St Helens: west crater rim

Discussions and Trip Reports for off-trail adventures and rediscovering lost trails
User avatar
kepPNW
Posts: 6411
Joined: June 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
Location: Salmon Creek

Re: St Helens: west crater rim

Post by kepPNW » July 15th, 2018, 3:42 am

Chip Down wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 5:32 pm
kepPNW wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 9:13 am
Really been enjoying these posts!
Thanks! Feeling weird about dominating this forum with my MSH obsession, so I appreciate the positive feedback.
It's always been something of "an issue" here that there's no way to show passive enjoyment of a post, short of commenting on it. So many times, I've just wanted to punch a Like button on things, but alas... Heh, and now the board's decided to stop notifying me of responses, so I hadn't even realized this one was active again. Ah well...
Chip Down wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 5:32 pm
kepPNW wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 9:13 am
You had me hooked with the Crescent Ridge idea, and I was eyeballing that all weekend. But I've also wanted to go up from Butte Camp. Now I have three ideas to explore! :)
Crescent Ridge is awesome! Scenic, fun, several variations to consider, safe/easy to follow if it gets cloudy. There are no interesting routefinding challenges, but a classic clean route is fun in its own way. The only other route I've found that offers the same clean simple line is Ape Glacier on the east side, accessed from Plains of Abraham. To repeat my earlier caveat on Crescent though: the last thousand feet gets a little sloppy, not good for hikers inexperienced in alpine travel, especially in questionable weather.
I think I'll definitely pursue that one before the summer's over. Easy one to imagine doing one of those days when nothing else is coming to mind. Just pack up, and go! :)
Chip Down wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 5:32 pm
kepPNW wrote:
July 11th, 2018, 9:13 am
Technically, no, anywhere above 4800' requires the permit. Practically, meh... More likely to see a cougar on the rim than a ranger over there.
They look the other way. And they should. The stated reasons for the permitting process is to preserve the fragile mountain and relieve crowding. I promise you, if the restrictions were lifted tomorrow, the only real difference we'd see is a surge of hikers on Monitor Ridge. :roll:
Ha! I have no doubts that's true. But probably only on weekends, while the weekday traffic would die way off?
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

User avatar
Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: St Helens: west crater rim

Post by Chip Down » July 15th, 2018, 7:06 am

Romann, good eye. The crater was very dusty. Certainly a disappointment for first timers that day. Light wind, no big rockfalls that I was aware of.

The only beargrass I remember was in the lavaflow just above the trailhead. Nothing special. But Paradise Park loop on Hood yesterday, wow!

User avatar
kepPNW
Posts: 6411
Joined: June 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
Location: Salmon Creek

Re: St Helens: west crater rim

Post by kepPNW » July 16th, 2018, 5:22 am

Chip Down wrote:
July 15th, 2018, 7:06 am
Romann, good eye. The crater was very dusty. Certainly a disappointment for first timers that day. Light wind, no big rockfalls that I was aware of.
I've been up in the area four of the last ten days, and that western rim has been sloughing bigtime each one of them. One day, they were continuing right into Step Canyon. Yesterday, it unleashed what could've almost been called a landslide, rather than rockfall, while I was admiring the butterfly migration.

Image
That dark streak started at rim and flowed to glacier. Click photo for larger view. 7/15
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: St Helens: west crater rim

Post by retired jerry » July 16th, 2018, 6:26 am

"and recently "downgraded" to a barometric analogue altimeter"

You mean one of these
DSCF2052.JPG
I can't bear to get rid of this although I'll never use it again. Maybe if there's a coronal mass ejection event that takes out all our electronics, except then knowing my altitude will be the least of my worries :)

johnspeth
Posts: 346
Joined: July 30th, 2013, 8:33 am

Re: St Helens: west crater rim

Post by johnspeth » July 25th, 2018, 10:56 am

Chip Down wrote:
July 9th, 2018, 5:57 pm
Well...I honestly have no idea where the permits are checked. I've only gone up Monitor once, but it was post-permit-season. On a day as nice as yesterday, it wouldn't surprise me to see the climbing ranger perched at the summit, waiting for scofflaws.
My experience with permit checking:

I was checked once at about 4000 ft and warned I was not allowed past 4800 ft. It was early morning March spring ski time on the Swift trail. It happened long before our esteemed federal legislators started "sequestration". My checker pointed to a large rock that I was not to pass. By the time I got to that rock, he was nowhere in sight and it was the last I saw of him. I've never seen a checker at the top. In fact, I've never seen a checker except for this one time. The lesson I've learned is there is no budget to employ checkers and there is too little payback for the effort.

Post Reply