Roster
- Mike Niemeyer (leader) mwniemeyer@verizon.net
- Scott Phillips (leader assist)
- Rebecca Tryon
- Dan Domrose
- Michael McHugh
- Jonathan Myers
- Josh Zielinski
- Bryon Snapp was scheduled to be on the team but called and canceled at the last minute due to a case of diarrea. For more on diarrea see http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-diarrhea (Coming soon: Audio upload of Bryon's amazing bowel sounds in a format suitable for cell phone ring tones.)
- Rick Slezak was also supposed to be on the team but he had to practice law. For a history of the origins of law begining with the code of Hammurabi see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi
- David Braun was on the team but had to take the weekend off to move to Seattle. See: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/shop_pickandmix/free_chapters/seattle-moving-to.pdf
Mt St Helens, Marble Mountain, Driving Directions: We met at the State Motor Pool Park and Ride lot on Airport Road in Salem at 7:30 am on Saturday morning and drove I-5 north to Woodland, WA where we took Highway 503 east to Cougar where I picked up the permits at the Lone Fir Resort 16806 Lewis River Road.
We continued on Highway 503 (which becomes FSR 90) to FSR 83.
Turn left and continue 9 miles to Marble Mountain Sno-Park. (Don't take the road marked climbers bivouac.) Round trip drive distance is ~ 240 miles from Salem.
Trip report: We met Saturday at 10 am at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park located at 2,700’ elevation on Forest Road 83, 30 minutes northeast of Cougar, WA. Our route was the Swift Creek/Worm Flows. Wormflows route description on Summitpost.
I had scouted the route on April 26th at that time the road to the snowpark was bare pavement and the trail beginning at Marblemountain snow park was well covered in snow. Camps above Chocolate Falls are all snow camps with no running water. The trail was well traveled and marked, but late afternoon hikers were post-holing. Our April 26th party had hikers both with and without snowshoes. For another recent trip see Kirk Kraschel's May 9th Mt St Helen Pictures.
On May 30 we were having very warm weather, with the valleys in the high 80's and 90's and the mountain in the mid 70"s. Snow was spotty at the trailhead. We took the Swift Ski Trail, #244 to timberline.
We continued on Trail 244 to Chocolate Falls (about 3800') where the trail crosses to the west side of Swift Creek.
We continued up to 4050 ft where we set camp at treeline- most of us on snow but Mike McHugh was able to find a nice spot on bare ground. We were able to find running water via a short walk down to Swift Creek. We had most of the afternoon to kill at this point. Scott took a long nap, Rebecca did Yoga on a rock and others hung out by the creek.
On Sunday, May 31 we got up around 4:45 am, anxious to get up before it got too hot. We were on the trail about a 5:45 am. We carried, but never used crampons. Half the team used ice axes for the ascent and the others used treking poles.
We continued directly North on the first ridge to the west of Swift Creek and followed the ridges marked with wooden poles (poles up to 4,800 ft) and open snow slopes North.
We continued North to the crater rim at about 8,200 ft (in about 4 hrs.) The popular boot track had led us to the most direct point on the crater rim but this was obviously not the summit. We traversed west up and down the crater ridge, discussing which seemed higher as we went, until we came to on obvious high point that was 8,365 ft. (For a virtual helicopter fly over of the crater rim see: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/video/immersive-media/vid1.shtml)
We donned a variety of glasside aids (trash bags, rain pants, roll-up sleds, etc) and Scott led us on a spectacular 4,000 ft, 1 hour glissade back to camp. It took us an hour to break camp and we got back to the cars about 1:45 pm.
Random Pictures (Mostly from Scott Phillips)
Below - the team starting out after a short break.
Scott, above
Rebecca
Below, Josh preparing a summit burrito
Jon on traverse
Above, Jon Myers appears to be choking a small 24" high green-helmeted elf like creature near the summit.
Below, view north towards Mt Rainier
Below, Scott Dan and Mike M
Rebecca in her "hey I just knocked over a 7-Eleven" attire, with Mt Adams in background
Jon and Josh on Summit with Mt Rainier in background
Mike N
Spot waypoints below:
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Latitude:46.1306 Longitude:-122.1718 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 13:51:14 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1306,-122.1718&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1632 Longitude:-122.1768 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 11:41:39 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1632,-122.1768&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1915 Longitude:-122.1957 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 10:00:54 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1915,-122.1957&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1902 Longitude:-122.1906 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 09:29:17 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1902,-122.1906&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1789 Longitude:-122.1835 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 07:31:03 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1789,-122.1835&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1635 Longitude:-122.177 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/31/2009 05:20:24 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1635,-122.177&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Latitude:46.1636 Longitude:-122.1769 Nearest Location:not known Distance:not known Time:05/30/2009 13:19:28 (US/Pacific) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=46.1636,-122.1769&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Permits: This trip required permits (I obtained online on February 2nd.) The charge is $22/climber. See http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/mount-st-helens/permit-system.shtml for more details about the permit system.
Participant responsibility: It is each participant's responsibility to be in good physical shape and have the skills and equipment (see below) to participate safely in this climb. A club release will be circulated at the trailhead for each participant to sign.
Required personal equipment (See list for non-technical, overnight snow climb)
In addition to these items, the volcanic nature of Mt St Helens means you will also need to bring a dust mask or bandanna and goggles - the climbing rangers suggest carrying these four items at the top of our packs and having them easily accessible at camp, in the unlikely event that the mountain should vent.
Emergencies & Contacts: In addition to the personal gear (above) the leader will be carrying a SPOT satellite rescue beacon, GPS and cell phone (503-910-9726.) I will also be sending occasional satellite "check-in" messages to this blog during the trip. In the event of an emergency, I will send out a 911 signal from this device. Local Emergency Contacts: Skamania County Sheriffs Department: 509-427-504 and Monument Headquarters: 360-449-7800. If the party is overdue my local (Salem area) contact is Jackie Niemeyer 503-930-8782. She will communicate with the participant's families in the event of an accident. National Weather Service WA (360) 694-6136 OR (503) 261-9246. Avalanche information WA (206) 526-6677 OR (503) 808-2400. Eruption Updates - USGS Cascades Volcanoes Observatory
Frequently asked questions: What if the volcano erupts, spewing hot lava down the side of the mountain and into our path? The leader will be prepared to implement Forest service policy 998 which recommends throwing the climb assistant into the volcano to appease it and then riding the molten rock flows to safety by sitting on strips of aluminum foil.
Planned GPS route - coordinates are (NAD CONUS 27):
