Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge, Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Thursday, Jul. 11, 2024

MOST IMPORTANT: Right at the top of Monitor Ridge, exactly where everybody is first arriving on the rim, a section of the cornice broke and fell into the crater last Saturday.  A big piece of rim then collapsed and fell into the crater.

This collapse made the remaining rim in that section extremely unstable, and it will remain so for some time.  Unfortunately, the gap in the cornice makes this very dangerous section look like a good place (the only place!) to get a glimpse into the crater. 

With the ice gone, a 15 foot long by several feet wide section of rim followed the ice into the crater. The rim that remains is 100% vertical, extremely fragile, and continuously undercut by ongoing rock fall. The dangerous section is right at the top of Monitor Ridge where 100% of climbers are arriving on the rim.

With that piece of cornice gone, it is the only place where a view to the crater floor seems possible. This dangerous section will not be resolved until 1) heavy rain erodes it back into a stable form, or2) the snow in the low spot immediately west of Monitor Ridge melts so that folks are no longer visiting this sketchy section of rim.

Climbing Stewards collected all of the superfluous wands and placed them as a semicircle of them around the danger zone. 

Stepping out onto this overhung, fragile, and crumbling section would be extremely dangerous. 

Please do not step out onto this section due to the high level of danger and risk factor! Even if it is your only view into the crater! A fatality occurred in March when someone stepped out onto the cornice when they believed it was safe to do so. Please avoid making the same mistake.