Mount Saint Helens (8,333ft)
Sunrise near treeline
March 23, 2021
Tuesday looked like a short weather window and I was free so I drove down south Monday night towing the snowmobile. I bailed on another objective that night, so at the last minute decided to ski St Helens instead. I’d already skied St Helens five times, but it’s a fun 5,500ft ski run that avoids avy terrain so is safe and easy to do solo.
Monday night I slept in the Marblemount Sno Park and was moving by 5:30am. I soon passed a group of two and then started laying fresh skin tracks in the snow that had fallen Monday. I hit treeline at sunrise and skinned up the standard worm flows route, briefly switching to crampons partway up.
By 10am I crested the summit, the first one up that day. I soon switched to ski mode and shredded powder down the first 2,000ft, passing about 70 other people climbing up. I then dropped below an undercast and skied back to the car by 11am. I still had plenty of daylight left and had the snowmobile so rode around the groomed trails for a few hours before driving home.
© 2021, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.
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