Mt St Helens

Today is one step closer to one of my recent goals. I’ve wanted to climb Mt. St. Helens for the past several months, since I realized it was the least difficult of the Cascade volcanoes in the winter time.

Nick and met in Lakewood at 0530 and drove in my car down to the town of Cougar, WA. We made very good time, but it was early in the morning of a Federal holiday. The last 10 miles of the road to the sno-park were pretty well iced over, but my car didn’t slip once. At the Marble Mountain sno-park there were only a few other people, but it was very cold. We ducked inside the large warming hut to gear up for the hike.

The south side of Mt. St. Helens has a very extensive snowmobile and cross country ski trail system. The trail that we took was well packed down and was easy travel on the snow. We wore snowshoes for about an hour, but never really needed them. The weather was perfectly clear and calm. The most wind we saw all day was a 5mph breeze.

When we were almost at the tree line we stumbled upon a snow cave that someone else had built and occupied for a few days. After leaving the tree line there was a well marked boot path that ran up a ridge and along a line of rocks that made route finding easy.

At about noon we stopped to eat lunch at some rocks overlooking the south side of the mountain. We dug in the snow to get out of the breeze and enjoyed a warm meal in a serene location. I had a MRE and hot cocoa. I shared my MRE with Nick and he was surprised at how good it tasted.

After lunch we pressed on further up the mountain. It got steep in a few places and there was more ice the higher we went. At about 3pm we decided that we had gone far enough and took some pictures before turning around. There was an inspiring view of Mt Adams and Mt. Hood from that spot. Near the rocks there was a seismic monitoring station that had been knocked over. Not realizing this, I started pounding a picket into the snow only a few feet away from the station. Hopefully it wasn’t strong enough to be recorded. Snow pickets are used as anchors in climbing. I recently bought one and wanted to see how well it would hold in snow. I was pleasantly surprised. After pounding it into the snow, no amount of leaning or pulling would break it loose.

The return down the mountain was strait forward and uneventful. We made very good time on the decent alternating between glissading on the packed snow and plunge stepping into the softer snow. We made it back to the car and the warming hut at 5pm just as it was getting dark.

Despite not summiting, it was an immensely enjoyable day. For me, it’s more important to have fun and be safe than bag a summit. I enjoyed spending time with a new friend and being in the outdoors and training for bigger climbs. Above all, I enjoyed the pervasive stillness and peace that seemed to characterize the day. The only sound was our feet on the snow, and whenever we stopped everything was still and it seemed as if there was no on else in the world and everything was silent. Being from the city, it is not often that one experiences true silence. I would have liked to spend a night there just to sit and stare at the beauty around me and ponder life. I think it is ironic to have experienced so much peace and silence on Mt St Helens, the most active and climbed Volcano in the US. I plan to return to try again at the summit at the earliest possible opportunity. This time I will try to camp in the vicinity of the mountain. Ideally, I would get an alpine start and summit shortly after sunrise and watch the sunrise from high up on the mountain.

Aerial photo by USFS.