There is a bit of a story here. My group originally decided to climb Mount Saint Helens on Nov 2, 2014. Weather was looking good with clear sky and 25-30mph of summit wind for morning. We thought it would be fine and we will see and make decision as we get higher. That was the forecast! What we encountered was completely different. Constant rain on the lower elevation, higher wind. As we moved higher, rain turned into snow and wind got stronger and it seemed like reaching +50mph. The group still kept going, but eventually after ~7500feet, with less than 50feet of visibility and sideways snow and sleet, we decided to turn back.
Anyway, that was a good learning. We all had a good time even though we were moving through wintery mix. Good group made it all possible. Everybody stayed strong and upbeat!
By Tuesday, after looking at the weather for next weekend, everyone came to a conclusion that it is time to finish what we started. So, here we go! November 8, 2014, we meet again at 5AM at a meeting place in Portland. Everyone excited to summit Mt Saint Helens.
We started hiking at 8AM from climber's bivouac towards Monitor Ridge. I have been on the summit once before and counting the attempt on the week before this was my 3rd time. It seemed much easier than the first time. First thing that we noticed was the snow level has retreated quite a bit. We did not get into snow up until 7500feet. The weekend before, we were in the snow at 5000feet. Nothing too eventful on the way up or down. We got to the summit by 12 noon and spend around an hour soaking in the sun and the surroundings.
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| At the summit of Mount Saint Helens |
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