Spring in January?

Climbing St. Helens while Mt. Adams scrapes the sky in the distance.

When Camp Muir on the south side of Mt. Rainier reaches 69 degrees in January, something is wrong. In this case, it’s the weather inversion taking place in the Puget Sound region. Low clouds and stagnant air have consumed the lowlands, creating fog so thick ‘pea soup’ sounds like an understatement. Cooling temperatures have made the fog freeze at night, adding to the driving hazard. A stage 2 burn ban is in place in Pierce County, the highest level of ban. The stagnant air is trapping the pollution making for poor air quality.

Above about 3000′ elevation, it is a completely different story.

Inversion. Short way of saying global warming. Either way, with spring-like conditions and crystalline blue skies, it was ridiculous not to be above the clouds.

Midweek offered Kyle and Dan the opportunity to try out Silver Star in the North Cascades. They set off in hopes of finding powder, and ended up with some great pictures of spectacular mountains in the North Cascades, bluebird skies, and bitterly frigid nights. The snow conditions were barely tolerable, as any bit of powder they might find was buried under a small, breakable trap crust. As conditions for riding (and sometimes sleeping) were less than favorable, the grand thing about ski mountaineering is above all else, you’re in the mountains. Before the snow, bluebird days, physical exertion or the aesthetic lines. Before the multi-day tours, squabbles over “who’s right??” “where to set camp?” or “how many Backpacker’s Pantry meals we’ve got left?”, we were in the mountains. Their pristine beauty and immensely sharp ridges that cut into the sky were only accentuated by ski mountaineering. We were going to soak as much of it in as possible.

With ambitions for tackling a number of volcanoes this season, Team Cascadia headed to Mt. St. Helens to take advantage of the inversion and tackle the first of many to come. Every member being quite familiar with the mountain, we made our way to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park and quickly began to cover ground. We ran into some old friends with whom we shared some conversation and then continued on.  The day was unbelievably warm, feeling more like May than January. A balmy breeze swept through the trees as we continued onward, taking in spectacular views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and even the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor, some 300 miles away under a perfectly clear blue sky.

As we broke into alpine and continued to ascend, the wind began to pick up in gusts that were strong enough to knock us over if we didn’t brace ourselves properly. Due to extremely strong wind gusts, we chose our ascent route using the ridges to block the wind. Climbing began pleasant once again and we continued on, rhythmically moving poles and skis to the beat of the mountains. Once we reached 7500′, the wind began to pick up dramatically and the wind chill helped in making it feel more like January. We pushed on against the incredibly strong winds and soon we were looking into the crater.

We saw the high point of the crater rim and began our traverse to the true summit. The unrelenting 50mph wind was both beneficial and frightning. We traversed across boilerplate ice, but the wind was pushing us so hard it kept us from slipping. However we stayed well away from the rim, not only for fear of a cornice release but also so our skis would not become sails if we were to fall, catching the wind and carrying us into the heart of the volcano. We quickly transitioned and began navigating our way down, desperate to find remaining patches of sun warmed corn snow. Upon reaching the sub-apline forest, we again met up with our friends. We finished the day together, and shared some excellent burgers and stories at a small Bar & Grill in the small town of Cougar. Again the mountains left us feeling satisfied – mind, body, and soul.