Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: May 3-4, 2003
Met up with Craig Irwin from SP and his friend Nathan at Jack's Saturday morning. Started out from Marble Mountain Snow Park about 1 pm and hiked through gloom and some snow onto the ridge. Got to about 5600 feet, just below the seismic monitor and shoveled out a flat area and set up camp. Snow started in earnest then and came in sideways from the west the entire rest of the weekend. At midnight, had to shovel the tent out a bit. Not sure how much snow we got as the drifts made it hard to judge, maybe a few inches, maybe a foot or so.
Made breakfast in the vestibule and climbed Sunday in decreasing visibility to about 6700 feet. Visibility was....um...........our feet and wind about 25-30 mph so we decided to turn around. Got some good winter camping and travel experience and had a great time with some new friends. At one point I swore I heard sirens from our camp and then on the hike out, some other hikers told us SAR had pulled a group of disoriented climbers off earlier. Either way, it just wasn't meant to be a summit trip but had a good time nonetheless. A nice steep section just above our camp got to use the axe on. Broke a trekking pole in half though postholing on the ridge on the hike out.
Route Climbed: Swift Creek/Worm Flows Date Climbed: February 23, 2002
Broke trail from the tree line Sat. Set up our tent just above Chocolate Falls in blowing wind and snow. Clear, beautiful night though. Got an early start Sunday. Made it up to 700ft below the summit. Summit was socked-in, snow was blowing sideways. Tried to wait it out for a while, then headed down.
Route Climbed: Butte Camp Date Climbed: February 13, 2003
Usually this route isn't open until June. Similar to Swift Creek, perhaps a bit steeper. Left the trailhead at 6:45 a.m., summited at 11:45 a.m. Snow in surprisingly good shape even after 12 straight days of sun. Used crampons and trekking poles from the end of Butte Camp trail on. Breezy on top, otherwise wind and weather not a factor. Back at the trailhead at 3:45 p.m.
Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: Feburary 8th, 2003
Got up at 3:30am to get to trailhead by 8am from Seattle, uhg! Awsome trip, little icey on top which made for a sketchy ascent because we didn't bring crampons or snowshoes (ya i know, stupid). Made the summit at 1:30pm after 4hrs of climbing under clear blue skies. Total trip time was a shade over 7hrs. Had a great time on the glissade down!!
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: June 20, 2002
Decided to climb during the week to avoid the weekend masses. We spent an unseasonably cold night at Climber's bivy.
Got an alpine start and had a pleasent hike on firm snow to tree line. Slowed down once we got above tree-line, snow was still firm, but we didn't bring crampons or ice axes. I wish we would have. Spent minimal amout of time on the summit due to wind.
Glissaded down with trekking pole as a brake. Once we reach the tree-line the snow was pretty sloppy. I had pretty wet feet when we arrived back at the car.
Route Climbed: Swift Creek Date Climbed: January 7, 2003
We kicked off the 2003 climbing season! Beautiful day. Actually warm down low. Left Marble Mountain trailhead at 7 a.m. Icy in spots but not bad overall. Used everything - snowshoes and trekking poles then ice axe and crampons, then snowshoes again. Summited at 1 p.m.. Very little wind. Could see everything from Baker to The Sisters. No smog!
Very sunny and warm on the way down, consequently the postholing was THE WORST I'd ever seen.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: May 18, 2001
Perfect day! Put the skins on the Tele Skis and went to the top. We headed down a little late and the snow was rather mashed potato like, but decent. We saw a lot of people punching through the snow with their boots. I would recommend skis or snow shoes when it's warm and the sun is out.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: December 6, 2002
My wife, our friend, and I climbed the Monitor Ridge route in PERFECT conditions - sunny, windless, unlimited vis. Amazing day in early December!!! Spent over an hour at the summit enjoying the sun and the views (NO wind!!!???). This was a bonus weekend for the residents of the PNW.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 24th, 2002
Met my party at the Salmon Creek Park and Ride at 3 AM. Hit the trail by 5:30 AM with our headlamps illuminating the forest. The ridge was marked with poles and was easy to follow. We stopped at around 6500' to put on crampons. Got to the rim by 10:15 and then traversed to the true summit at around 10:45. The weather was incredible! Sun was shining and the wind not too bad. Stayed up on the summit for about an hour - I actually took a short nap! Coming down was a dog - the snow was getting soft and we were sliding around, our footsteps unsure. The postholing didn't help and there wasn't enough snow to do a whole lot of decent glissading. About 9.5 hours round trip, including nap time :-). This was my first summit of St. Helens and it certainly won't be the last!
