Mt. St. Helens climb attempt

[Bergamo]

Hello. New to the forum and fairly new to hiking / mountaineering.

Last winter after a few snowshoeing day trips with the Mt. St. Helens Institue (MSHI), I decided to take on a new challange and sign up for one of their guided climbs to the top of the Mt. St. Helens rim.

So yesterday was the big day. We started out on the south side at Climber's Bivouac and followed the trail to the tree line right before Monitor Ridge.

As I started the very first rock / boulder scramble section of Monitor Ridge I realized that it was steeper than I thought and soon found myself taking a long time negotiang my track while getting more and more nervous with every step. I stopped and consulted with the guides about what was still ahead (a lot more of the same, but with no increase in difficulty) and so I decided to bail. I was pretty bummed.

 

I feel like I was up to the task physically, but mentally I was overwhelmed by the fear of getting into a treacherous situation. The guides were awesome and very understanding of my decision (they almost seemed surprised by it). I left my heart on the mountain yesterday and regret giving up so soon.

When I signed up I was optimistic given that this is considered a non technical climb (more like a very difficult hike). Now I'm not so sure anymore.

 

Is Mt. St. Helens a suitable summit for a first climb? I am missing a reference point in all this... and I sure feel like I missed out on a great experience

Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts or suggestions are very well appreciated, thanks!

Edited August 8, 2011 by Bergamo

[Water]

my wife has acrophobia to a varying degree, and MSH was her first climb out west after thru-hiking the appalachian trail.

 

she cried a bunch and hated those boulders that you're referencing. her mind freaks out irrationally about all sorts of stuff with it--that going down is going to be horribly worse or that shes going to lose grip/fall 50ft.. (when in reality if she fell it would be 3ft). She even gets wigged quite a bit TR in an indoor gym.

 

She has slowly improved over time though. A lot of patience and support on my end has helped during the climbs. Having done a climb once also makes the second time much, much better, even if ahead of time she is anticipating the 'scary' part. Normally after she has done something the second time she'll still say some portion was scary but really she will have conquered the majority of her fear and is much more enthusiastic to consider doing it again--though its not like she wants to repeat dog routes on the volcanoes weekend after weekend. once a year is fine i think. The only climb she has turned back from was the Matterhorn in the Wallowas--but we hadn't even been in Oregon for a year then nor had we done St. Helens -- it was a bit sketch with some sandy ledges and I understood. Shes been up the easy volcanoes twice at this point (MSH/S. Sis/Adams)

 

I think they were surprised probably because most people don't have that big of a fear of heights so, well, it caught them off guard--but it is great they rolled with it. MSH is a fine first climb, though for reference climbing Mt Adams or South Sister--I don't believe you have to touch a single boulder like you do on St. Helens just past treeline.

 

shoot me a pm if you want to chat more or speak with my wife.

[gasper]

Saint Helens was my first 'mountain'. Even though I've done a lot of hiking, driving up to the mountain it seemed bigger steeper than on the webpage.

 

I was up on the rim ~3 weeks ago. Fantastic day. I think if I fall where am I falling to? On Helens, on the rock, falling is about 10' down or so? Towards the top I think is where a fall could be an issue if you tumbled down the snow slope. I look at the entire route, then break it down to a visible section, then focus on where I am immediately and consequences of loosing footing where I am standing/stepping (more so on snow). Just how I think about it, and not sure if that's right or looking at it that way would help.

 

I don't think the terrain is much different from where you were except for the top which is loose. Just hiking more will build confidence in your footing and stepping through rough terrain.

Edited August 9, 2011 by gasper

[Bergamo]

Thanks Water & gasper,

exactly what happened. Only I stopped as soon as I recognized it was going to be long struggle, especially knowing that I had to do it all in reverse.

I was on the first few rocks of the monitor ridge lava flow and as I kept looking up and then down (key mistake) I started to panic. The "exposure" aspect of the barren landscape below also contributed to it. I never reached a snow field so I have no idea how that is either. It became apparent to me that I was in a fight or flight situation.

 

I suspect I have some acrophobia (for some reason it started well into adulthood and only really an issue when flying) but I did not really expect it to stop me cold in my tracks like last Saturday.

This is really the issue here. Not so much the technical (so to speak) aspects of the climb, although I will say that scrambling through rocks and boulders is much easier for me without trekking poles and simply using my hands (wearing sturdy grippy gloves).

I plan to hit the Portland Rock Gym later this week and start working on "height" conditioning... of course more hikes are in order.