New St. Helens Winter Permit Process 11/1/08

Sounds basically similar to Mt. Rainier, in that federal managers control access to an activity they don't understand and seldom engage in. :

What really, really bothers me is the disregard for families and the focus of a fee on a specific user group.

When I was a kid, we used to climb Saint Helens a number of times in a weekend and a few weekends in a row. My beef with the way this fee is charged is that it focuses on ONE user group and not others. For christs sake, we're hiking! Our impact is very small. Our cost minimal.

And Rainier is not bad when it comes to their user fees. They have improved a lot. You pay once a year and have to register. For a mountain like Rainier that's not a bad idea. Plus they have climber ammenities like a hut at muir and other things they offer. Not to mention it is a much more serious mountain than Saint Helens.

So I'm at a loss for what this fee at MSH offers climbers/skiers? If I buy a lift pass at a ski area, they take me up a lift all day. There is no lift here. The roads are plowed and paid for with funds from sno-park permits. Hikers or snowmos don't specifically pay for anything beyond having a NW Forest Pass. So why the focus on us?

What I fear is every mountain requiring some sort of fee and registering. Every weekend I go out dealing with more and more bureaucracy. Mount Adams is my favorite mountain and it costs 15 dollars to climb now. I've actually paid for it the last few times cause I saw a group of rangers up there with a shovel and doing some work. I respected that. If that fee even goes toward them, I haven't researched. That's the type of ranger I want to see. Not 'ticket rangers' who sit in their car and drive from tailhead to trailhead.

I agree with Jason that MSH is not managed well from a skier's perspective. But the situation detailed in the article linked in the first post seems similar to the situation for the last decade or so (i.e. Nov. 1 - Mar. 31: free, no limit on number of users; Apr. 1 - May 14: $15+$7 fee, no limit; May 15 - Oct. 31: $15+$7 fee, limited number of permits sold). The $7 'processing' fee is different from past years, as is the pickup location since Jack's is gone.

I think everybody here agrees that the 'climbing' fee is crap. My question is: is it worse this year? Here is the relevant section from Larry's link:

During the winter climbing season, which runs from Saturday through March 31, climbing permits are required. They are available free of charge by self-registration.

Climbing fees will be charged beginning April 1. Use limits of 100 climbers per day will be in effect from May 15 through Oct. 31. Permits will be sold online starting Feb. 1 for the April 1 through Oct. 31 climbing season.

Coincidentally, I just received this email from the St. Helens institute today. Apparently the climbing fee goes in part towards a discount on an 'I Climbed the Volcano' t-shirt. I may need to see if I can have my t-shirt modified to say 'I paid to climb the volcano, but avalanche conditions forbid it, I couldn't get my money back, so I ascended to 5,000 feet'. Probably will require a fairly small font.


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Email from the St. Helens Institute:
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The Board and Staff of the Mount St. Helens Institute hope you enjoyed your climb up Mount St. Helens this year. As the climbing season closes, we are offering our 'I Climbed the Volcano' t-shirts at a discounted price of $10.00 each. T-shirts will be available for order until December 10, 2008. These Columbia Sportswear 100% cotton shirts make great gifts for your climbing buddies to help them remember their adventure!

Please copy and paste the link below into your browser to purchase t-shirts:
www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1537452

You can also purchase other Mount St. Helens Institute gear through our website at www.mshinstitute.org .

Have a great winter and we hope to see you on the mountain again next year! Permits for 2009 will go on sale on February 1, 2009 at 9:00 am PST.

Jeanne Bennett
Executive Director
Mount St. Helens Institute

I think everybody here agrees that the 'climbing' fee is crap. My question is: is it worse this year? Here is the relevant section from Larry's link:

I think the other difference is that now between April 1 and May 15 you have to get the paperwork in ahead of time rather than being able to show up and climb.  Of course the 47% increase in the cost of the permit is new since MSHI took over.

Back in the day I was stopped by a ranger and didn't have a permit.  It was in late April and our group should have paid $60 for our 4 permits.  We pleaded ignorance and while the ranger didn't like it he let us go with a warning.  I don't think I would be so lucky any more.

Micah,
The big difference is that we used to be able to CLimb/ ski till MAy 15 by just showing up at Jack's in Cougar and buy a permit the night before or day of. This was appreciated becuase of weather and safety.
Now we have to buy on line for 22$ and the permit is day specific bad weather or avy conditions would cancel one out and then lose your money/

Perhaps, being there is no quota till may 15 Why can't we just buy a one day permit usable on any day for the period of April 1 till May 14th ? Then we could just Use it on a day of our choice. This time frame is perfect for skiers as the road is usually open and the trail is still covered with snow.
Or is that too simple ?
Jason is also correct, what if i wanted to snow camp and ski two or even three days in a row. Would I pay the 7 $ handling fee x3 plus the 15????