Mt St Helens

[ilookeddown]

I am looking for people to skin Mt St Helens on Feb 12. I have room for 3 in the car.

[gapertimmy]

I can meet you there..

[ilookeddown]

I plan to be at the Marble Mt. sno-park between 8:30 - 9:00am.

[Dustin_B]

Any one been up there recently? Does the upper portion get icy and wind swept like the Muir snowfield? or is the snow typically better?

[Alex]

Dustin, the answer to your question really depends on the weather the days before you are there. I've found nasty wind crust in March and perfect corn in April.

[Dustin_B]

To answer my own question....I have found 5500 feet of breakable crust in Feburary. I think I'm staying away from volcanoes in the winter (for skiing) until I become a better 'adverse conditions' skier....

[iain]

it is set up nicely right now. good turns right off the summit. a little stickier down low but not bad at all.

[cj001f]

Dustin, the answer to your question really depends on the weather the days before you are there. I've found nasty wind crust in March and perfect corn in April.

To reinforce Alex's answer, last year I found nice corn in March, and nasty crust in April.

[girlclimber]

if you are unfortunate enough to not know how to ski, as i am, ....."nasty crust" means good climbing, right?

[iain]

Not necessarily. It can mean you're postholing crust, which is miserable. Crust that periodically breaks through is some of the worst climbing imaginable.

 

Being at the top of Helens w/o skis could be called miserable on its own

[ilookeddown]

In the past, the best snow has been in January and early February. (last year does not count) The week seems to be looking good. May be a little crusty in the morning, should soften up for the ski down.