March 28, 2004, St. Helens
3/28/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
31630
3
Ryan and I finally got an early enough start to summit something! Camped out on pavement in the lower parking lot (upper lot was being held militarily by the snowmobilers). Woke up at 4 AM. Got on wrong trail in upper lot and had a nice hour long warm up ski before realizing we were headed away from the mountain (trail head is located in northwest corner of upper lot, not northeast!). Finally got on the right trail around 6 AM and started catching up to peaple who had camped higher up.
The path up was easy to follow. Lots of snowshoers. Some skinners. My snake skins weren't cutting it so I opted to risk post holing all the way up. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Summitted around 12:30
Skied some creamy thin wind blown patches from the summit down to about 6500 feet. Then the snow got pretty heavy and wet. No breakable crust though! Found a few patches of really sweet sugary corn on southwest aspects. Skiing got very difficult from about 1000 feet above treeline as the sun was really melting the pack out. Nice wide snowshoe trail made the ski out of the woods quite fast and fun.
Overall awesome day with about 5700 feet of vert! I think I'm in shape now. :)
The path up was easy to follow. Lots of snowshoers. Some skinners. My snake skins weren't cutting it so I opted to risk post holing all the way up. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Summitted around 12:30
Skied some creamy thin wind blown patches from the summit down to about 6500 feet. Then the snow got pretty heavy and wet. No breakable crust though! Found a few patches of really sweet sugary corn on southwest aspects. Skiing got very difficult from about 1000 feet above treeline as the sun was really melting the pack out. Nice wide snowshoe trail made the ski out of the woods quite fast and fun.
Overall awesome day with about 5700 feet of vert! I think I'm in shape now. :)
infamous, congrads on your summit.
Is the trail still snow covered all the way down to the parking lot?
How much snow is at the parking lot?
Is the trail still snow covered all the way down to the parking lot?
How much snow is at the parking lot?
Plenty of snow down to the parking lot. I'd say a good four to five feet.
By the way, thanks for the advice over the phone last Saturday, Ron. We decided to forget about Hood and opted for St. Helens as the safer bet for decent snow and safe conditions.
By the way, thanks for the advice over the phone last Saturday, Ron. We decided to forget about Hood and opted for St. Helens as the safer bet for decent snow and safe conditions.
Good call, Pete.
See you in the mountains.
See you in the mountains.
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