I know there have already been a bunch of MSH trip reports already, so I'll try to make this brief.

We were to meet at 3:15AM at our carpool spot in town.  I woke out of bed to the sound of a cell-phone ringing at 3:17AM!  DOH!!! OVERSLEPT!! Even with two alarms! Good thing I always pack up the night before!

Rushed around and managed to meet up with Jim (jimsiff) and Gary (junkfood) and we were underway up i5 around 3:45am and met up with Bill (billbens) at 4:45 at Jacks.

We got up the the Climber's Bivouac by 5:20 and set foot to trail at 5:38.  There were a ton of cars in the parking lot, but no activity yet.  Our pace was good and made the crater rim in just under 4 hours.

Decided to hit the true summit and had it to ourselves for at least 45 minutes - even though there was tons of activity at the top of the rim trail. 

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking:

Emerging from the timberline at dusk.  Beatuful still, brisk morning.

Jim (jimsiff), Gary (junkfood) and Bill (billbens) - left to right -- at the 2 1/4 mile timberline mark

Gary climbing the ridge, posts indicating the continuing trail.  Mt Hood in the distance sandwhiched in the clouds.

Monitor Ridge in the early morning light

We were able to walk a glacier for bit around 6500 foot mark, giving our feet and knees much needed refief from the rocks

My favorite pic.  One of the tripod monitors on the ridge.  Thought about afixing a Portland Hikers bumper sticker to it.  Mt Hood in the background.  Mt Jefferson was visible too

The final push.  That little spec near the top? That's Jim

View from the crater rim....note the bottom of the glacier and the bottom of the left side of the lava dome

12x zoom on the bottom of the gracier

Cairn at the "true" summit

Jim celebrating

Bill standing on the rim.  Mt Adams in the background

Gary and Jim looking in the crater.  Between the four of us we must have clicked 200 pictures!

Zoom in on Spirit Lake

Looking back on the "other" summit from the true one.  The clouds had been creeping up on the mountain all morning, like a cat stalking it's prey.

Had to do it! 

Other-worldly, isn't it??  Contrast this to the next picture:

Photo taken July 2000 (from http://www.basecamp-1.com/ronsworld/sthelens/mt_st_helens.html)

 

tried to zoom in on the wildfire smoke on Hood.  Hard to tell which is smoke and which is cloud. 

Heading back down into the emerging clouds.

Decent took about 2 hours 45 minutes. 

Stopped at Jacks on the way home for burgers and fries.  Great day!  Great company!  Great weather!  AWESOME DAY!

Rest of the pictures can be found here:
http://jeffstatt.smugmug.com/gallery/1765403/1

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone elses!

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

What an incredible journey! I so wish I could have been there with you. I'm very happy to see that the clouds allowed you to take some wonderful photos with a very different perspective. It's almost as if you planned it that way. And to think you went right from there to Rock of Ages. You are an official mad man now!

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-jeff
OregonLens.com

Hey I remember that day, we followed behind you guys almost all the way up. I'm even in one of those pics. Monitor Ridge in early morning light, I'm the first little green dot.

Great day, wasn't it!?  Glad you logged in here! 

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

Great Reoprt...Great Picures.

I have to put that one on my "to-do" list. Probably next August!

T

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"There is this to be said for walking: It's the one mode of human locomotion by which a man proceeds on his own two feet, upright, erect, as a man should be, not squatting on his rear haunches like a frog." --Edward Abbey

Yeah, It was a perfect day! We really lucked out with the weather. Did you hear anything about the weather that friday? It probably was not that good.

Awesome, I was really hoping the weather would work out for you that day.  Looks like it was great!  That's a special experience when you can work your way up and through the clouds.  How cold was it when you started?

Nice shots with a great sense of scale!

 

Here's a few more photos from our August 10th climb.

GREAT hike, guys!!

 

0' dark-hundred at the Climbers Bivouac / Ptarmigan Trail head:

 

Sunrise on Mt. Adams:

 

Jeff and Jim along the Monitor Ridge route:

 

Is she going to blow?

 

Jim and Jeff at the "true" summit:

 

Jeff taking a well-deserved break, and fueling up for the Rock of Ages night cap:

 

Gary, Bill, Jim, Jeff, and Mt. Adams from the crater rim near the "true" summit.   

 

"Hmmm, I wonder if we can glissade down that?"

 

Jeff on the cloudy descent:

 

Gary enjoying the afternoon descent on the Ptarmigan Trail:

 

Somebody else will have to 'splain this

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BILL BENS

We don't stop hiking because we get old.
We get old because we stop hiking!

I think it was about 55 degrees when we started but I dont know exactly because my watch was in the car. I dont ever remember looking at the temp after that I mostly looked at the altitude.

Awsome photos, Jeff!  Gary had sent me a few from this trip via email; all of them are spectacular.  Seeing these, especially the first one (incredible shot); I HAVE to do it.  I was wondering - why is it necessary to start climbing at 5:30 AM if it only takes 4 hours to reach the summit?  Just curious. 

Okay; I'm jealous.  I'm going. 

 

Mary  Ann

 

Mary Ann:

I was wondering - why is it necessary to start climbing at 5:30 AM if it only takes 4 hours to reach the summit?  Just curious. 

Thanks for the compliments.  Well the decision was made mainly because we figured the summit time to be more like 5 1/2 hours...we thought it would be nice to get the bulk of the hard climbing done before the heat of the sun started beating down on us.  More sun = more water, more water = heavier day pack!!

But certainly the vast majority of climbers that day started between 7:00 and 9:00 am...so if you're looking at that window you should be ok.  You'd be back with plenty of light left.

I'm sure Gary told you the importance of carrying layers of clothing...It got downright cold up there!  Also - sunscreen and a hat would be on my list as well!!


I hope you go!  You won't regret it!

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

Here's a couple of panorama shots.  They didn't turn out great, but they're something different.  I can't add much to what Jeff and Bill have posted... it was a great day.

Panorama from the south rim

Panorama from the true summit

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- Jim Sifferle
My hiking Galleries
The mountains are calling and I must go. -- John Muir

What an amazing set of photos!  You guys did a fantastic job.  Thanks for posting the report and pics!

- Don

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"If I had known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself" - anon

I just found this sight a few weeks ago. I happend to be browsing this evening and found your climb. I climbed the Mt. 7-17-07 with my son on his 17th birthday. We had never climbed her before. We made it to the 8000' level and had to stop. I guess we were not as prepared as I thought we were. It was so cold!!!! I swear the summit seemed to be right within my reach, yet I failed. :(    I'm climbing again next year. I want to own that summit so bad, its all I think about now!!!!    What kind of training might you recomend to be more prepaired! I'm 37 and pretty athletically fit!

What was the decision to turn back?  Was it mainly because of the weather?  Or was it also just running out of energy? 

My guess it was one of two things: one, not doing well with the altitude, or two not drinking enough water. 

So - there are some things to combat this ..  Next year, get to the trailhead the afternoon prior and spend an afternoon getting acclimated to the higher altitude . What is the bivouak at?  around 5000 feet?  That's why it's pretty important to set a pretty slow to moderate pace early on.

The other thing is load up on liquids before you leave and keep very hydrated on the accent (stay WAY ahead of your thirst and watch for signs of drying out - like your lips getting sticky and your fingers getting swollen.).  You should have at least 3 liters of water for that trip.  I like also carrying a couple water bottles with Propel (that gatoraide stuff) which replenishes the electrolites and all that.

Other than that, just packing layers of clothing for the changes in weather is a huge thing on any climb.

I really hope you give it another try!  I think you will just love it!

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman