wet snowfall in the parking lot, and observed that it had started as rain and was still drying up. We lingered over coffee, then headed up the Swift Trail in a shower of wet tree bombs. We were pretty soaked by the time we busted out of the trees crossed Swift Creek. The snow was drier, with pole penetration from 8" to 12". We found our way to the worm route, with about 10 skiers/riders ahead of us and 10 or so behind. The day's pack was an even mix of skinners and snowshoers, and I noticed no attempt anywhere on the hike to maintain separate tracks. Fortunately, the snow shoes hadn't done much damage to the skin track until higher up.

Visibility ranged from poor to mediocre in 30 minute swings. We could see uphill skiers that were about 30 minutes ahead of us when there was a break, and most of the ridge route back down to where we left the trees. At around 5200', we decided to dig in for lunch and get ready for the downhill, hanging out until there was a good break in visibility. The ski down was buttery. Though I could feel firmer snowpack through the fresh, it was not at all crusty. No sloughing, sliding, fracturing, or whoomping was observed by us or any of the other riders we spoke with. The new snow seemed to bond well.

As we were enjoying our beers at 3:30 back in the lot, the snow was coming down hard (like 2-inch-an-hour kind of snow), had dried out considerably, and was forecast to continue through Sunday. We chatted with others who were returning as well, and it sound like the group that went the highest topped out at about 6700'.

Thanks to the TAYer's who told me a little bit about the mountain and the conditions there in advance. I think having a heads up on the visibility issues helped us be comfortable turning around when we did and having a safe and fun day. Another way to say it might be that having realistic expectations helped us avoid heuristic traps. It was my first time there and I am excited to return for more.