St Helens Skiing

[kioti]

Anybody check out the pictre in the new issue of Couloir? There's a skier going down the inside of the crater rim (It looks like pre-second-eruption). Very cool... but I don't think it is something that should be submitted to a magazine. Seems like a good way to get BC skiers screwed in terms of access. Thoughts?

[snodger]

Yeah I saw that too. My take was that it was just someone trying to make it look like he skied the crater wall. You know, hero shots to show your friends.

 

I also wondered how long it would take someone to post a thread somewhere about whether he really skied it etc...

 

Didn't expect anyone to bring up the ethics issue though.

Since the mountain is currently closed it probably won't become too big a deal.

[kioti]

Well I KNOW that is has been skied before, but publishing it in a national magazine is shady. It does kind of look like he was going to make a few turns, then turn around, so I kind of agree with you on the hero shot aspect of it.

[Couloir]

It does kind of look like he was going to make a few turns, then turn around

I haven't seen the picture yet, but I have studied the crater walls and am wondering how you could simply make a few turns and then turn around. I'm thinking you're pretty committed once you take the plunge. But maybe I'm wrong.

[cman]

i remember being up there and looking at the crater walls, thinking it would make a great descent. then i looked at the crater mound and thought i didn't want to get too close to that thing

[skykilo]

How does it affect access, considering it is prohibited to ski there regardless? It can't make it any worse. Isn't the whole mountain 'off limits' at the moment too? So are you saying it could hypothetically affect access in the future when the mountain is less active?

 

I think it's a cool shot.

 

I'd be interested to know if, and exactly where, they truly skied into the crater. I know of some people who skied it, but they don't want to 'out' themselves. BE VERY AFRAID OF THE MAN! Ha ha ha

 

Blame it on the snowmobilers.

[ashw_justin]

what if you couldn't get out

[philfort]

How does it affect access, considering it is prohibited to ski there regardless? It can't make it any worse.

 

I think he meant that fact that picture of a skier in an illegal area could affect legal skier access to areas.

 

Suppose, for example, that were the cover of a snowmobile magazine, and there was a shot of snowmobiles highmarking in the crater (which I have witnessed) - that could potentially affect currently legal snowmobile access to St Helens.

[philfort]

what if you couldn't get out

 

like maybe if you tried to get out, but just fell right back in?

[kioti]

[quoteI think he meant that fact that picture of a skier in an illegal area could affect legal skier access to areas.

Exactly, it's just like kayakers who are granted access to a put in by a private land owner, who then revokes access due to people trashing the area. (I'm not saying that skiing "trashes an area," but the principals are basically the same.) I would hate to have the mountain closed off to skis completely (when it reopens) due to a very small minority skiing the crater rim.

[skykilo]

But it's not a private land owner, it's the gubbamint.

 

You have a point, but I don't care. Personally, access to St Helens doesn't matter much to me and I'd sure like to see lotsa cool crater pics. But that's my selfish viewpoint.

[kioti]

Let's say people start grid bolting in the north cascades. Obviously that would be a very small minority, that could things up for all climbers. Just because it is a choss pile doesn't mean that regulations should be ignored...

[skykilo]

HEY I acknowledged that it's a selfish viewpoint. But your analogy is bunk. Who the hell is gonna bother bolting remote choss in the North Cascades? I sure hope no one. The skiing doesn't do any damage and it doesn't leave anything permanently altered; it's just "breaking the law". I believe in selective practice of civil disobedience.

 

Now can we get Pope to post that spectacular Via Ferrata picture here or what?

[Cobra_Commander]

Getting upset about someone skiing the helens crater is analogous to worrying about damage to a gravel pit.

 

If you get hurt in there and require a rescue, however (not unlikely, really), the townsfolk may tar and feather you.

[ashw_justin]

Guys, guys... there's a right way to do this, through the proper channels. My agent and I have proactively copyrighted the first documented descent into the crater, and we're now talking to "Fear Factor" and various other reality TV series. We're confident that the market strength of the network with which we come to agreement will take care of any legal gray areas, the specifics of which to be discussed on a private yaught serviced by a crew of topless cheerleaders.

[kioti]

I'm in!