The Mount St. Helens team getting ready to head out from Marble Mountain Sno Park on June 22.
Returning to camp on July 18 after summiting North Sister with South and Middle Sister in the background.
Viewing entries tagged
Mount St. Helens
The Pentaquest team safely climbed Mount St. Helens on June 23, 2023 up the Worm Flows (winter) route from Marble Mountain Sno Park. All 12 in the group successfully reached the summit. After a few rough trips to the mountain over the past two years due to bad weather, reaching the summit felt especially rewarding.
Click here for photos from the climb.
Two-thirds of the team at the crater rim.
On Monday, June 14, 2021 the team made an attempt up Mount St. Helens via the Worm Flow Route. Despite a strong effort, we decided to turn around near 7,000 feet due to rain, wind, and thick clouds.
Looking up at Mount St. Helens from near the treeline.
Here’s a link to photos from the climb.
Group photo near the seismic station.
On Friday, April 30, 2021 the team attempted Mount St. Helens via the Worm Flows Route. After camping under clear skies at the trailhead, rain and wind moved in as we started out in the early morning.
The team taking a break near the treeline.
Snow covered the trail almost immediately as we entered the woods from Marble Mountain Sno Park. Using microspikes, we followed a well-established bootpath and quickly moved the 2.5 miles to the treeline. As we gained altitude, the weather slowly became an issue as the wind and rain picked up. We finally decided to turn back around 7,000 feet as conditions deteriorated and routefinding became a challenge.
The location where we decided to turn around.
Despite the inclement weather, we still found time for an epic glissade. The late-April snow was perfect and enabled us to drop elevation in a hurry. We also successfully tested out a new glissade device called the “Alpine Scooty Booty” from the Portland-based NÖR HEX Gear Co.
Glissading below the seismic sensor on the Worm Flows Route.
Click here to view more photos from the climb. And here for a glissade video.
Overall, it was a great day. We didn’t summit, but we found adventure on an active volcano.