St. Helen next week, advice needed

[marksandler]

Hi guys,

 

East Coast Noob here so bear with me. We have a permit to climb St. Helen next friday, which was purchased assuming that it will be summer by now... (Ha!)

 

Does anyone know what are the current condition like on St. Helen? Any recent experiences? I realize that summer route is still closed, so presumably winter route requires snoeshoes/crampoons/poles? Do we need anything beyond that? Internet seems to suggest no, but then internet seems to say that normally even crampoons are optional at this tie of the year. What about boots? Plastic or regular hiking shoes would do? Is there a place to rent them in the area? Or Portland?

 

We don't have any glacier experience (though reasonable amount of east-coast snoeshowing), so how crazy it is for us to go there?

 

thanks a bunch in advance!

 

 

[RaisedByPikas]

The route will be mostly snow covered. If you plan to climb before 10 or 11 AM you may want to bring crampons and and ice axe and know how to use them because the snow may be firm. Regular hiking boots will be fine if your crampons fit them. If there isn't much of a packed down path you will probably want snow shoes.

[sprocket]

Stay well away from the crater edge, it is usually heavily corniced and people have fallen through. You can't see it when you come straight up the route but if you skirt around to one side or the other the cornice can often be seen, nothing but a lot of air underneath it.

[marksandler]

The route will be mostly snow covered. If you plan to climb before 10 or 11 AM you may want to bring crampons and and ice axe and know how to use them because the snow may be firm. Regular hiking boots will be fine if your crampons fit them. If there isn't much of a packed down path you will probably want snow shoes.

 

Thanks! Is there an opportunity to rent snow shoes and/or crampoons in the neighborhood? I am afraid we've never really used ice axe, so we might be in a bit of a problem here.

[Water]

yes, lots of rental options in portland--i dont think anywhere actually close to the mnt though:

the mountain shop

oregon mountain community (i think)

rei

 

 

have you used crampons but not an ice ax? I think crampons are liable to give you more issues than an ice ax as far as having a piece of equipment and not knowing how to use it properly. An ice ax won't cause you to trip, fall, or gore yourself just in trying to use it to go up or down (generally speaking). Crampons can have a host of issues from attachment, to balling, to snagging yourself, etc.

 

personally my thought on st. helens is that by this time of year, you've got maximum daylight and sun angle, so, unless you are trying to be at the top at sunrise, you probably won't need crampons at all. The traction that MSR denali snowshoes you rent have is pretty damn good for St. Helen's slope angle, imho. Having the heel lift bar/feature is great too and i think is on all the REI rentals at least. That feature alone is nice even if the snow isn't so soft, since it gives you that advantage in your legs.

 

whatever boots you'd wear in the winter on the east coast will do just fine on st helens, I'd say.

 

 

 

[marksandler]

yes, lots of rental options in portland--i dont think anywhere actually close to the mnt though:

the mountain shop

oregon mountain community (i think)

rei

Thanks!

 

have you used crampons but not an ice ax? I think crampons are liable to give you more issues than an ice ax as far as having

Heh, yep, the only time i've used them was with poles (after switching from snowshoes), but you've got a point,

we probably shouldn't even bother.

 

crampons at all. The traction that MSR denali snowshoes you rent have is pretty damn good for St. Helen's slope angle, imho. Having the heel lift bar/feature is great too and i think is on all the REI rentals at least. That feature alone is nice even if the snow isn't so soft, since it gives you that advantage in your legs.

Thanks, that's probably what we should do then.

Btw, what's the current snow line around there? Can we expect to be wearing snowshoes all the way from 2700 feet?

 

[Le Piston]

This is real good advice. I've been up there many times and often have seen footprints near the crater rim with cracks forming behind them. I also second the ice axe and crampons...and knowing how to use them. I hope the weather cooperates for you! Myself I'd rather have snow on the route rather than nasty ash and rocks. Have fun!

[marksandler]

Stay well away from the crater edge, it is usually heavily corniced and people have fallen through. You can't see it when you come straight up the route but if you skirt around to one side or the other the cornice can often be seen, nothing but a lot of air underneath it.

Thanks, that was a very visually scary description, we definitely won't be coming anywhere close to the edge.

 

[sprocket]

Stay well away from the crater edge, it is usually heavily corniced and people have fallen through. You can't see it when you come straight up the route but if you skirt around to one side or the other the cornice can often be seen, nothing but a lot of air underneath it.

Thanks, that was a very visually scary description, we definitely won't be coming anywhere close to the edge.

 

I was one of those putting foot prints close to the edge. Was shocked when we walked over to the "true summit" to see where we had been standing. Sometimes you're lucky. There have been a couple of fatalities on St. Helens that I’m aware of.