Route Climbed: Dog's head Date Climbed: June 6, 1973
This mountain was my favorite mountain to climb and although I only summitted once, several trips were made to the dog head's area for the outstanding glissading that was available at times. This part of the mountain is sadly no more as it was blasted into the air on May 18, 1980. Mt. St. Helen's (pre eruption) was to me the most beautiful mountain in the northwest, as well as the Spirit Lake area, a mountain that was often referred to as America's Mt. Fuji. I still miss it.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 30th, 2002
Camped overnight at Climber's Bivouac. The sheriff came by and took my picture and commented about how odd it was to see me cooking hotdogs out of the back of my car in my t-shirt this late in the season.
Started up at 6am, reached the summit at 9:30am. The route was mostly snow free, and the day was beautifull with blue skies and about 50 degrees F at the summit. I was the first one up there, and spent an hour wandering around before heading down. As I came back down the mountain i passed dozens of others heading up.
It was amazing the variety of the gear on those heading up -- there was a group of folks marking the route with wands, who had full the full mountaineering outfit on, and then there was the couple in jeans and sweatshirts hoofing it up there with their dog.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: Sept 23, 01/ Dec 8, 02/ April 27, 03
We got lucky to get a permit for the day as we rolled in kind of late and didn't even hit the trail until 11:30am. Lots of folks were on their way down as we set out with our dogs in tow. Kind of rough on the mutts feet, I would recommend booties and lots of water. We had a hot, dry day for hiking; the scree at the top was screaming for gaitors! Summit greeted us with great views all around, we spent about an hour up there and headed back to make it before dark. Each step we took downhill in the scree we were able to ride about 4 feet, lots of fun. Begging to be done again, in the winter!
Dec. 8-So much better in the winter, although conditions were so mild I think another "true" winter summit is in store. Started from climbers bivouac at 6:30am in the dark, above treeline by sunrise. Much less crowded this time of year, easier on my dogs paws and the snow kept the dust and scree hidden. Near perfect conditions, views of Adams, Hood, Rainier, Jefferson, and maybe Broken-Top! 6 1/2 hours roundtrip, back in time to start the day!
Apr. 27- After barely getting to climber biv. we camped in the snow, up before dawn. Bushwacked to find the trail, crampons handy for the last hour, summited at 11, perfectly clear day, great view from the frigid crater rim. Back to the car by 3 pm. Best climb up there yet.
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 2, 2002
I managed to pick the perfect day to climb! 20's in the morning with barely a whisper of a breeze, and not a cloud in the sky from sunrise to sunset. After spending the night in Cougar, we hit the trail at daybreak, around 6:30. The day was cold, but just right for a brisk climb. The trails were easy to follow, and the summit was reached in just over 4 hours. The views were spectacular all day long. Passed quite a few folks on the way down, so leaving early was a wise decision. Looking forward to a repeat climb in winter or another day like today!
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: August 27,01
We camped at the Climbers Bivouac , left at 530 am reach the summit at 1030 am , my 11 yo girl did a wonderful job. Unbelievable sight of destruction from up on top ! The view of the sunrise next to Mt Adams was awesome as we hiked above timberline . Want to attempt this in the snow . This climb inpsired us to climb other mtns !!
Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: May 5, 2001
Hiked in to the junction with the trail that goes around the mountain. Snow camped then woke up to climb the next day. Made the summit in the morning and took the summit pictures. Glissaded our way down. Glissading rules. Did I say glissading rules?! Was another beautiful day to be on the mountain. I was glad we took snow shoes for the way out. They were needed due to the warm weather.
krishna - May 12, 2003 2:18 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: Apr 28, 2002Great weather. Wish I had taken my skis with me.
Brian Jenkins - May 6, 2003 12:46 pm
Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: May 3-4, 2003Met up with Craig Irwin from SP and his friend Nathan at Jack's Saturday morning. Started out from Marble Mountain Snow Park about 1 pm and hiked through gloom and some snow onto the ridge. Got to about 5600 feet, just below the seismic monitor and shoveled out a flat area and set up camp. Snow started in earnest then and came in sideways from the west the entire rest of the weekend. At midnight, had to shovel the tent out a bit. Not sure how much snow we got as the drifts made it hard to judge, maybe a few inches, maybe a foot or so.
