June 17, 2011, Mt St Helens Worm Flows

Skied worm flows route on Mt. St. Helen's today with my favorite ski partner Sugaree. It was her birthday tour as she turns 5 in a few days. If you were there she was the chocolate lab chasing the skier all the way down the mountain from the crater rim. Snow was continuous from 3000' and the Worm Flows route is still solid. Heading down at about noon I found on descent about a thousand feet of almost ripe corn snow from the crater rim. I took a line on the skiers left for a couple thousand feet then  traversed right for more wonderful corn to finish. The middle two thirds of the mountain was perfectly ripe corn, then a little heavier stuff  at the bottom. Cooking at a higher temperature for a shorter duration might make for a more consistent run, but you can't complain about days like today. I had originally thought of doing Monitor ridge, but as of early this morning the road is too snowy to drive about 3 miles before reaching road up to Climber's Bivouac.  I thought about the extra 12 miles and decided maybe in a few weeks.