Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge — Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2000

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

This trip was arduous, but well worth the effort. We left the bivouac at 0600, and arrived at the summitt 6.5 hours hence. Unlike others, we stayed off the snow for most of the climb. I found the snow a bit slick, and with no crampons or axes, was not comfortable with it. Tip: If you're going to climb the rocks like we did, bring a pair of leather garden gloves. Your hands will thank you. When you reach the crater rim, you may be rendered speachless. The colors on the crater walls are amazing. Listen for rock/ice falls in the crater. You can watch huge boulders bounce down the sides to the bottom of the crater. We spent about 45 minutes at the top. The weather was perfect; beautiful views all around. My hiking partner glissaded most of the way down; I choose the possibly safer scramble route down through the rocks. He ended up three ridges too far to the west, so he had to climb over lots of rocks anyway. The best thing about this hike: walking and climbing through huge pumice and granite boulders that landed where they lay after they were ejected from the throat of the volcano when it erupted 18 May 1980. Amazing.