December 2, 2023
Mount Helen 13,186'
Forecast was for wind and snow but Laura still wanted to get outside before we went skiing the next day. She recommended we climb Mount Helen since we had never been there and it was close to the cabin where we were spending the weekend. From the snow blocked lower trailhead, we walked up the road several miles to the turnoff toward Helen and Father Dyer Peak. After just a short ways from the cutoff road we took a sharp left and headed directly up the slopes of Helens East side. Summiting was a posthole adventure and was a constant battle with the wind as a storm was forecasted to blow in later that afternoon.
 |
| Postholing up the east ridge of Mount Helen |
Upon reaching the summit of Helen, Laura decided she wanted to traverse to Father Dyer Peak as well. Although I was not thrilled about the idea, I went along for the adventure.
 |
| Summit of Mount Helen |
The class 4 ridge was snow covered and the wind howling made moving efficiently very difficult.
 |
| Traversing the ridge between Mount Helen and Father Dyer Peak |
 |
| Fun scrambling along the ridge |
After completing the difficulties of the ridge, we chose to bail down snow gullies rather than continue over Father Dyer, hoping to save a bit of time on our descent.
 |
| Near the beginning of our descent, we set off this small avalanche. |
The first snow we touched broke a 1 foot crown and avalanched down the mountain. We knew we needed to proceed with extreme caution but were mostly committed to descending the mountain this way now. I intentionally triggered two more small avalanches as we descended to the valley floor.
 |
| This is the top of another small avalanche that didn't slide all the way down. |
Once in the valley, we post-holed and worked through the now blowing snowstorm until reaching the 4-wheel drive road and following that back to our car for a 7.5 hour round trip.
 |
Summit of Mount Helen
|
 |
Justin along the ridge
|
 |
Lots of exposure along the ridge traverse.
|
 |
| Justin route-finding along the ridge |
 |
| Fun scrambling along the ridge |
 |
| More scrambling on a snowy, windy day. |
 |
Justin cautiously approaching a gully to try to get the drift to evacuate.
|
 |
| Crown of one of the small avalanches |
 |
| Justin in the slide path measuring the crown with his ice axe. |
 |
Once the avalanches were cleared, we were able to glissade a little ways.
|
 |
| Windy all day! |
