Home > Trip Reports > April 28 MT. St.Helens

April 28 MT. St.Helens

4/15/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
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Posted by Robie on 4/29/07 12:04am
Marblemount  sno park clear of snow, trail dry up to the highest XC ski trail crossing. plenty of snow on upper mountain. Seems to be a lack of consolidation some clear cold nights would help. The weather cleared and a brisk wind at the summitt rim. No dirt or rocks showing on rim as yet ,still big cornices and people were keeping thier distance. We skied/boarded skiers left of boot track and down through the swift bowl.Back down the trail Jenn went first on her board and smoothed out the boot track for me. First timers Nicole, Jenn and Diana congrats! We also had a nice meeting with Tay Poster "Rusty Knees"
Great day for Mt St H, if a bit warm and sweaty on the way up until west winds took over on the final hump. I was talking to Jenn at the summit about her possible conversion to skis and her Dynafit compatible boots, just before you two went down. I was on Shuksans with Dynafits and yellow Megalights, and the solo skier with a bunch of hikers, including Barkely the dog, who summitted several times without his master, because he knew that's where people eat lunch.

There are some good cracks in the cornice, and a few folks were blissfully unaware.

I went down skier's right. Wind affected and softening at 2 PM on upper 1,000'. Then beauftiful creamy 2" on solid base for another 1,000 or so with untracked areas. Then the rest of the way was completely trashed with lots of soft debris. Some sloughing on steeper east and south slopes. Lots of company out there! Found an ice axe. See Random Tracks post. I went futher west a couple of times and had some interesting backtracking and thrashing in woods and crossing the gully back over Swift Cr at one point, but did manage to beat my glissading friends back to the lot.

author=Robie link=topic=6961.msg27943#msg27943 date=1177859051]
Marblemount  sno park clear of snow, trail dry up to the highest XC ski trail crossing


how far is this?  wondering how long from the parking lot till you reached consistent snow...
thanks

Hey Don!  I chatted with you briefly about your dog on the way up. Glad it all worked out.  Superb day! The views into the crater, and of Rainier, Adams and Hood were all stunning.
Gorp, it is about a mile and a half or so until you hit skinnable snow, with a break or two after that.

Maybe a mile plus or minus depends how much you want to walk your skis on dirt. There are about 3 trees down partially blocking the trail. defintely plan on carrying your skis to the upper XC  crossing. seems like we always get greedy and start skinning too soon then lose time repacking.  Skiing back down the trail is truely is one of the best parts of the trip for me. This time I  shot video of Jenn boarding out in front me as I skied down.


Awesome- looking forward to this Saturday.  ;D  Was the snowpark parking lot open for parking & car camping?

The last time I was down there (just prior to the activity), it was open but I also remember a year where the road was
gated just before the entrance to the snowpark.

Yep all open at Marble mount.no snow there so snomobilers are not there.  Not sure about Climbers bivoauc road. It might pay to ask at Jacks. That route saves about a 1000' ft of climb.
The warming hut has a wood stove and was open. Many a year we went inside and started a fire and slept on top the picnic tables. Bring your own wood.

Road 81 is presently gated, so the start is even lower than Marblemountain snowpark.

Do you need a snopark pass to park there? We are going up Sat. night and will be parking at Marble Mountain. I have a trailhead pass- but not a snopark pass.
What time did most folks start out in the morning the day you were there?


No SnoPark permit required now.
Our group started up at about 7:45 AM. and there were lots ahead of us and lots behind.

We started earlier at 6am . A lot depends on your speed and how much effect the sun will have on the snow. We took about 9 -9.5hrs round trip

Sounds similar to my experience. I snowboard so I snowshoed/hiked up in about 6 hours, hung out for about an hour, then 2 hours down.

author=maryg link=topic=6961.msg28051#msg28051 date=1178152154]
We are going up Sat. night and will be parking at Marble Mountain.


This sounds a lot like my weekend plans.  See you out there!  ;D

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april-28-mt-st-helens
Robie
2007-04-29 07:04:11