Made breakfast in the vestibule and climbed Sunday in decreasing visibility to about 6700 feet. Visibility was....um...........our feet and wind about 25-30 mph so we decided to turn around. Got some good winter camping and travel experience and had a great time with some new friends. At one point I swore I heard sirens from our camp and then on the hike out, some other hikers told us SAR had pulled a group of disoriented climbers off earlier. Either way, it just wasn't meant to be a summit trip but had a good time nonetheless. A nice steep section just above our camp got to use the axe on. Broke a trekking pole in half though postholing on the ridge on the hike out.
cuprina - Mar 13, 2003 3:40 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: August 3, 2002This one is little crowded, especially in summer on sunny day like this. Had a great time anyway.
MikeB - Mar 9, 2003 5:17 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: June, 1993; April, May, June, July 1994; March 1995Fell 600 feet in avalanche - April 1994. Real wake-up call to the mountains.
big_g - Mar 3, 2003 6:15 pm Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2002
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge1st Cascade volcano.
jhalz - Feb 26, 2003 9:35 am
Route Climbed: Swift Creek/Worm Flows Date Climbed: February 23, 2002Broke trail from the tree line Sat. Set up our tent just above Chocolate Falls in blowing wind and snow. Clear, beautiful night though. Got an early start Sunday. Made it up to 700ft below the summit. Summit was socked-in, snow was blowing sideways. Tried to wait it out for a while, then headed down.
leftfield - Feb 15, 2003 7:42 pm
Route Climbed: Butte Camp Date Climbed: February 13, 2003Usually this route isn't open until June. Similar to Swift Creek, perhaps a bit steeper. Left the trailhead at 6:45 a.m., summited at 11:45 a.m. Snow in surprisingly good shape even after 12 straight days of sun. Used crampons and trekking poles from the end of Butte Camp trail on. Breezy on top, otherwise wind and weather not a factor. Back at the trailhead at 3:45 p.m.
Dulton - Feb 10, 2003 12:40 am
Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: Feburary 8th, 2003Got up at 3:30am to get to trailhead by 8am from Seattle, uhg! Awsome trip, little icey on top which made for a sketchy ascent because we didn't bring crampons or snowshoes (ya i know, stupid). Made the summit at 1:30pm after 4hrs of climbing under clear blue skies. Total trip time was a shade over 7hrs. Had a great time on the glissade down!!
jhalz - Jan 23, 2003 10:08 am
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: June 20, 2002Decided to climb during the week to avoid the weekend masses. We spent an unseasonably cold night at Climber's bivy.
Got an alpine start and had a pleasent hike on firm snow to tree line. Slowed down once we got above tree-line, snow was still firm, but we didn't bring crampons or ice axes. I wish we would have. Spent minimal amout of time on the summit due to wind.
Glissaded down with trekking pole as a brake. Once we reach the tree-line the snow was pretty sloppy. I had pretty wet feet when we arrived back at the car.
leftfield - Jan 12, 2003 7:18 pm
Route Climbed: Swift Creek Date Climbed: January 7, 2003We kicked off the 2003 climbing season! Beautiful day. Actually warm down low. Left Marble Mountain trailhead at 7 a.m. Icy in spots but not bad overall. Used everything - snowshoes and trekking poles then ice axe and crampons, then snowshoes again. Summited at 1 p.m.. Very little wind. Could see everything from Baker to The Sisters. No smog!
Very sunny and warm on the way down, consequently the postholing was THE WORST I'd ever seen.
Got back to the trailhead at 4:45 p.m.
yayoubetcha - Dec 25, 2002 10:49 am
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: May 18, 2001Perfect day! Put the skins on the Tele Skis and went to the top. We headed down a little late and the snow was rather mashed potato like, but decent. We saw a lot of people punching through the snow with their boots. I would recommend skis or snow shoes when it's warm and the sun is out.
rpc - Dec 9, 2002 10:34 am
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: December 6, 2002My wife, our friend, and I climbed the Monitor Ridge route in PERFECT conditions - sunny, windless, unlimited vis. Amazing day in early December!!! Spent over an hour at the summit enjoying the sun and the views (NO wind!!!???). This was a bonus weekend for the residents of the PNW.
techboy - Dec 3, 2002 11:31 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 24th, 2002Met my party at the Salmon Creek Park and Ride at 3 AM. Hit the trail by 5:30 AM with our headlamps illuminating the forest. The ridge was marked with poles and was easy to follow. We stopped at around 6500' to put on crampons. Got to the rim by 10:15 and then traversed to the true summit at around 10:45. The weather was incredible! Sun was shining and the wind not too bad. Stayed up on the summit for about an hour - I actually took a short nap! Coming down was a dog - the snow was getting soft and we were sliding around, our footsteps unsure. The postholing didn't help and there wasn't enough snow to do a whole lot of decent glissading. About 9.5 hours round trip, including nap time :-). This was my first summit of St. Helens and it certainly won't be the last!
