[awilsondc]

When searching for ideas to take advantage of a good weather window, I stumbled across South Coldwater Ridge as a snowshoe hike close to home. Looking at the topo there appeared to be an unnamed summit high up on the ridge. Peak bagger had it listed as Blastzone Butte (5000 ft) which led me to this trip report from iron a few years back. Looked good to me, and I convinced a friend to join me early Sunday morning. By 6:50am we were on the trail. Or road I should say. The road to the trailhead is closed and gated in winter about a mile short of the trailhead. We enjoyed a nice sunrise from the road before reaching the trail.

Sunrise from the (closed) road walk in

The trail was fairly easy to follow with only a few inches of snow. Even the switchbacks were easy to identify despite the snow. After a mile or so in the forest we rose above tree line. The forecast had called for clear sunny skies, but so far it was overcast which was a bit of a bummer but we figured it would burn off eventually.

Coldwater Lake and Minnie Peak

Hiking South Coldwater Ridge

Soon after, the sun was up and so was St. Helens.

St Helens at sunrise

I had seen reports of abandoned logging equipment up on the ridge and sure enough, a yarder and a dozer were left there to deteriorate. It was pretty interesting to look at.

Yarder and Minnie Peak

Yarder w/ Blastzone Butte and Coldwater Peak

Abandoned dozer

From here we could see our destination, but the ridge just kept going and going. The summit block was a lot further away than it looked! There was plenty of interesting scenery along the way with St Helens to one side and Coldwater Lake to the other. I was surprised by the lack of snow. There was rarely more than a foot of snow on the ground, with some spots completely bare. We made our way up and after 2 1/2 - 3 hours we reached the summit block!

Blast zone casualty

Nearing the summit block

Blastzone Butte summit block

Fractured rock

Looking back down South Coldwater Ridge

Here we switched from snowshoes to crampons and axe for the summit block. We were glad we did. The terrain was a mix of rock and snow, some of it icy. I wished there was either no snow, or a couple more feet as the rock / snow mix made for some tricky footing.

Ascending the summit block

Topping out on Blastzone Butte

We made it to the summit and while Saint Helens stole the show, Mount Hood did make a cameo.

Mt. Hood

Summit selfie

We had some food and made some tea and while we were resting on the summit the clouds began to burn off.

Nice spot for some tea

Pouring tea

This made for some pretty spectacular lighting on Mount Saint Helens! With the sun shining the way it did, it made it look like the whole mountain was encased in ice. It was pretty cool.

Saint Helens, clouds burning off

Saint Helens crater

Views from the area include Coldwater Peak, Minnie Peak, Whittier, Margaret, and the Dome as well.

Coldwater Peak

Minnie Peak

Mount Whittier

Summit view NE

The panorama was pretty amazing.

Blastzone Butte summit panorama

View larger size in new window After lunch and tea we packed up and headed down. With the warming snow, the snow and rock terrain was even sketchier on the way down. This is not a place you want to fall and there is some decent exposure so we stepped carefully and made it back to where we had stashed our snowshoes.

Heading down, victorious

Descending from the summit

Working down through sketchy footing

Last difficult section

Blastzone Butte

On the way back we came across one solo snowshoer and another couple but other than that we had the whole ridge to ourselves. It was a great day. 7+ hours 9.5 miles 2500 ft elevation gain.

Another eruption casulty

Parting shot

[puzzlr]

Pretty cool. I had not heard of that old equipment or that "Blastzone" name. It's a case where what would normally be junk becomes interesting because of its history.

[Bryan K]

Very cool stuff!!!! Thanks for sharing something relatively obscure!!

[Brushbuffalo]

Very nice! I am glad that the abandoned logging equipment has not been removed. From your pictures it appears that neither the yarder nor the dozer was among the large heavy items that were tumbled and transported by the force of the 5/18/80 lateral blast. I recall that a D9 cat. was moved something like 50 yards from where it was known to have been. Must have been elsewhere than where you hiked. Still the power is evident from your excellent pictures.

[Sculpin]

And here I was scratching my head as to why someone would drive logging equipment up a ridge and abandon it when the ridge hasn't had a tree on it for 35+ years. Hoo boy do I need a vacation!

[mbravenboer]

Very nice. Great photos of St Helens!

[iron]

weird that that snowpack is so thin there. great pics

[raising3hikers]

definitely a good spot for a snowshoe trip

[zephyr]

[awilsondc]

[fourteen410]