Mt St Helens in the Rain

I climbed Mt. St. Helens on Wednesday the 12th with Melvin, Jason, BobS, Steve, and Jagan. The weather was terrible. We saw blue skys for less than a minute, and no views the entire day. It rained, and the wind blew hard (probably in the 40-50 mph range towards the summit) ... but we made it! It was actually a bit easier than last time since the cinder cone at the top was wet and therefore we did not slide down much. The weather conditions were some of the worst I have ever done a hike in. We were cold and wet by the time we hit the summit ... and the way down was only worse.

That was my second summit. The first had perfect weather. I will probably get permits again sometime ... but I will probably not bother to go if the weather is looking poor.

One thing I thought was interesting -- the vast majority of the people trying to make the summit were totally unprepared. I am talking jeans and garbage bags for rain gear. Give me a break. Not only would that be really uncomfortable ... but in conditions like that it is flat out dangerous. They give out 100 permits each day, and apparently we were the last group to pick up our permits in the morning. I think I was like the 5th person up to the summit, with less than 10 after me (including the 4 in our group who made it with me). Luckily most of the unprepared people decided to turn back pretty early in the hike.

Mevlin posted some photos here if you want to see us suffering in the rain.