If you hike or backpack or do outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest, climbing Mt Saint Helens is something that should be on the to do list. Usually this is one of the first peaks I hear people climb as the only thing you need is permits. I think I kept from doing this as getting the permits is one of those things that you have to plan way ahead. Problem with that is if weather is bad then bad luck! This year Val started talking about it so we decided to check permit availability and found that most days were already taken except the 4th of July (a Wednesday). Since we didn’t have a lot of interest in doing the BBQ and fireworks thing, we got permits for that day. Mark and Carole were lucky as well to get permits for the same day so we formed our little group to climb Helens that day. I was very excited as I hadn’t done it yet and Val was excited as she was going to learn to glissade. That day we woke up to an almost perfect clear sky and drove early to Climbers Bivouac where we met with Mark and Carole that spent the night there. After getting our gear ready, we started our journey and not even 10 minutes into the hike, we found snow. That was both good and bad. On one side, it can make the hike go a bit slower as you are sliding around in the wet sludge but on the other, it makes coming done so much faster and way more fun. The first part of the hike was thru the woods without a lot of views so we did some “catching up” with Mark and Carole. Then we came out of the trees to a cloudless blue sky. Behind us we had Mt Hood and a very faint Mt Jefferson and to the East, Mt Adams. As time passed and we continued our climb, we left the green forest behind and got to the snow and rocks that would dominate the scenery. While climbing scenery doesn’t change much. You cross from snow field to snow field, pass thru rocky sections see the different paths people have taken coming down. You also get a good sense of perspective as you see the line of people ahead and behind you. Then finally the view changes a bit as you see a definitive line and nothing but blue beyond that. A little bit of a push and you get to the “summit” or better yet, the end of the trail. Yes, it is a bit anticlimactic but let me explain. In winter the rim gets a lot of snow and the wind extends the cornice far from the actual edge. In the past, people have pushed beyond and have fallen to the crater. So now, when you get there, you see markers that diminish the perspective of the crater (you pretty much can’t see it from that point). Now don’t get me wrong, the views around are incredible. You see part of Spirit Lake down bellow, Mt Rainier, Goat Rocks, Mt Adams… all of it. Now the good part comes if you walk a bit to the west to a small saddle. From that vantage point, the whole crater opens up in front of you and that’s where the icing on the cake is. Looking at the crater from that angle is just unreal. You can see the dome inside the crater and how several places are constantly smoking. We took a short brake near the cornice where could be out of the wind and then started our descend. With all the snow, we pretty much glissaded the entire mountain down going from slope to slope. It was a very fun way to end the day and yes, Val ended mastering self arrest.
You can check the pictures here
Interactive map
To see the full map, click Menu and select Full Screen. You can also click Terrain to change the map style
No comments:
Post a Comment