TR Replies
Obviously the two on the left were not in the group. The photographer was also a member of team tlt5 p. Go Team!!!
It's funny how those most allergic to structure and regulation seem to gravitate to exactly the "wild" places that have the most of both (Paradise, MSH, the Enchantments). Thickness in the crowds alone has removed any sense of wilderness in such places.
Get a sled and head off to any number of other places in the state with fewer crowds and regulations (though certainly not "none" of either). Paved-road-to-trailhead spots are always going to be a mess.
Get a sled and head off to any number of other places in the state with fewer crowds and regulations (though certainly not "none" of either). Paved-road-to-trailhead spots are always going to be a mess.
author=philfort link=topic=28515.msg120051#msg120051 date=1368587123]
So filling out the survey might be better than complaining on TAY about the process :-).
Thanks, Phil. I chose not to complete the survey, but I did send an email listing my concerns to all the addresses in the email I received, before I posted here.
I am not in favor of mandatory fees, donations or other such charges to access wild, undeveloped publi...
sick phtotography! Thanks for sharing
Steph and Aneka: You are Angels! Thank you!
author=Steph B link=topic=28470.msg119726#msg119726 date=1367869712]i love the analogy
I mean I pretty much dry-humped the snow for the last 15 or so feet.. one of the joys of having a mild fear of falling off peaks with cliffs below
Bend Zee Knees!
Thanks for report. Looks like a great trip.
Thanks for report. Looks like a great trip.
John,
Appreciate your measured and detailed response, especially clarifying parts of your form 990 that otherwise leave the public in the dark regarding how climb permit service fees are allocated and used. I welcome your lengthy response and if you do not mind have some more questions. Having raised this issue on numerous occasions on nwhikers, portlandhikers, katu message boards, with friends, and having sent a few emails to MSHI this is the first response I have seen from any...
Appreciate your measured and detailed response, especially clarifying parts of your form 990 that otherwise leave the public in the dark regarding how climb permit service fees are allocated and used. I welcome your lengthy response and if you do not mind have some more questions. Having raised this issue on numerous occasions on nwhikers, portlandhikers, katu message boards, with friends, and having sent a few emails to MSHI this is the first response I have seen from any...
This place looks so amazing! Way to get after it and with such beautiful weather. This is on my bucket list. Thanks for posting this TR.
Yeah, that "event" off mixup arm seems to be a yearly event. I've never witnessed it, but have seen the aftermath and have avoided going up mixup arm in the Spring for that very reason. Dropping down in to Pelton Basin and climbing straight up to Cache Col seems the safer bet if those slopes are still threatening the traverse. Great shot of the carnage, though!
The fact is, $22 is a lot to play just to climb a mountain. Especially when it's a wilderness experience where no services are expected or provided. What is the FS using their $15 cut for? If it was $10 or less I would consider it, but $22 is rediculous. How about the snowmobilers who go above 4800'? I assume they don't have to buy a permit, and their machines likely cause more damage and pollution than skiers or climbers ever could. The only se...
Thanks for the great TR Cascade Climber!
I climb/ski Mount St. Helens pretty often (5 times so far this year) and I’ve been a volunteer member of the Mount St. Helens Institute’s board for 14 years. I can provide some information about the MSHI and what it does with your $5. Sorry this will be kind of long, but so many on TAY ski on Mount St. Helens, and quite a few of you whose trip reports I admire and enjoy are annoyed, so I think it is worth taking some time.
As an orga...
I climb/ski Mount St. Helens pretty often (5 times so far this year) and I’ve been a volunteer member of the Mount St. Helens Institute’s board for 14 years. I can provide some information about the MSHI and what it does with your $5. Sorry this will be kind of long, but so many on TAY ski on Mount St. Helens, and quite a few of you whose trip reports I admire and enjoy are annoyed, so I think it is worth taking some time.
As an orga...
Hmm, how bad is it?
