Since moving to Portland, I've been told by many people the Mt. St. Helens is a "must climb". I've also been told that while beautiful, it's a pain to climb in the summer when the snow is melted out and much of the climb is on loose scree and volcanic ash. Because of that, I've opted not to climb it during the summer and wait until I had the necessary skills to skin up and snowboard down.
I missed the weather/conditions window last spring, so this spring, it was on the top of my list. Matt Kramer, another member of my climbing club, and I set out on a gorgeous Saturday morning. We started on a dirt trail, splitboards strapped to our packs, but quickly hit snow and were able to convert to ski/skin mode to make our traveling easier. We were both skinning n00bs, but by the time we reached the top of the caldera, I was nearly a pro. We'd asked some more experienced skinners for some tips and found out that with a few key skills we were missing, skinning became much easier.
In the gorgeous weather, we spent an hour or so relaxing on the crater rim. I didn't technically make the summit because the true summit was heavily corniced and not worth the risk of plummeting to my death.
I'm now convinced that skinning up and ridding down is the best way to tackle snowy mountains.
The rest of the pictures from the trip are on flickr.
