Calendar

Past Activity

Mt. St. Helens

  • Start date: 05/11/2014

  • Start time: 12:00 AM

  • End date: 05/11/2014

  • End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

Mt St Helens for Mother's Day, it's a Northwest mountaineering tradition and unlike any Northwest mountaineering experience you will have. Last year, there were approx 600 people climbing Mt St Helens on May 10 (the weather on the 11th turned bad), and at least half of them were wearing dresses, men and women.
Perhaps the crux of climbing Mt St Helens is the hoops to jump through in getting a permit. Permits must be purchased online, they are $22 per person. Then, the permit MUST be picked up the day before you climb in the town of Cougar. So we must arrive in Cougar, WA before 9pm the night before the climb to pick up the permit. We'll then car camp Saturday night, and start climbing by 5am Sunday morning.
As for the climb, it is straight forward and a lot of fun. Two miles of flat-ish terrain through forest, then up a ridge, then up a snow slope to the edge of the crater. The views from the top are spectacular, down into the crater and beyond to Adams and Mt Rainier.
We'll return to our cars and drive home that evening.

  • Event Leader: Hansen Marci

  • Assistant Leader:

  • Event category: Climbs

  • Area Type: Mountain

  • Departure Location: See Trip Description

  • Rating: Difficult

  • Roundtrip total drive miles: 366

  • Season: 2014

  • Permits Required:

  • Event Status: Passed

  • Supplies and Equipment Required:

  • participant prerequisites:

  • Conditions:

  • Total Distance: 10

  • Member Fees: 3

  • Elevation Gain: 4600

  • Non-Member Fees: 15

  • Committee: Climbs

  • Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

There were just three of us that ended up climbing Mt St Helens on Sunday, May 11. Maryanne Reiter, Jenn Bugley and I drove to Cougar, WA, arriving at 7pm. We stood in line for about 45 minutes to get our climbing permits, where we found out that 1. 950 people had purchased permits to climb and 2. the snow level was 3 miles above the trail head.
We camped at the Marble Mountain Sno Park with 100's of other people Saturday night.
We started hiking at 5:30am. Maryanne and Jenn wore skis, I chose to leave my skis behind and hike. We were also all wearing dresses as were 90% of the hikers in honor of Mother's Day.
The weather was perfect. Low wind and virtually no clouds. We summited in 5 hours. The snow conditions were great on the way up, we never needed crampons. The views into the crater and over to Rainier and across to Hood were gorgeous. The hundreds of other people at the top, all dressed up and yelling and singing made it feel like a giant party. Definitely NOT a wilderness experience.
Jenn & Maryanne then skied down. I glissaded a full 2500 ft. The snow was super soft and perfect glissading conditions. I met up with Jenn & Maryanne at the end of the snow and we walked back to the parking lot. It took us 8 1/2 hrs round trip. They said the skiing was good right in the middle, too icey at the top, too slushy at the bottom.
We had a great time. Maryanne declared it the nuttiest climb she's ever done.

Members & Guests signed-up & waitlisted

  • Number of spots on trip: 10
  • Number of spots available: 6
No. Status Full name Phone Transportation Needed? Trip Fee # Can Take?
1 Signed-Up Hansen, Marci 360-852-2041 N 15
2 Signed-Up Reiter, Maryanne 541-521-8472 N 3
3 Signed-Up Bugley, Jennifer 503-236-5519 N 15
4 Signed-Up Woodard, Jim 541-913-8565 N 15