Mount St. Helens Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding

Fantastic day of backcountry skiing and snowboarding on Washington State's volcano: Mount St. Helens.

Near the end of April, I finally got to ski Mount Saint Helens. I’ve been trying to go since the beginning of March, but either the weather did not cooperate or on the few sunny weekends none of my friends could go. Then I got lucky. I had a permit for Saturday, April 23rd, my buddy Jason was free, and we got a weather window.

In 2022 Washington State experienced one of the coldest springs on record. On the weekend prior to the 23rd, access to the Worm Flows trailhead was blocked. There was enough snow to close the road to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park—since after April 1st the Forest Service stops snow plowing. Fortunately, the road melted out enough that by Friday the 22nd the road re-opened.

It was a great day, one of my best ever on St. Helens (I’ve backcountry skied there since 2007). All that new snow meant that I was able to ski all the way back to the parking lot. Normally, by this time of year the trail has melted out enough that I have to carry my skis at least a couple miles before I can start skinning up.

I checked the forecast on Mountain Forecast (https://www.mountain-forecast.com/) before going. The prediction was: partly sunny, light winds, and temperatures just below freezing at the crater rim. I thought it would be a nice, but slightly chilly day. It was cold overnight, but during the day the weather was even better than predicted and it got warm fast. I was overdressed in my long-sleeve base layer and pants. By the time I reached the seismic station I was sweating so much I was literally steaming. I wore a buff because I was expecting it to be windy, but instead it was really more like a sweat band for my neck. Jason got it right wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Although the avalanche risk was low, there were still other snow related dangers on the mountain. All that late-season snow meant that the crater rim of St. Helens was still encrusted with cornices. Created by the wind, a cornice is a shelf of snow overhanging the crater’s rim. They are unstable and can collapse at any time. The natural instinct when arriving at St. Helen’s crater rim is to rush to the edge and look into the crater, but this can have fatal consequences. The safe thing to do is to stay at least ten feet away from the edge. Anyone planning on climbing St. Helens while it is still covered with snow should listen to the Sharp End Podcast episode about a cornice-related fatality on St. Helens:

The Sharp End Podcast
Episode 10: The 69th Summit
https://www.thesharpendpodcast.com/ep...

Mount St. Helens climber’s death shows danger of cornices
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/mount-...

Filmed with two GoPro HERO10 cameras and Jason’s iPhone. I took photos with my Canon PowerShot G5 X Camera. I also used my Skydio 2 drone to film the shot in the parking lot that flies up to reveal the mountain. Drones are not allowed on St. Helens, but they are OK outside of the permit boundary.

#mtsthelens #backcountryskiing #gopro

Music Tracks

End of the Beginning
By Fabien Tell
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/J...

Ruffles and Rust
By Fabien Tell
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/K...

AM Joint
By Will Harrison
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/x...

Compadre
By Tigerblood Jewel
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/g...

Borderline
By Henrik Andersson
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/e...

Happy Riot
By Henrik Andersson
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/t...

I Hear the Calling (Instrumental Version)
By Wildson
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/X...

Songs for a Mockingbird (Instrumental Version)
By Gabriel Kelley
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/K...