Mt. St. Helens avalanche conditions?

[Link]

Just wondering if anyone's been up St. Helens in the past few days. I know the NWAC issued a special statement on avalanches throughout the Cascades. But they're not too specific on how bad the danger is. I'm looking to go up Sunday and wanted to get an idea of what other climbers are seeing.

[KirkW]

Yeah, you'd think that for 22 bux per climber the FS would have their shit together and be a little better aout reporting conditions for that hill. I called them 2 weeks ago a couple of days before our climb. When I asked the woman that answered the phone and offered to answer my questions about conditions on the upper mountain her only comment was that it "is still covered in snow and might be icy or slushy"

 

Thanks.

 

Things were very loose for us and we set off many small point releases on our descent but we were slow and late in the day. Of course freezing level is supposed to be well above the summit of St. Helens now so you probably couldn't leave early enough to get it when it's frozen.

[billcoe]

Yeah, you'd think that for 22 bux per climber the FS would have their shit together and be a little better aout reporting conditions for that hill. I called them 2 weeks ago a couple of days before our climb. When I asked the woman that answered the phone and offered to answer my questions about conditions on the upper mountain her only comment was that it "is still covered in snow and might be icy or slushy"

 

Thanks.

 

It is not the Forest Services job Kirk, nor would we as climbers want them to be in charge of advisories and such, they could just as easily shut it down after a couple of lawsuits for giving incorrect info when the weather changes and causes a death. The FS should just stay the hell away. Charging money to walk on your own damned mt. is wrong IMO and they should not be doing that.

 

Things were very loose for us and we set off many small point releases on our descent but we were slow and late in the day. Of course freezing level is supposed to be well above the summit of St. Helens now so you probably couldn't leave early enough to get it when it's frozen.

 

Right on, sounds like you might have gotten the view of the crater and the surrounding environs at least.

[alpine et]

Great conditions on Saturday. We let loose a few wet slides coming down at 1:00... but they were only when we ventured onto steeper terrain, and only the first two inches that slowly growled down. The wind kept the snow from getting mushy... otherwise would have been junky and perhaps deeper wet slides, all the way down.

[KirkW]

I couldn't agree with you more Bill. The FS should just stay the hell away. Considering they charge anyone who wants to "climb" that slag heap $22 for the privilege and they employ a ranger who allegedly patrols the upper mountain watching for poachers I was simply hoping that would mean they had some minuscule amount of beneficial knowledge. I was mistaken. Fees for that hill are total bullshit. Especially considering $7 of the climbing fee is funneled DIRECTLY into the pockets of private organizations.

[Mtguide]

Haven't been up it yet this season; but in over 40 years climbing and many conditioning ascents (including the years before the 1980 eruption when the mountain was still all there) usually by this time the snowpack is very stable ands safe. Especially now with the current stretch of great weather and warm temps which will only continue to promote full depth consolidation. The only concern at this time of year might come from a late season storm depositing a fresh snow load with accompanying windloading. Anything like that, on top of hard crust , could pose a potential hazard; but you could determine the relative danger by doing your own pit tests or even a Rutsch block. If you don't know what those are, you need to take at least a basic Avy I training, or get someone to accompany you who has solid avy training.

 

The other consideration is that much of the now standard routes on St. Helens lay back at a low enough angle that beyond winter and late spring conditions, these slopes are not really a concern. When the upper mountain was still there, some parts of the mid-and upper mountain on the now-vanished Dogshead or the Forsyth, Loowit, or Goat rock/ Wishbone glaciers were subject to slides. But all of that is long gone to oblivion. Even then, the south slopes were generally safe by this time of year.

[petsfed]

My experience with Kirk last week was pretty eye-opening, coming from a Rocky-Mountain-snowpack paradigm. Slab avalanches just are not an issue, but the expectation of greater consolidation (which is what I was banking on) goes right out the window because of point releases. Absolutely, you're not going to get a deep-slab event, but that's not to say that big wet sloughs aren't possible, or dangerous.

[Mtguide]

Well, can't really disagree with you there; big wet sloughs can definitely be more than a minor hazard. People forget that it really only takes a small amount of snow to bury you, not an entire slope. A slope or hill 6 or 8 feet high will do just fine; even a small area can hold a very large volume of snow.

 

But again, small point releases would not concern me much provided they don't begin to entrain larger areas as they slide downslope, and the release stays on the surface. If you've done your pit tests and the indications are for general stability for surface layers and deeper, then point releases of two or three square feet would not bother me. But if the releases begin to entrain, such as an area of 10 square feet or larger, and involving a depth of more than 5 or 6 inches, then I'd reconsider, possibly turn around or at least stay out of swales and gullies and head for ridgelines where the snowpack is generally thinner. And pay attention to staying on the windward, NOT the leeward side where windloading may have taken place.

 

Still, based on my experience over the years, I'd say the greatest danger on St. Helens right now is from getting too close to the edge of the crater and having a rotten cornice fail beneath you. This early in the season, they can break back quite a ways, so staying back from the edge at least a good 30 feet or more, is just a sensible precaution, especially on a warm day or late in the day.

[KirkW]

 

 

This is the "official" route. Ya know, the one sanctioned by the forest service complete with fence posts and signage.