Dean - Dec 3, 2002 2:08 pm
Route Climbed: Dog's head Date Climbed: June 6, 1973This mountain was my favorite mountain to climb and although I only summitted once, several trips were made to the dog head's area for the outstanding glissading that was available at times. This part of the mountain is sadly no more as it was blasted into the air on May 18, 1980. Mt. St. Helen's (pre eruption) was to me the most beautiful mountain in the northwest, as well as the Spirit Lake area, a mountain that was often referred to as America's Mt. Fuji. I still miss it.
iand - Dec 2, 2002 12:10 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 30th, 2002Camped overnight at Climber's Bivouac. The sheriff came by and took my picture and commented about how odd it was to see me cooking hotdogs out of the back of my car in my t-shirt this late in the season.
Started up at 6am, reached the summit at 9:30am. The route was mostly snow free, and the day was beautifull with blue skies and about 50 degrees F at the summit. I was the first one up there, and spent an hour wandering around before heading down. As I came back down the mountain i passed dozens of others heading up.
It was amazing the variety of the gear on those heading up -- there was a group of folks marking the route with wands, who had full the full mountaineering outfit on, and then there was the couple in jeans and sweatshirts hoofing it up there with their dog.
climberkristin - Nov 26, 2002 8:54 am
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: Sept 23, 01/ Dec 8, 02/ April 27, 03We got lucky to get a permit for the day as we rolled in kind of late and didn't even hit the trail until 11:30am. Lots of folks were on their way down as we set out with our dogs in tow. Kind of rough on the mutts feet, I would recommend booties and lots of water. We had a hot, dry day for hiking; the scree at the top was screaming for gaitors! Summit greeted us with great views all around, we spent about an hour up there and headed back to make it before dark. Each step we took downhill in the scree we were able to ride about 4 feet, lots of fun. Begging to be done again, in the winter!
Dec. 8-So much better in the winter, although conditions were so mild I think another "true" winter summit is in store. Started from climbers bivouac at 6:30am in the dark, above treeline by sunrise. Much less crowded this time of year, easier on my dogs paws and the snow kept the dust and scree hidden. Near perfect conditions, views of Adams, Hood, Rainier, Jefferson, and maybe Broken-Top! 6 1/2 hours roundtrip, back in time to start the day!
Apr. 27- After barely getting to climber biv. we camped in the snow, up before dawn. Bushwacked to find the trail, crampons handy for the last hour, summited at 11, perfectly clear day, great view from the frigid crater rim. Back to the car by 3 pm. Best climb up there yet.
sixsigmafool - Nov 5, 2002 7:37 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: November 2, 2002I managed to pick the perfect day to climb! 20's in the morning with barely a whisper of a breeze, and not a cloud in the sky from sunrise to sunset. After spending the night in Cougar, we hit the trail at daybreak, around 6:30. The day was cold, but just right for a brisk climb. The trails were easy to follow, and the summit was reached in just over 4 hours. The views were spectacular all day long. Passed quite a few folks on the way down, so leaving early was a wise decision. Looking forward to a repeat climb in winter or another day like today!
mtndave - Oct 22, 2002 9:01 pm
Route Climbed: Monitor Ridge Date Climbed: August 27,01We camped at the Climbers Bivouac , left at 530 am reach the summit at 1030 am , my 11 yo girl did a wonderful job. Unbelievable sight of destruction from up on top ! The view of the sunrise next to Mt Adams was awesome as we hiked above timberline . Want to attempt this in the snow . This climb inpsired us to climb other mtns !!
tymelero - Oct 20, 2002 9:04 pm
Route Climbed: Worm Flows Date Climbed: May 5, 2001Hiked in to the junction with the trail that goes around the mountain. Snow camped then woke up to climb the next day. Made the summit in the morning and took the summit pictures. Glissaded our way down. Glissading rules. Did I say glissading rules?! Was another beautiful day to be on the mountain. I was glad we took snow shoes for the way out. They were needed due to the warm weather.
bartto - Oct 14, 2002 5:57 pm
Route Climbed: monitor ridge Date Climbed: Oct.6,2002this was my first summit of any Mtn. I hope theres plenty more