Mt. St. Helens (Volcano 4 Val)

Thursday was a gorgeous day for hanging out among mountains. Six of us hit the Swift Creek trailhead of the Worm Flows Climbing Route at 9 am – a bit late, as it turned out – and hiked a couple of miles through the woods on top of soft snow in sun and shade. (Those extra miles at the beginning were added because the usual starting point, called Climber’s Bivouac, is still unreachable because of the snowpack. Remember this, as it will become a critical detail in the story later!) Then we started climbing, up through lava boulders and wildflowers (penstemon, phlox, heather) to where the trail disappears at timberline, impossible to maintain in the loose stone and gritty pumice rolling underfoot. Wooden posts mark the way up to about 7000 feet, and then you are on your own to scout out ways up toward the summit over boulders, up lava flows, and across snowfields. Some of the silly singing and extraneous chatter gave way to focused breathing at this point.

After one particularly steep boulder-climbing event, we stopped to eat lunch, investigate the site of one of the USGS seismic monitors, and wait for our leg muscles to stop shivering. We talked to folks coming off the summit to get ideas for good routes up. Then over the next few hours, we made several strenuous pitches up through the ash and pumice and snow. We finally landed at the top of a long boulder field at 4 pm – where we watched groups coming off the snowfield above us, and reassessed our time. We were still about 2 hours below the summit. We decided that summitting at 6 pm would make for a very late descent, and the temperature would change as the sun dropped behind the shoulder of the mountain. So we chose the turtle’s head (see photo) as our turn-around place this time. Coming down was a lot faster, wetter, and more fun than trudging up had been, as we glissaded on feet and butts down the steep snowfields. Kate said we looked and sounded like happy penguins. Hmmm. I thought I was rather graceful, actually. We replaced the sandy feel of volcanic ash on our lips with the refreshing cold of the occasional face-plant!

We made our way down through lengthening shadows in the starkly beautiful volcanic landscape, and into the snow-filled forest. Despite the best efforts of whomever posted the blue arrows for the snowmobile trails (see photo), we managed to stick to our trail and emerged in the parking lot at 9:00 pm. It was a wonderful day. We have vowed to return this summer if we can get permits for later in the season – AFTER the snow melt – and next time we’ll make it right to the rim.

Thank you to everyone who pledged and sent good wishes for volcano4val. May the strength of mountains be with us all!