Saint Helens Re-Opens!!!

[PaulO]

Went last Sunday. Old dome is just a rock pile in the corner. New dome is wall to wall across the crater and 2/3 to 3/4 the height of the rim. I WAS impressed! Give her a couple more years and there may be a new mountain to go up.

 

Bob getting some summit refreshment :

 

 

Me and the dome:

 

 

It was a cool view.

[jfmctlaw]

My crew and I climbed Mt. St. H on 8/23. I had never been there before, and even though I did a lot of research, certain information was unclear. So here's what I learned.

 

You can drive your car right up to Climber's Bivy (CB). It's a dead end cul de sac (circle) with some very basic campsites and fire rings. There are also 2 small wooden buildings housing a toilet each. More importantly there is no water at the Bivy. Bring all the water you need to camp and climb. I saw no water on the climb... yes you could melt snow up higher but that means a stove and fuel and a pot.

 

There is no garbage dumpster at CB, so you carry yours out. In hindsight I would camp elsewhere like Cougar Bay (showers, running water, dumpsters) and drive to CB in the AM. When you come down in the eve (exhausted and filthy), you go back to a nice campsite (and shower) if you like.

 

I spoke to a ranger about the dearth of facilities at CB. He said at one time there was water at CB but somehow the well didn't hold up. Anyways it's the bare minimum.

 

The climb itself is very straight forward. The hardest part IMHO occurs just after you pass above tree line. There are some boulders you have to work through that are challenging for people not used to balancing on a rock point and then moving to the next pointed rock, but young kids can do it. I'm saying this just so you know, it's not a TRAIL hike.

 

The view is great, but there is dust and ash flying around up top depending on the winds. My camera shutter got stuck due to the ash but luckily my daughter noticed and we manually opened it thereafter.

 

$22 does seem outrageous to climb a mountain. Hopefully something good is done with that money.

[jfmctlaw]

How do you guys put pictures on your posts? I attached one to the above post, but it is not diplayed. It is however shown as an 'attachment' and you can d/l it.

 

Do you just copy and paste? I'm running Netscape 7.2/Mac OSX 10.3.9

[Ducknut]

Its still there, just behind the swirling mists.