Name: Mt St. Helens
Start: 2018-06-16T00:00:00-07:00
End: 2018-06-16T23:59:59-07:00

Past Activity

Mt St. Helens

Start date: 06/16/2018
Start time: 12:00 AM
End date: 06/16/2018
End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

This trip is limited to a total of four climbers. In addition to normal costs there is charge of $22 per climber for a pass to climb up to the rim of Mt. St. Helens.
We will depart on Friday, spend the night near the trail head, climb Saturday, June 16 and return home Saturday evening. Precise times will be given when folks sign up. It is recommended to meet team at Marble Mt. Sno-park for primitive camp Friday night. Trip leader will leave Portland Friday by 1:00 PM for trail head. We will likely begin climb no later than 7:00 AM, Saturday morning.

This description is incomplete and will be updated.

Event Leader: Bob Kaminski
Event Leader Phone: 510-610-1705
Event Leader Email: robertwkaminski@gmail.com
Assistant Leader: Brian Hamilton
Event category: Climbs
Area Type: Mountain
Departure Location: See Trip Description
Rating: Moderate
Roundtrip total drive miles: 366
Season: 2018
Permits Required:
- Wilderness Area
- NW Forest Pass
- Snow Park
Event Status: Passed
Supplies and Equipment Required: If you join us for Friday night primitive camping near Marble Mt. Snow Park you'll need gear for your bivouac. Day of climb you'll need ice axe, crampons and helmet. Bring food and snacks for your journey. Be prepared for bright sun as well as winter weather conditions.
participant prerequisites:
Conditions:
Total Distance: 12
Member Fees: 3
Elevation Gain: 6000
Non-Member Fees: 15
Committee: Climbs
Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

We camped Friday night at the trailhead, Marble Mountain Sno-Park. (plenty of parking, no water, pit toilets). We departed camp at 2:00 AM. Following the Swift Creek/Worm Flows trail via headlamps presented no challenges. Shortly after emerging from the forest Brian noticed an old injury was flaring up. Rather than push it he decided to return to camp. David and I continued on. At predawn we reached the weather station equipment at around 5,500 ft. We continued to ascend and at 6,300 ft we noticed many boot tracks traversing west toward the Monitor Ridge Trail. Instead of taking that course we choose to continue slightly to the right and up. We followed a small scree ridge. At 7,100 ft. we chose to traverse west toward Monitor Ridge Trail. At this point we encountered snow. It was early in the morning and the snow was crusty. We used traction. I wore crampons and David used micro spikes. It wasn’t technically difficult but it was nice to have a good purchase on the snow for our boots. We crossed the Monitor Ridge Trail and continued to the true high point of the rim, aka the summit. We arrived at 9:05 AM. Since we had it to ourselves, and the predicted thunder and lightening was a no show, we stayed for an hour, enjoyed a meal and took in the views. Then we geared up for the descent. We were able to glissade to about the weather station. From there we walked back to camp, arriving at 2:00 PM, just fifteen minutes after the first sounds thunder and a few drops of rain. We reunited with Brian and headed home.