This happens a lot, saw some folks do it on Granite Mountain a few years ago. They walked out on a snow patch next to the lookout tower, we had all come up opposite the regular trail and while descending you could see those folks had been on a cornice. Saw a lot of big cornices this past weekend driving over the North Cascades highway, been a heavy snow year.

My GF climbed it years back and they actually brought climbing harnesses and set up a snow anchor to belay each party member so they could look into the crater.

As far as crampons and ice axe, better too be comfortable with them if the conditions are icy. If it is soft snow it is a pretty moderate slope and as pointed out earlier much more comfortable than the rock and ash. One other warning, more people seem to get hurt glissading than almost anything else. St. Helens has great glissades but make sure you know what you are doing if you do them and never do it with crampons on.

And don’t make another mistake I did back then, don’t wear shorts over polypro!

 

[EastCoastDave]

This is a very helpful post. I'm orignally from the East Coast as well and have been enjoying hiking the taller mountains in the gorge and coast range but am looking to get into mountaineering.

 

I've purchased my St. Helens permit for July but am thinking I might make a trip up earlier than that. Definitely sounds like it's more fun in the snow. Glissading is a fairly new concept to me and it sounds awesome... like big kid sledding.

 

Sounds like Helens is the most tame you can get near Portland. Snowshoes at most right now....

 

What about avalanches? Where do I learn more about those, when they occur, and avalanche safety reports? Would those even be a real issue right now?

 

 

Just like Mark, I have no glacier experience and the Cascades are far larger than anything back east.

[RaisedByPikas]

I just went up yesterday. Most of the rim doesn't look that heavily corniced <5ft cornices in most spots. Someone placed some flags about 5 feet from the edge where you first hit the rim. I hope they got an angle on it to see if there was a cornice but who knows.

 

Avalanches on the route probably aren't a huge concern anymore. There were some wet slides on the steep parts to the side of the route though.

 

We camped and started early from the tree line, crampons were not needed even with firm snow because there was a good boot pack. Snow shoes are definitely not needed.

 

[marksandler]

Thanks RaisedByPikas,

 

Did you go winter route or the summer route is now open?

At what level do you get snow?

 

thanks?

 

 

[RaisedByPikas]

I went the winter route. Patches of snow start right after the parking lot with consistent snow about .5-.75 miles from the trail head.

 

Also up high (500-1000ft from the summit) it looked like the route split. One choice was climbers left up a ramp to a ridge to join the summer route or the other was up a short steeper section straight to the rim. The left route looked longer so pretty much everyone took the direct route.

[marksandler]

Thanks guys, the trip was a blast, the glissading at the end was a lot of fun too. We brought snowshoes with us, but ended up not using them (oh, well, some extra exercise), nor did we really miss crampoons, though probably 80% of the people around us used them.

 

Otherwise it was a really an awesome experience, thanks everybody

for advice!

[pleaserecycle]

All this info has been really helpful for me too!

 

I'm from Vancouver Island and St Helens will be the first big mountain my girlfriend and I have ever done (before that just little stuff on the island).

 

We were planning on going via the Climber's Bivouac route but right now it's closed down thanks to 7 ft of snow.

 

Our climbing date is July 22nd and I was wondering if anyone might know if the snow would be gone by then? If not, is this "winter route" that I see people referring to different than the Climber's Bivouac route?

 

Is it significantly harder?

 

If anyone could answer any of the above questions it would be much appreciated!

 

[Wastral]

Helens doesn't have glaciers, well there is one inside the crater that formed after the eruption, but... What took you a couple hours to climb will take a few minutes to descend if you decide to run it or glissade. Its quite mellow. You don't really need the ice axe except if one hits a cold spell and it becomes icy. IN july I don't think I would even bother taking crampons. Just wait an hour and it will turn to mush and off you go. If its typical mush you would rather have treking poles as well.

[RaisedByPikas]

It might be possible that the summer route from the climbers bivouac isn't melted out by then so you will want to be ready to do the winter route which is called the worm flows route. Both are not technically difficult although the worm flows route is a bit longer and has an extra thousand feet of elevation I think.

[pleaserecycle]

Awesome, thanks for the reply! I guess we'll prepare for that eventuality!

[cjdoolittle]

Great info here. I am trying to get a climbers permit and attempt this summit next monday (July 18th). I am johnny come lately, so this info is really helping me decide on what gear to bring/rent. Sounds like, rent an axe and possibliy skip the crampons, if I am heading up at 10am or so. I am a good hiker, but no real snow/ice experience. I will bring my treking poles and pace myself.

 

Thanks for the support shown in this forum.

 

Chris