Climb: St Hellens-Worm Flows
Date of Climb: 4/11/2004
Trip Report:
We drove down Saturday night, Jacks Resteraunt was closed so we didn’t get a permit. Started walking at 4:45, we put our skis on after a few hundred yards. It had been warm overnight so I was worried about the lack of a surface freeze. Gary Yngve and I were on AT gear and John was on XC skies with metal edges and skins. We made good time to the tree line. As we headed up the crust got better. We went up the east side of the south face to stay out of the sun. When it got steep John gave up trying to ski and just walked. There were a few steep sections we had to cross so I was glad I had the ski crampons. Talked to a snow border who had hiked up overnight and was headed down. It was too early so he was doing lots of side slipping on the crust. When we got too the summit there was only one other guy getting ready to ski down. Didn’t hang out for long because it was cold and windy. We could hear the snowmos! As we started down the first of a strung out group of Mounties were getting close to the top The first few hundred feet were kind of hard from all the boot tracks, after that it was awesome easy turning corn. Turn after turn! Got soft near the bottom but was still good. I thought it was going to be much softer. John hiked most of the way down. As we were taking a break at their bottom we could see the Mounties heading down. All were on foot. We felt sorry for them, they were going to be wallowing in the slush. We had a nice cruise out. XC skies with skins will save you lots of time on the approach. Just stash them when it gets steep.
It was Easter Sunday, a great day to be out in the mountains while most people are wasting a beautiful day at church and family gatherings.
Thanks to john for driving and Gary for the pics.
Gear Notes:
Ski crampons were great to have.
Approach Notes:
Melting fast.