| Mt. St. Helens Climb #2 |
| Turbo summit and snowboard descent of Mt. St. Helens with Hoenig. |
 FeedbackBy Preston Hunt, 11 May 2002 |
Links
Dave's pictures. Eric's pictures.
The night before
- NWAC and Montalto warned of high avy danger this weekend; Hoenig and I decided to "damn the torpedoes", go to the mountain, and make our own assessment
- Left Portland around 7:00 pm
- Bought annual Helens/Adams climb permit for $30 at Jack's
- Met up with my friend Eric from SF and his friends at Jack's between 9:00-10:30
- Road to Climber's Bivy still snowed in, so went to Marble Mountain sno-park
- Slept in the back of Hoenig's Jeep (Grand Cherokee ROCKS -- we were both able to stretch completely out)
Climb day
- Overslept 4:30 am alarm and got up at 5:05
- Discouraged by the sight of many people already heading towards the trail
- Most of the group (Eric & Co.) still sleeping or just getting up
- Dave and I wanted to get up before the snow softened for a good descent, so we hurriedly packed and were on the trail by 5:50 (the others weren't planning on snowboarding down, so we decided to split up early)
- Over the next hour or two, we kept up a relentless pace and slowly passed almost everybody on the trail
- Excellent weather and temperature; snow firm and crunchy; very low avy danger
- Dave and I spurred each other on climbed an average of 21 feet per minute, resting for 10 minutes every ~1000 feet (see graph)
- 20 feet from the summit, my right calf muscle cramped up big time (later learned from Medicine for Mountaineering that this is caused by strenuous exercise and excessive water intake without enough salt -- so drink Cytomax or eat lots of salt while mountaineering!)
- Summited in 4:20 and then basked in the sun at the top for 45 minutes or so
- Strapped on snowboards and left the top around 11:00
- Ran into Eric & Co. at 7000 feet and stopped for a chat
- Rode the rest of the way down on excellent snow
- Only had to walk the last 5 minutes or so
- Back to the car before 12:00
- Almost lost my trekking poles when the bungee holding them to the back of my pack broke, but some kind hikers saw it happen and sent down the poles with the next group of people coming down the mountain -- woo hoo!
- Back in Portland by 2:00 after a brief stop at Zack's house to pick up his forgotten cell phone
The data
|
Climb: |
Mt. St. Helens - Worm Flow Route |
|
|
Date: |
11-May-2002 |
|
|
Party: |
Preston Hunt, Dave Hoenig |
|
|
Total up: |
5500 |
Feet |
|
Avg rate up: |
21.15 |
feet/min |
|
Up time: |
4:20 |
|
|
Total down: |
5550 |
Feet |
|
Avg rate down: |
79.29 |
feet/min |
|
Down time: |
1:10 |
|
The gear
|
Qty. |
Category |
Subcat |
Item |
Wt.(oz.) |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Balaclava - REI polypro |
1.6 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
REI polypro liner gloves |
1.1 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Emergency solar blanket & storage bag |
2.1 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
LED keychain light |
0.3 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Locking serated blade |
2.8 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Paper, pen, & storage bag |
2.2 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Suunto Compass |
1.3 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Sunscreen (SPF 45) - Aloe Gator |
|
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Whistle |
0.2 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Toilet paper |
0.3 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Waterproof matches, trick candles (+ bottle) |
0.9 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
No-Doze tablets (bottle) |
|
|
5 |
Essentials |
|
Zip ties (aka cable ties) |
0.0 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Sunglasses |
|
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Map of area |
0.0 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Extra food (Powerbar) |
2.7 |
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
Extra socks |
|
|
1 |
Essentials |
|
First-aid kit |
|
|
2 |
Essentials |
|
Large heavy-duty garbage bags |
0.5 |
|
1 |
Food |
Containers |
Camelbak Unbottle |
|
|
3 |
Food |
Food |
Powerbars |
2.7 |
|
4 |
Food |
Food |
Gu |
1.2 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Wicking |
Patagonia Mid Capilene Zip (blue) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Wicking |
Columbia long johns (white) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Wicking |
REI Thermal boxer briefs (black) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Insulating |
REI Polartec 300 fleece vest |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Shell |
Jacket - Arc'Teryx Theta AR |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Shell |
REI Gore-Tex pants |
14.3 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Footwear |
Koflach plastic boots (step-in compatible) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Footwear |
Insulating socks (pair) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Footwear |
Wicking/liner socks (pair) |
|
|
1 |
Clothing |
Footwear |
OR super gaiters (pair) |
10.5 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Headwear |
Nike white baseball cap |
2.5 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Headwear |
Cebe glacier glasses (+ case) |
2.7 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Gloves |
REI fleece gloves (brown) |
1.7 |
|
1 |
Clothing |
Gloves |
Marmot Randonee Gore-Tex gloves |
6.5 |
|
1 |
Hiking |
|
Komperdell Regular trek poles (red) |
19.1 |
|
1 |
Alpine |
|
Snowshoes - Sherpa Tech |
|
|
1 |
Electronics |
|
Suunto altimeter watch |
2.0 |
|
1 |
Electronics |
|
Motorola Talk-About radio (+3AA batteries) |
5.9 |
|
1 |
Electronics |
|
Cell phone (Nokia 8260) |
3.5 |
|
1 |
Containers |
Packs |
Dana Design Bomb Pack (3200 ci) |
79.4 |
Gear notes: Didn't use the snowshoes at all (for a second time this season!), although I would have needed them if I hadn't snowboarded down. The trekking poles were really helpful. Warm day so didn't use any of the cold weather gear, save the pants and jacket for the descent. Strapped my trekking poles in to the back of my pack with the bungee, but almost lost them when the bungee broke!
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