Mt. St. Helens trip report

“A group of friends and I decided to climb Mt. St. Helens this past weekend since this was the last weekend to do so before reservations were required.

We arrived in Cougar, WA Friday evening (and stayed up too late drinking) then got up at 5:15, got our permits, ate breakfast and drove as far as we could before snow closed the road, elevation 2900'. It was here I noticed that I had forgotten my gaiters, dammit, but luckily someone else had a crappy old pair that I used. We decided to give the Monitor Ridge route a try, even though it meant walking 3 miles on the road to Climber's Bivouac. We hit the road/trail at 7:45 AM and got to the real trailhead after about an hour, elevation 3900'. The next two miles were also on snow but we were in the trees and the shade they provided felt good.

We then started the serious climb when we broke out above treeline at about 9:30. The tread was good for the most part but it was sunny and warm, so occasionally the steps kicked in would give out and the dirty words flew. We began seeing people who had summitted earlier skiing and snowboarding down. At lunch break the wind really picked up making it very cold and hard to even stand up. We finally reached the summit (8365') at 1:35 PM, enjoyed the vista and tried to stay out of the wind. We saw a lot of others there, the vast majority had climbed using the Worm Flows route. We took some pictures, ate, and left after about an hour at the summit.

The trip down was a lot more fun as we were able to glissade. We made it back to the cars at about 5:00, tired as hell (17 miles, 5500' elevation gained round trip) but glad we did it. Here?s the pictures! ”

“Nice pics, especially at the summit. Puts my measly dayhikes in perspective, lol.”

“Nice Pictures,

After seeing your photos I am going to make plans on hiking to the rim on St. Helens.”

“Awesome trip report and pics, kleetn! Closest I got to the mountain was Johnston Ridge. I was humbled by it a couple years back...can't imagine how awesome it must have been when it still had its summit. Guess your squirrel passed on this trip?!!!”

“!”

“Beautiful Shots Man!!!
That looks like my kinda backpacking. Awsome Summit !!”

“Nice pictures kleety. What, you couldn't find any gear small enough to fit the squirrel?”

“Thanks for sharing that with us Kleetn!”

“Heck of a dayhike--are the permits seasonal or permanent?”

“Thanks for allowing me to live vicariously through you, if only for a moment. Great pics Kleetn!”

“wow, kleetyface! Good job...dats one he11 of a dayhike! I loved the pics too. Sheesh, I gotta get out there and visit you!

be afraid. be verrrrry afraid. muaHaHAAAAA

>;)”

“MaryPhyl, the permits $15 and are good for one day. From May 15 through October 31 they only issue 100 permits per day and almost all weekend days have already been reserved during that time period.

Here's the reservation calendar. It's a kick; if I did it again, I'd get my permit the night before and leave earlier in the morning and maybe bring a little sheet of Tyvek to use to slide down on.”

“joyous, playful, bright
trailer park girl rolls in puddle
of used valvoline

oops, wrong thread.”

“

View from the crater rim looking at Mt. Adams in the distance. Taken in March. Awesome place to snowshoe.”

“Er, that would be March, about 9 years ago.”

“

Spirit Lake and Mt. Rainier in the distance. 3/95”