May 30, 2011, Mt. St. Helens perfect corn

A little late but a friend and I went up to St. Helens on Sunday, 29, camped at ~4,600 ft. , climbed to the top and then skied all the way to the parking lot from the summit (with a stop at camp).  As of the next day (certainly by now) the snow will be discontinuous right near the bottom.  The Climbers Bivouac is still gated so the bottom was Marble Mount Ski Park.

We were able to skin up the whole way except for the last 200 feet, where the wind had smoothed out the ice too much for skins to grip.  Even the steep sections had amazingly grippy grauple and sastrugi so we just marched right up them.  Being my first time on the mountain, I was disappointed that the views were socked in, but happy that the clouds opened up enough at the last second that I could at least see where I was going.

Skiing: 500 feet of icey firm grabby stuff, 3000 ft. pure OMGWTFBBQ corn, 1,500 of soft to slop to suction cup