St. Helens - 4.26.08

Kyle, Dan and I left Tacoma later than we had wanted to, but still made it to the short turn around about 7 miles from the Climber's Bivy turnoff. We were surprised to find another car there.  Upon waking, we ended up meeting the two other skiers who were making a road trip from Jackson Hole to Seattle, and thought they would try for the weather window.  After discussing some route ideas, we decided to go at it together.  It was a really neat type of trip because we had a variety of approaches.  Reed was a telemarker and Kiel was a skier on randonee, Kyle had his splitboard and I use trekkers.  Dan unfortunately was our only snowshoer, to which I give him MAD props since we covered a great deal of terrain and he kept up really well.  It's a pretty straight forward trip, up and down the western flank/gullies of Monitor Ridge. 

Dan shoeing up...

Stugie

Kiel, Reed, Stugie, and Kyle at crater rim.

Kyle

Conditions proved to be excellent.  The approach had us gaging on the exhaust of snowmachines (none of whom seem to understand what a thumb in the air means...lol!)  The noise was still present almost the entire way up the mountain.  We skinned up through soft, but not mushy, snow.  The top 500vf were patched with windblown, but still made for some excellent turns.  About 1300vf of great turns, another 2000vf of decent fun, and then mashed potatoes.  However, with the company and weather, it made for an awesome trip!  Hopefully, we'll have a couple of TAYer's joining up from WY.  They sounded pumped and very keen on the idea of making turns year round! 

Reed (WY) demonstrates the art of Telemark...

Stugie

Kyle ripping some turns...

Stugie

We made it back to the car - dehydrated, hungry, sunburnt, and worn out.  Cougar offered no real meal deals either - a bar and a small motel restaurant.  I don't think I have ever been more excited to order from the dollar menu at McDonald's.  :-

Kiel (WY) tears it up off the summit...

Kyle

Dan getting some turnage off what we called "the big rollover"...


A big thanks to Reed and Kiel from Jackson Hole for great company, a great day, and for a great bottle of wine!  Look forward to meeting up for some good corn in the future!  Scotsman - nice job spreading the TAY word, global! 

and...don't forget to bring a towel...

1) Towelie at the summit
2) St. Helens
3) Stugie having some fun

[color=Brown]Edited 10:00 pm to add last photos.