Mount Saint Helens (WA) - The Worm Flows / Monitor Ridge

Even before I had gotten into backcountry touring, I remember my buddy telling me that he had skied Mount Saint Helens on something called a splitboard. Having a passion for both snowboarding and outdoor adventure, I was immediately intrigued and probed him for more information. That conversation is actually what got me interested in backcountry and it’s been one of my favorite activities ever since.

Fast forward to 2019 and I’ve all but made a complete switch to skiing (from splitboarding), but my desire to paint my own line down Mount Saint Helens never faded. Therefore, I was pretty stoked when my friend Emily sent out the invite for a Mother’s Day tour there, which she had secured permits for. I responded almost immediately, letting her know that I was definitely in -- apparently I was the first person to do so. The only price of admission, other than the minimal cost of the permit was that I needed to wear a dress, skirt, tutu or some other attire in honor of Mother's Day.

The day before the tour I caught a ride with some of the crew (Ian, Julian, Caleb and David), as we packed in like sardines and made the 3.5 hour drive to Marble Mountain sno-park, where we’d start the tour. By the time we rolled into the sno-park it was around 10:30pm and everyone else in our group was already asleep, hoping to get some decent rest before our alpine start at 4am the following morning. Since it was pretty warm out, I didn’t even set up a tent; instead, I rolled out my Paco pad, threw down a sleeping bag and fell asleep pretty quickly.

The next morning I heard a few alarms go off, starting at about 3am. I begrudgingly climbed out of my bag, drank a cup of cold coffee and started readying my gear for our day’s adventure. By the time everyone had gotten their gear ready and tried to squeeze out one last poop, it was around 4:45am -- a little behind schedule, but still within the margin of error for a crew of 14.

After signing in at the kiosk, we started up the snowless and well-traveled trail toward the mountain. The number of people hiking up the trail with skis on their back was quite impressive, especially considering that most (if not all) were wearing a dress of some sort. Although the sun was still a bit below the horizon my eyes were able to adjust to the available light, and the hike through the forest went by fairly quickly.

Getting stuck behind another group after taking an impromptu bathroom break 

First glimpse of the mountain

Some technical footwork was required along some portion of the trail

Group check-in

Continuing on

Nice view of Mount Hood, looking back to the south.

After ~3 miles we reached treeline, and soon after that we transitioned over to skis and skins. To do this we had to hike down into a drainage where it was protected and there was a trail of snow. The unseasonably warm temps over the previous two weeks had really done a number on the snowpack, so I was hoping there would still be adequate coverage up higher so that we could get in some good turns.

Traffic jam

Transition point

At this point both Eric and I had jumped out ahead and were skinning at a pretty good pace. We soon left the gully and started up a series of terraced slopes. With the unusually warm temps the snow hadn’t completely refrozen overnight and was fairly soft. This made skinning fairly straightforward but was also a bit concerning since the sun hadn’t touched the surface of the snow yet and it was supposed to get pretty hot during the afternoon. This certainly motivated me to keep up my pace in hopes that we could start our descent well before noon.

Eric, starting off the skin

Tricky skinning conditions in the gully

Looking back down into the gully after climbing out of it

Starting up the climber's highway

Eventually we reached a seismic monitoring station at around 5,600’, where I ran into Gabriel and we waited for some of our crew to catch up. The wind had started to pick up a bit, which I was actually thankful for, since it would help to keep the snow from softening too quickly. It was also nice to just sit back and enjoy the view for a bit, but after waiting for a half hour or so, I was starting to get a little impatient. Once I saw people from our crew closing in on our location I stepped back into my skis and continued up the hill.

Various groups hanging out at the seismic monitoring station

Early morning view of Mount Adams

Lots of postholes would make for pretty crappy skiing

Our group taking a break and waiting for the others to catch up

Lookin' good!
(photo by Caleb Holt)

Above our rest spot the slope opened up quite a bit, which gave visibility to just how many people were skinning and hiking up the mountain -- quite similar to Mount Adams and Mount Hood on a busy weekend. What was also impressive was the size of the glissade paths, which were a few feet deep and ran down the steeper slopes. I eventually hit a fork in the road, with the main flow of traffic heading toward a large gathering at the crater rim (directly above me), and a less traveled path, which traversed over toward the true summit. I radioed down to Eric and Lucy (who were the other two in our group with radios) and asked which top-out were were shooting for. Eric responded back that his understanding was that we were planning to bag the actual summit, so I turned west and started heading in that direction.

Climbers attacking the upper slopes of the mountain

Much nicer skiing opportunities on the adjacent slopes

Conga line

Getting closer to the rim

Looking back down the mountain at the masses

Pretty impressive glissade paths along the way

The traverse over was certainly more challenging than the rest of the approach, with some icy bits that forced me to stop and pull out my ski crampons. Soon after I had started skinning again, Eric came into view above me, shouldering his skis along the crater rim. We soon reached a small saddle with an amazing view looking into the crater. Since it was also nice and flat we decided to hang out and wait for the rest of the crew before heading up the final pitch to the high point. After waiting for another half hour we started thinking that they had decided to go to the party summit and we might be alone in our decision to bag the true one. With no response on the radio, Eric decided to leave his skis and hike over to the other summit to see if that was the case. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened and upon his return he relayed that the group was split on whether or not to head toward our location. With that, we decided to quickly bag the summit and then make a decision on whether to traverse over and try and catch the rest of our crew, or just ski down the slope below our current position.

