Mount Helen
(13,154 ft)
Mt. Helen and its East slopes. Photo from summitpost.com
A break in the weather leads to a perfect day to get out into the high alpine. With the nicest day we have seen in awhile at hand, I got a hold of Frank who had mentioned skiing Mount Helen. I have seen Helen many times while in Breck and for some reason have never skied it. Needless to say, I was eager to get out and go for the 13er summit ski, especially after skiing pow trees the past few weeks. *Not Complaining*.
Working graveyard all night with the winds seeming to blow out the windows in the hotel, I was curious what the day was going to have in store. Luckily, with the sunrise brought calmer winds and it turned out the be the perfect day out, with us mainly only finding wind on the summit.
Frank picked me up in DV and then we met Vanessa at Wilderness and we were off with a nice alpine start, on trail at 10:15! No big deal as we were hoping that the east slopes would soften up a bit by the time we skied it. We made quick work of the ascent which was pretty easy as you follow the well packed trail from folks going to and from Francie's Cabin. After a little over a mile we hit Wheeler Trail and the aqueduct where we shortly started our skin up through the trees to gain the main east face.
Working graveyard all night with the winds seeming to blow out the windows in the hotel, I was curious what the day was going to have in store. Luckily, with the sunrise brought calmer winds and it turned out the be the perfect day out, with us mainly only finding wind on the summit.
Frank picked me up in DV and then we met Vanessa at Wilderness and we were off with a nice alpine start, on trail at 10:15! No big deal as we were hoping that the east slopes would soften up a bit by the time we skied it. We made quick work of the ascent which was pretty easy as you follow the well packed trail from folks going to and from Francie's Cabin. After a little over a mile we hit Wheeler Trail and the aqueduct where we shortly started our skin up through the trees to gain the main east face.
Heading up to the east slopes from Wheeler Trail
Breaking treeline. The bottom 500ft or so of the east face.
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Up, up, and away we go...
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snow-nado alley. About 1200 ft to go.
Beautiful backdrops.
We saw about a dozen mountain goats soaking in some rays
looking back toward the divide.
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Good ole high alpine sastrugi was actually somewhat soft
Summit in sight
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Looking down on the final 100ft from the summit.
Summit shots. A little over 2 hours from the trailhead.
We hung out on the summit for about a half an hour just taking in the view, snapping pics, and relaxing in the beautiful sunshine....
Quandary, Fletcher, Atlantic, Pacific, Father Dyer, Crystal, Peak 10
Quandary's North Face
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Spring line down the south face.
And then it was time to head down on to the 2700 ft vert we had to ski back to the car.
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the goods.
Back to treeline.
