Mt. St. Helen's Summit

Our target from earlier in the summer

I’ve been wanting to climb a cascade volcano for ever since I was a little kid so when Kerrie’s uncle told me he was getting some permits I jumped on the opportunity to tag along. In the end, he wasn’t able to make it work so I enlisted Andrew, my father and his friend, Wes to join.

I was a little hesitant on tackling this challenge so close to my race, but I figured it wouldn’t be too bad and that I would have plenty of time to recover if things beat me up more than I expected. Originally, we had planned to camp in the area that weekend, but some slight knee issues for myself and some training requirements for Andrew, resulted in a dawn departure for the mountain.

We picked up our permits around 6a and were climbing my 6:45a. My knee didn’t bother me too much so it was nice being out and about with a good crew of guys. Soon we were above tree line, scouting out the scrambling that was to come. From this point on, it was 2ish miles of scrambling in around 2,000+ feet of elevation.

We slowly picked our way across the jagged pumice, stopping everyone and awhile to soak in the views. Eventually, we get our first snow patch were Wed opted to kick steps, while the rest of us continued to climb over the rocks.

Cresting the next ridge, the weather station and summit came into view. Our target was in sight. We could see a handful of hikers glazing over the edge of the crater rim. It was nearly a three quarters of mile and 700ft in gain to the top. Andrew and I took off on the sandy rocky path, while the dad’s brought up the rear. As we progressed, our trail runner increasingly being filled with ash and sand, but we cared not, as there would be plenty of time to shovel out the sand at the top.

Before we knew it, we crossed the end of the path and peered into the crater of the volcano. Before us spread a view consisting of the blast zone, Johnson Ridge Observatory, Mt. Rainier, Coldwater Peak, Spirit Lake and the Mt. Margaret Backcountry. To right stood Mt. Adams, while we could barely make out the silhouette of Mt. Hood behind us.

Soon the Dads joined us and we took the required summit photos. Pics or it didn’t happen! We sat down to rest and soak in the view, while feasting on gels, PBJs, trail mix and water. I emptied my shoes, doned some mini gaiters and prepared my quads for the descent.

Adams in the background

Keeping warm

Luckily for us, the stumble down wasn’t as bad as I had expected because the sandy and ash cushioned the impact of our repeated steps. We also took turns attempting to feet glissade down the snow patches. Some were more successful than others. Eventually, we rejoined the actual trail, where we began pushing the tempo because my father notified us that there were cold beers waiting in the car.

Upon arrival back at the car, we popped the tops of some local brews and toasted our success. It took us 6 hours to get up and down, plus a 40 min lunch on the top. I am super happy to have accomplished my first Cascade volcano with my close friend and father. Next up on the check list is Adams or Hood, but I’ll have to wait till next spring to tackle the next one.

Stopped at Breakside on the way home for a brew

UNT

Bryan