Climbing Mt St Helens part 7(the end)

As the established photographer, I rarely get my own picture taken on trips. I had quite a few taken of me on this adventure, so I'm going to post them all. Apologies in advance for the extreme vanity and thanks to Travis, JD and Jenny for the photos.



Yes, I have no hair. The first time I've ever had my head totally shaved and it wasn't on purpose. Sometimes cutting your own hair isn't the safest bet and I had to get rid of it all due to a slight misstep.




Being manly at the summit



Descent



I got this new camera bag that straps on the front. It's very handy for quick access and safety, but gets a little heavy on the chest when you're trying to breathe. Notice the double barrel TP as well. I have an affliction that has no known name, but it requires me to have to go NUMBER 2 as soon as I'm the farthest away from a toilet that I can be. It doesn't always get me, but when it comes to bathroom functioning, my motto is safety first.

Climbing Mt St Helens part 6

I'm not a super tech type guy, but I did get the new Iphone 4 and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I like toting a phone with me all the time. Lots of fun things on that phone, but in regards to the trip, having the Accuterra app was a kick to have. It's a $3.00 GPS app that doesn't need cell coverage to work. Here's a link that you can check out our trip as it was recorded, including spots that we stopped and I took photos with the phone. It even kept us from getting lost at one point.

Link to the interactive map is here - you can zoom close to ground level to see the terrain we were on as well as look at pics at the location I took them. Fun!

Overview screenshot

Climbing Mt St Helens part 5

Glissading is something I always look forward to, and we got to do quite a bit this trip. A few in our group decided against it, but Addie, JD and Jennifer followed my lead. We cut about 3 hours off our descent time utilizing this fine method.

I didn't document it , but it turns out Addie is also a fine filmmaker - This short film features

Me at .30
Addie at .46
Jennifer at .50
Jennifer, JD and myself at 1.23

Click here for the video

Screenshot from the film of me out in front

Climbing Mt St Helens part 4

6 hours and we hit the top. Our first views of the North side



We couldn't see straight down into the crater because of the snow cornice in the foreground there. For those of you that don't know, it's an outcropping of snow that sticks out past solid ground. It's a no-no to walk on, because if it gave way, it's a fast trip to the bottom of the crater.




You can see where it's starting to separate from the actual mountain here.




Addie, easily summiting St Helens at 12 years old. Pure rad.



She is my hero



Food has never tasted so good. Red x is where we started.



Post lunch wandering around




Squat




Summit! Addie looking good sporting my extra rain pants(for the glissade back down)

Climbing Mt St Helens part 3

The climb was getting pretty strenuous at this point and I was starting to get more than the normal growling about making people "walk back down 100 feet, now move to the left, no right, no it looks better if you come back up, nevermind go back down" for a good photo op, so I didn't take too many photos for the rest of the climb. The mutterings were mostly good natured as far as I can tell, but it was 7 to 1 and there are plenty of places up there to hide a dead body.


Miles of grunt work. Coming



Going



Going



Going



Gone



Ski pole ninjas

Climbing Mt St Helens part 2

The first couple miles were a gradual uphill through forest. Pleasant to be in the shade for as long as possible. We broke out and it got uphill fast. The trail became a scramble up rocks and would remain this way for most of the 3 miles left to the summit. It was also the last of any kind of shade





A flat spot!





Took a short breather and it was a lot more of this.



We hit a shady spot, so it was breaktime again



Moving on





Breaktime

Climbing Mt St Helens part 1

I know I've said this before, but we really live in the best neighborhood. We didn't know any of the fine folks on this trip until we moved in a few years ago and it's really cool to be able to go on great adventures with people that just live next door.

Even more so because after whatever adventure happens there is usually some kind of massive stuff your face event in the 'hood where we can all sit around and tell exaggerated stories of our greatness that day to other neighbors who couldn't make the trip. Thanks Becky(who didn't get to come due to previously recorded injury in posts below) for cooking up a giant lasagne dinner for everyone and for Rosie who cooked a fine Mt St Helens cake that I didn't get a picture of. It was very cool and hopefully someone got a shot of it so I can post that here later.

Unfortunately my sweet sweet wife couldn't go on this trip due to heel bruising issues that we hope to get cleared up ASAP.

6AM Campers Biouvac Base of St Helens. As far as I know, this was to be the longest and most strenuous walk that any of us have been on.(special thanks to unknown hiker for taking our picture and not dropping my camera)

There's a lot of rock scrambling on this hike, so we honed our skills at base before marching on. The participants in this adventure from left to right- Travis, myself, Jennifer, Jenny, Addie, Claudia, Mike, JD



Started up the trail enjoying a fair bit of banter, the cool morning air and the views.



Couldn't beat the company either.