Never been to Pilchuck, and it sounds like it would make a nice dusk patrol... a change from Alpental
Never been to Pilchuck, and it sounds like it would make a nice dusk patrol... a change from Alpental
So Jealous. We were up on the mountain from the 8th to the 10th, being our first time attempting to summit, we opted to try to summit via Ingraham Direct / DC, which turned out to be a poor choice. Rotten snow and high rock/ice fall danger turned us around at ~12000'.
We enjoyed seeing your turns down and I am glad that at least a few people made it to the summit during the nice weather last week! :)
We enjoyed seeing your turns down and I am glad that at least a few people made it to the summit during the nice weather last week! :)
author=cascadekid link=topic=28523.msg119993#msg119993 date=1368489064]
So guys, what exactly is the boot of choice up there? ;)
2 People on the left don't fit in. Please tell me they weren't in your group! Grats on a summit and ski. I'm looking to do my first ski down soon, any conditions reports on the upper mountain with cracks opening to the Furher?
author=philfort link=topic=28508.msg119986#msg119986 date=1368484895]
Might today's rain clean the pollen off?
Nope. Still lots of pollen as of yesterday. At least it gives me a chance to show my skis that it's not always a one-sided relationship. ;)
author=CascadeClimber link=topic=28515.msg120048#msg120048 date=1368574917]
I got an email today asking me to fill out a survey about my 'characteristics' and attitudes toward leave no trace.
I didn't ask for this or tell them they could use my email this way.
Since they conveniently included the email address of an Eastern Washington Univ. person running the survey, I forwarded it and said I'd do it for a small $22 se...
I got an email today asking me to fill out a survey about my 'characteristics' and attitudes toward leave no trace.
I didn't ask for this or tell them they could use my email this way.
Since they conveniently included the email address of an Eastern Washington Univ. person running the survey, I forwarded it and said I'd do it for a small $22 service fee.
I didn't ask for this or tell them they could use my email this way.
Since they conveniently included the email address of an Eastern Washington Univ. person running the survey, I forwarded it and said I'd do it for a small $22 service fee.
april 1 to october 31st, you are supposed to pay.
up till may 14th no limit on number of permits available
after that until the end of october, 100 per day.
all other times of year still supposed to 'get a permit'
up till may 14th no limit on number of permits available
after that until the end of october, 100 per day.
all other times of year still supposed to 'get a permit'
Is the $22 required year round now? You used to be able to go for 'free' during winter....
Thanks for the info Water. This info helps support my uneducated guesses to where the $ goes.
author=hedonaut link=topic=28530.msg120001#msg120001 date=1368496590]
seems Pelton basin is the way to go to Cache col, most of the time--a bit more climbing, but so much safer. imo.
that magic s loop has been on my mind recently--how were the conditions, ample snow in general?
I agree about Pelton Basin it was my first time but I have always been spooked when looking at that traverse. A bit more time but you are not o...
additional goodies on their Form 990 from 2012 is that they generated $14,000~ for their co-organization....
....The Mount Adams Institute!!!!!!!!!!!
But for MSHI:
$309,055 in Government Grants for 2012. Guess the $65,000-85,000 of money from the public for permits isn't enough?! :(
$9,400 spent on travel
Pretty sure they fold the climb permit revenue under 'membership dues [$156,267]'...which is clever eh? If you bought a permit you're p...
....The Mount Adams Institute!!!!!!!!!!!
But for MSHI:
$309,055 in Government Grants for 2012. Guess the $65,000-85,000 of money from the public for permits isn't enough?! :(
$9,400 spent on travel
Pretty sure they fold the climb permit revenue under 'membership dues [$156,267]'...which is clever eh? If you bought a permit you're p...
author=CascadeClimber link=topic=28515.msg119938#msg119938 date=1368411964]
There was an official of some type stationed at 4800' checking permits when I passed through. I wonder how much of the $15 per person ($7 is a 'transaction fee') is spent on enforcement.
