Climbing Mount St. Helens

MOUNT ST. HELENS
APRIL 2001


April 2001 climbed Mount St. Helens with my friend Steve. Day one we hauled our get by sled to the end of the tree line and made camp. The next day we left camp at 8am and summited at 2pm. I went to the rim and was looking into the crater when I noticed all the foot prints stopped about 10 feet back from the edge. I them realized I was standing on a cornice hanging a 1000 feet above the crater floor. My goal was to then ski down the mountain back to our base camp but the snow was so hard and icy I did what everyone else was doing and slid down the mountain on my butt.

Mount St. Helens is an active volcano in southwest Washington State and the central feature of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

We climbed using the Monitor Ridge Route from our Bivouac. This route gains 4,500 feet in five miles to the crater rim at 8,365 feet elevation. Although strenuous, this non-technical climb does require one to be in good physical condition.