I'm mostly posting for photos, there is plenty of beta already. And any skiiers who might check here.
We hit snow maybe 30min up the trail and only had to transition twice to get over awkward rock/dirt steps. Besides that it was mellow cruiser skinning, nothing technical. We barely even did kick turns besides one narrow ish section where we blew some time doing like 20 50-ft-switchbacks. We eventually stayed way right of the crowds so we could do long open traverses, so it felt a little more isolated (I have a pic that has ~53 climbers in it). Permits right now at 500/day dropping to 100/day on 5/15, so the traffic will lessen.
Snow was awesome. Got a little slushy/grabby around 1pm but almost all of the gullies end up in the same place so there's a ton of terrain to explore and you can make it as steep or mellow as you want. If Hood and Muir had a baby, that's how St. Helens is, with a dope crater at the top.
The climbers seemed fine with just boots/spikes, I didn't see anyone on snowshoes. Given the traffic, I imagine the bootpath was a bomber staircase to the top that got soft and slushy as the day went on. Glissade chutes were long and deep (skiiers beware) and I can only assume were totally awesome. The true summit is to the left of where you top out, but the best crater views are down to the right at a small saddle where you can stay on rock and get to the edge instead of getting too close to the edge of a cornice. And Adams looks awesome!
Have fun! Sweet little piece of history up there.
Comments