June 3, 2003, Mt St Helens, Monitor Ridge

On my way down to Mt Shasta to meet Corey & Cyril, I decided to get in a quick ski of Saint Helens.  I car camped at Climbers' Bivouac and started uphill at 5:30 am.  The trail was skinnable from the edge of the parking lot, but the snow soon became very discontinuous and so the skis eventually went on the pack.  At 4500 ft, solid continuous snow could be found in the gully just east of the Swift Creek Lava Flow.  After climbing up onto the flow, I skinned with ski crampons for about 1000 vft along the west edge of the ridge, but eventually the firmness of the early-morning snow made cramponing on foot an easier course.  I angled left across the upper Dryer Glacier directly towards the true summit, reaching it just after 10 am.  Starting down at 10:30, the upper few hundred feet were still firm on this SW aspect, but this soon changed to excellent corn as the slope rolled back to face SE.  The corn changed to heavy mush by the time I reached the lower part of the ridge near 5000 ft.  Overall, 4200 vft were skiable on the descent, including the final portion of the trail back to the car, but things were melting out fast down low.  I hopped in the car and continued the long drive south towards Shasta.