First time camping this year. Took awhile to set up my asymmetrical tent. It's difficult to stake down in the snow. Should have brought some snow stakes and my closed-foam pad. My back was cold on the "insulated" air mattress alone on snow. Didn't sleep too well, even though the night wasn't cold at all.
3/21, Saturday. Brilliants stars from the parking lot, a good sign. No moon. No one chewed my foot that was left outside by a tree. I had to get up very early to pack up and eat. A short line at the registration booth. Since it's my 6th climb, they made me the hike leader on the climbing permit. We put on spikes/crampons at the TH. Started shortly before 5:30am. The trail was compact snow. Didn't really need any traction device. Head lamp, yes!
We were very slow. By the time we reached this sign, the sun was already high. I realized that I left sunscreen in my backpack (not day pack). Changed to sun hat, and sunglasses, pulled up neck gaitor to cover my lower face (but had to leave my nose out, so not to fog up the sunglasses). It was warm. I stripped down to base layer. Long sleeves to protect from the sun. While waiting for the others, I also put crampons on, which is not a good idea. They are heavy, and my boots weren't tight enough, rubbing the back of my feet. Fortunately, one of us was so slow, that I didn't develop any blisters. We were starting to meet climbers coming down, already.
Another beautiful blue bird day. At least 200 hikers on the slope. This year, somehow people didn't go straight up the top slope, but zigzaging to the left (W). At the last turn, I decided to go straight to the rim, rather than turning right to the lower rim where everyone else was going. Had to break track, the ground was a bit crunchy (more ice). All of us had crampons on, they decided to follow me. After just 5 minutes, Eugene wasn't comfortable with the terrain. His snowboard was catching the northern wind, not hard, (maybe 10mph), but enough force to push him downhill. So he returned to the main track with everyone else. The rest 3 of us, continued straight up. Reached the rim ~11:30pm. Photo and snack. I love this view from the rim. Today, sea of clouds to the west, clear all other directions: Rainier to the north, Goat Rocks NE, Adams, Hood and Jefferson can be seen all the way up here. I think I might have seen Mt Washington and the Sisters (need binocular to make sure). The bulge in the crater was steaming.
Once everyone was rested, we continued west along the rim, down and back up to the true summit. Some beautiful snow sculptures along the way. Very few climbers come all this way (~10%). Lunch time, more photos. We didn't go down until ~1pm. Retraced our track to the lower part of the rim, then I decided to go straight down, instead of going back to the main trail along the rim before going down, which involves 2 uphills. My 2 fellow hikers agreed to follow me. Again, we broke a new track. A little icy at points. Steep sometimes, but nothing bad. With crampons, we didn't have any problems. Once we joined the main trail, we looked for butt tracks to glisade. Snow was a bit sticky in the afternoon sun. Couldn't slide too fast nor long. Safer this way. Had a couple of very fun runs. On the way down, I met Sam from my last St. Helens' climb. He drove here alone. There were still people coming up, this late. Could be ~300 climbers today.Signed out ~4:30pm. Much slower than I expected. Took me at least 5 minutes to find my permit entry flipping pages. After one gas stop, txt to Eugene, and to report our safety to the meetup owner, I was dropped off at my building ~8:30pm.
Had a fabulous time, especially making my own tracks. Also glad to see folks coming out to enjoy the nature without fear of the ongoing virus. 33K steps. Bruised butt and ruined pants! Sunburned nose, forehead and part of my cheeks.
