[TR] St. Helens Mother's Day - PLUS - Worms Flow 5/12/2013

[Seamstress]

Trip: St. Helens Mother's Day - PLUS - Worms Flow

 

Date: 5/12/2013

 

Trip Report:

Many times I go to the mountain to be revel in a quiet day. Other days are social outings. Mother's Day on St. Helens is always an occasion. With a drizzly forecast for Saturday, I declared Mother's Day to be Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to see the party also moved to Saturday.

 

The route was in fine shape. I'm not the best skinner, so I threw the skis on my pack for the stepper section around 7,000'. The footsteps were firm and fabulous, even for my short legs.

 

It was not a day for lounging on the top due to the breeze. It was touching to hear all the climbers making their Mom tribute videos or phone calls.

 

This is my backyard. On the way down, a few folks seemed concerned about efficiently getting back. I made a few new friends and exited to the flat section at 4,000'. Time watch some of the parade.

 

The plan was to get back to the parking lot at 3:00 where my husband would make one of my dreams come true - have a barbeque of my favorites waiting for me. I encountered one of the rangers, and we became aware of a possible incident on the mountain. Now the girl in the formal dress has to become rescuer.

 

We asked a few climbers for information to make a plan, and quickly learned that 684 climbers results in a few walking wounded. We had four possible incidents on the mountain, plus two issues at the Ape Cave. Resources are now stretched very thin.

 

Let me apologize and properly thank all the folks who helped out. The Mazamas stayed true to their mountaineering routes and improvised a system to begin moving their injured friend. We had a group of Mountaineers (I believe) who loaned us their sled to move the injured down below Chocolate Falls. A family had a rope and harnesses that they used to help their young child climb the mountain. This now became the system for moving the injured on a steeper slope.

 

It was an awesome group of Rangers, Mount St. Helens Institute, Volcano Rescue Team and climbers joining forces to pack out two injured climbers. Without all those willing to help, the pack outs would have lasted long into the night, particularly with other resources diverted to the cave mission. This can be an amazing community of people, and I was very touched by the selflessness of people. All of your mothers would be very proud.

[roadtripmom]

A friend of mine injured her knee on the mountain Saturday. So glad you are all there to assist these injured folks. Kudos !

[LonelySummit]

Your Welcome! After responding to the knee(she was awesome!), most of the Volcano Rescue Team then responded to an Ape Caves call. I myself got home Sunday night at 2:30am. The worst part was, most of the husbands on the team were waiting to buy flowers that night; it seems waiting to the last moment backfired on us, haha.

I'm glad that the weekend was a great success for all; it's truly a wonderful thing to see everyone help out where they can.