Traversing over to the true summit

Eric approves of the view

Looking into the crater from the saddle between summits

Rainier looking pretty sexy 

Other parties making their way to the true summit

The party summit. Okay, that looks pretty fun!
(photo by David Miller)

A view of the crater from the party summit
(photo by David Miller)

Ian, looking radiant!

As are Lucy and Albus!
(photo by Ian Petersen)

The last hundred or so feet from the saddle to the summit were fairly uneventful. When we reached the top we celebrated with a summit beer (of course), took a few summit photos and transitioned over for the descent. As I started skiing down from the high point I ran into Leah and Kevin, who had traversed over to join us. Since they also wanted to tag the summit, I dropped down to the saddle and waited for them, so we could do the the descent together.

Eric heading up the final pitch to the summit

Closing in on the summit

Eric sipping his summit beer in style

More great views!

Checking out the party crew

Heading back down from the summit

Leah and Kevin join the crew

Once the four of us had reconnected we discussed our plan of attack. Since the slope below us was far less pitted out than the main ascent route, we opted to drop in from our current location and make a gradual traverse over, in hopes of hitting the main line as low as possible. I dropped in first and was treated to some nice corn turns right off the bat. I descended a hundred feet or so before stopping to get some photos of the others coming down. Soon after they dropped in, harvesting some delicious corn along the way! For the remainder of the upper mountain we skied in fits and starts, regrouping to discuss our route and so I could take photos.

Eric drops in for his first turns of the day

Leah kicks up some Spring corn

Lots of fun slope ahead of us

Kevin makes the red dress proud

Hope he's wearing undies...

Dropping into the next section

Party ski

Discussing our next plan of attack

Eric finding some more good snow

Wide open

Kevin with some nice boot shots

Following Eric's tracks

Leah drops in with speed

All smiles!

The other half of our crew dropping in on their line. That is a sweet glissade path!
(photo by Ian Petersen)

Ian leads the charge
(photo by Caleb Holt)

As we descended lower, the snow slowly transitioned from creamy corn to grabby slush. It eventually got to the point where we weren’t comfortable skiing the steeper pitches, due to concerns over setting off a wet slide. This is also where we decided to cut hard skiers left to connect back up with the ascent route, which was complicated by some rather large glissade paths. In fact, on one I didn’t have enough speed to clear it and ended up lawn-darting into the wall on the opposite side, which took me about 5 minutes to untangle myself from.

Eric loves side hilling

Kevin jumps a glissade path

Coming in hot!

Taking a quick photo break (Mount Adams in the background)

More fun turns lower down on the mountain

And more traversing

Kevin gaps another glissade trail. The double one behind him is the one I lawn-darted into

Below the glissade crossings we did find some pockets of firmer snow, which were a little more sun protected -- Although it wasn’t perfect corn down low, we were still having a great time zig-zagging down the mountain. Eventually, we reached the gully where we’d left our shoes and started skinning from on the way up. The biggest challenge in this section was avoiding core shots from all the rock debris that littered the narrow pathway down. This was further complicated by a large glissade trench right down the middle of it. Surprisingly, we were able to avoid any major damage, treating it like a slalom course, which was actually quite fun.

A firmer section of snow on the lower mountain

A little bumpier down low but still plenty fun!

Leah

Leah closes in on the snow line

One last traverse

Eric drops into the gully with little concern

Leah gives chase

Once we reached our shoes we pulled over to grab them and then continued skiing the last bit of snow in the gully. At this point I had become separated from the other three and didn’t notice that they had hiked over a small ridge and were planning to ski the remaining snow in the adjacent drainage. I had assumed they’d transitioned somewhere else and were already heading back down the trail. It wasn’t until Eric found me that I realized what had happened. Since I was already transitioned, I told them to continue down without me and that I’d meet them back at the parking lot, if not sooner.

Not far down the trail I reached the end of the snow that they were skiing down. It was here that I also found them as well as the rest of our crew. Now with all of us reunited, we hiked back down the trail to the parking lot as a large group. Along the way we caught up on how each others tours had gone and shared our stoke from another amazing day on the mountain!

The end of the line, for skiing at least.

Regrouping before the hike out

Starting the hike

A long and dusty road
(photo by David Miller) 

A few patches of snow left as we neared the parking lot

Conclusion:
I’m really happy that I was finally able to bag Mount Saint Helens after many years of dreaming about it -- thanks Emily!!! As expected, it’s a little bit of a shit show and certainly not a place to experience solitude. That said, it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience of this geologic wonder -- it’s a pretty surreal experience to be standing on a crater rim and looking into the pit of an active volcano, especially one that you can ski down from! The Mother’s Day festivities were also pretty damn cool and was my first experience wearing a tutu. Reflecting on the trip, I would certainly love to ski Saint Helens again, although I would probably do it preseason or target another aspect, in order to escape the crowds a bit.

The tracks from our tour: