Home > Trip Reports > June 2, 2007, Mt. St. Helens

June 2, 2007, Mt. St. Helens

6/2/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
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Posted by telemack on 6/3/07 1:50am
     A bunch of us PWC folks from Kitsap County camped at the Climbers Bivouac Frdiay night; road was just cleared or downed trees Thursday. Left the pavement at 6:15 and it was already warm, but enough haze through the day kept temps not too bad.  Skinning is about done for the year here-too many bare spots on the trail. 
     My only trip up MSH was 17 years ago in a whiteout, so I went for the full experience:  views from the crater rim down and east of where the Monitor Ridge route finishes, then I skinned for the summit cornice.   Ditching my skis on the bump above the rim, I caught up to some friends after the downclimb along the rim and we got our heads above the height of the highest cornice. 
     There was some wierd refrozen popcorny ice atop bits of the surfac snow, but a solid underlayer is formed under most of the surface snow.  I took a 900' lap from the rim on easy-turning corn dodgin som boots tracks, and booted back up just as most of
my crew had started glissading down. 
     Re-lapping my first run I then went right into the bowl below those big cornices W of Monitor, and found the other skiers in our party, Telemon, Greg, and Johns A and K.  they had set off some small hissers below the cornices, but found good turns.  Off with the skis to cross 150 meters of dirt, then we reversed the Monitor ascent path, dodging and occasionally jumping over the glide cracks.   The snow was very consistent down to tree, soft atop firm with little stickiness.  I missed the chance to ski further down the gully right of the trees, which would save anyone a few hundred feet of hiking on the descent.  I met some folks with snowboards hiking up below timberline, one of whom was doing the intermittent snow on the trail in sandals. ???  Then it was back to the with espresso and margaritas in various combos. to ready ourselves for driving or staying another night. 
     Fine weather and company, excellent spring skiing.  One of the best slopes is below the first part of Monitor Ridge.  There must have been 60 folks made it to the crater, but only 4 went to the top and I saw less than 10 skiers.  Next time I'm trading skins for sneakers! ;D

Mack,
Nice trip.  Glad to see the crags released you long enough to do some skiing.  I was really wishing for a belay yesterday with all the security of class 5 rock.  Today, I'm trimming the roses while Chris and Sidnie are off to Interglacier.

Michael

Scotsman is in a way the world's greatest guide:  he drags us out AND pays 8)

Good job Telemack, I know you wanted that one.
How long do you think conditions will last on that route?

  I did not get home until last night, so my report is a little late. Hopefully I can make that up with some photos.

  Saturday's trip was my first to St.Helens, but my 8th volcano since I started my tay streak. Members of our group that have done the mountain multiple times stated that it was the nicest weather that they had ever experienced there, but my skiing buddy, Jon, thought that skiing had been better in the past. I skinned from timberline to the base of the last section. It probably would have been easier to have just carried them like 3 of our party did.

  I choose to ski down with two friends that I have know for more than 25 years. One has had serious knee problems and skis with full braces and the other is a recent convert to teleskiing. I found a few exciting pitches to ski, but mostly I was just hanging out with old friends. Some of my photos and short descriptions can be found  at http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=61&cat=500

Enjoy

Bob


author=Scotsman link=topic=7310.msg29140#msg29140 date=1180969893]
Good job Telemack, I know you wanted that one.
How long do you think conditions will last on that route?


Should be good for a few more weeks up high, above timberline.  That means easier walikng through the woods, and booting/skiing starting below Monitor Ridge.    :)
???But I'm no volcano-meister so I dunno.

  If you enjoy photographic trip reports, you can find my Telemarktips TR here:  http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=35459

Enjoy,

Bob

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june-2-2007-mt-st-helens
telemack
2007-06-03 08:50:21