Mt. St. Helens Climb July 2nd, 2001

Mt. ST. Helens, an active volcano in south-west Washington erupted in May 1980. The eruption blew 1,300 ft off the top of the mountain reducing it to a height of 8,364 ft.

No special equipment was needed for this climb, just food and water.

To see a topograghical map of the mountain click HERE

My ascent was on the opposite side where this picture was taken (ascended on south side), a red arrow marks the point where I reached the summit.

I began the ascent at 5:45AM, 3,700 ft, with a hike throught the woods until I broke out of the trees at 5,500 ft. (photo shows a look down at the treeline from 6,000 ft).

Looking up at the mountain from 6,000 ft, the climb from this point up to 8,100 ft cosisted of jumping from one pyroclastic boulder to the next.

Picture of me taken at 6,500 ft with Mt. Hood shown above my head in the background.

Close-up sequence of Mount Hood (11,200 ft)

The final 1,000 ft ascent consisted of walking through pea sized rock that would sink 1/2 step for every step taken. It went very slow, but I made the summit by 9:00AM.

After reaching the summit (8,364 ft) you can look down into the crater. The mountain has already begun to grow, as seen by the cinder-cone (mound) at the center of the crater.

Mt. Rainier (14,410 ft) in distance. Since the devastation, Spirit Lake still has about 1/4 of it's surface covered by floating tree trunks.

Picture of crater rim with Mt. Adams in background.

Picture of me as reference to the size of the crater rim.

Shot of the rocky ridge that I ascended to reach the summit (snow to the left).

Stayed on top till 11:30AM, got lost going down but managed to reach the parking lot by 2:30PM.