Was it a FS employee? Their volunteers are supposed to be able to ask about permits but obviously hold no power to do jack squat about it if you don't...
So cool. Looked like lots of fun to ski. Whenever I see these great ski pictures, however, I clearly remember the slow agony of the long walk down.
It looks like a cool little ski area - must be fun on a powder day! I like how their sign in the parking lot mentions sidecountry access for backcountry skiers without a bunch of disclaimers - seems like there is a sense of adventure there.
A photo from down bellow of the larger side path climbers right.
The wonderful diagram of the slide path was done by Brian, I don't think that anything came from that couloir lookers left though.
The wonderful diagram of the slide path was done by Brian, I don't think that anything came from that couloir lookers left though.
That was our skintrack up the gully. It should be in for a bit longer. The commonwealth easy to skin from the road and should be for a while.
The snow walls above the creek at the bridge to go to Red are about 4 ft high. No south facing lines on Red go anymore.
One can still ski silver creek all the way to gold creek.
South facing lines on Alaska are out.
The Burntboot valley is melted out
Joe, Alaska, and Edds lake are getting puddles a...
The snow walls above the creek at the bridge to go to Red are about 4 ft high. No south facing lines on Red go anymore.
One can still ski silver creek all the way to gold creek.
South facing lines on Alaska are out.
The Burntboot valley is melted out
Joe, Alaska, and Edds lake are getting puddles a...
I think the snow on those slabby rocks breaks up like that every year, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it quite that deep! Crazy...
author=gorp link=topic=28535.msg120008#msg120008 date=1368506470]
How was snow cover in Commonwealth (if you went that way)?
On Sat May 11th there was snow cover to the road. There are waterfalls and a lot of bare rock from the Kendall catwalk into the Commonwealth basin, but we saw skin tracks into a gully that looked like it had snow the entire way up.
How was snow cover in Commonwealth (if you went that way)?
whoa
that arm is sketch--seems Pelton basin is the way to go to Cache col, most of the time--a bit more climbing, but so much safer. imo.
that magic s loop has been on my mind recently--how were the conditions, ample snow in general?
thx for the report!
that arm is sketch--seems Pelton basin is the way to go to Cache col, most of the time--a bit more climbing, but so much safer. imo.
that magic s loop has been on my mind recently--how were the conditions, ample snow in general?
thx for the report!
So guys, what exactly is the boot of choice up there? ;)
author=CascadeClimber link=topic=28515.msg119916#msg119916 date=1368381363]
Just me, my skis, and 683 other registered climbers on St. Helens yesterday.
That is quite a picture! Looks like Paris subway at rush hour, glad you survived it! :)
The upper slope on Mix Up Arm gave way and had what was easily a 20 foot crown that went directly down to the surface.
Interesting, I was contemplating heading into the same zone but was more psyched to climb than ski given the forecast and overall snow conditions. What do you mean by 20 ft slope gave way? Thanks for the clarification.
Nice! I gotta take my skis up there.
Thanks for the report on Mt. A, my first time on a "real" pair of skies was there (can it really be 41years ago!?). Glad to see someone getting a few turns in the bowl. About this time of year, we would hike all the lift lines, looking for the magic money clip with 5 $100 dollar bills in it! The reality was maybe a few quarters and dimes!
Mt Ashland is my local hill-- short, but steep. Outside the ski area, there is some good terrain if you head west along the Siskiyou Crest FS 20 toward the Applegate Valley. FS 20 goes about 20 miles at around 7,000 feet. I'm sure it's melted now, but I always thought it ideal for a midwinter pulk tour-- relatively flat road with places to drop in the whole way.
Nice work you guys! Not a bad way to stand on top for the first time... knowing you don't have to walk down!
We were on the mountain also, trying to beat the Mother's Day crowd.
Very good ski for the first 2K, but the bottom was going fast.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/103727466702143735136/albums/5876895051361743329
Very good ski for the first 2K, but the bottom was going fast.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/103727466702143735136/albums/5876895051361743329