Circumnavigating Mt. St. Helens

I was thinking about Mt St. Helens as it used to be. Before May 18 1980. Specifically I was thinking of a trip around the mountain. It was new attempt at climbing trips for younger scouts, so we picked a lesser peak than Mt. Rainier. The idea was to train the kids in the craft of climbing, so we were to circumnavigate the mountain just above treeline, teach climbing skills and climb the peak two or three times during the week.

We started out with the bus ride. The bus that would not do more than 35 mph downhill with a tail wind. It was an old International Harvester military bus used to transport military personal from the gate to their waiting planes on the runways. Designed for the flat terrain of an airport, it was woefully out of place in the Cascades. I stood the entire way because there were no more seats. They were stuffed with clients, staff and gear. We drove via forest service logging roads for most of the way, long, rough, bumpy, dusty are the only words to describe that trip.

We arrived at the north side, at timberline, unloaded the bus and headed out east and south around the mountain toward Abraham Flats. Prior to the eruption, MT St. Helens was very different from all the other mountains. Treeline was lower and we were hiking in subalpine meadows with small stunted evergreens. There was no shade. A feature of this trip that we would soon regret. It was July, and we decided to circumnavigate at about 5,000 feet. There was lots of snow left to reflect the heat of the sun. This turned the south side of the mountain into a microwave oven, an appliance ahead of its time.

The first obstacle was the Shoestring Glacier. Climbing the Shoestring Glacier was hard; a narrow, very steep glacier, that had created steep, pumice covered slopes on either side of it. We were not climbing the glacier on this trip, just trying to descend its lateral moraine, cross its snout, and ascend the lateral moraine on the far side. Decent to the glacier was take a step, slide 20 feet, take another step slide 10 more. It was glissading on pumice.

Down was easy, climbing the other side was a struggle. One step up, half a step back. Our packs were full, it was the second day and by the time we reached the other side we were dirty, hot and thirsty. No shade in site.

Chuck got a terrible case of intestinal gas. Fortunately we were not sleeping in tents, too hot. I think Ed devised a medical treatment that really works. Large warm rocks placed gently on the distended stomach tends to relieve the symptoms.

The next day we decided to climb to the summit via the Swift Glacier on the southeast side of the mountain. This is the route used today to climb to the crater rim from the town of Cougar. In those days Cougar was not much bigger than it is today. Temperatures in the high 80's turned the snow into mush. This route has more false summits than any other peak I have ever been on. No one believed the staff when we said, this is it, really this is the summit. We got to the top to see about a hundred other climbers. Remember when the Mountaineers or Mazamas would string out from the parking lot to the summit in early spring. St. Helens was a popular climb any time and you were sure to see many other parties anytime you climbed it.
We camped on the summit that night, planning to descend the following morning. Back then we used a wonderful concoction called Zinc Oxide for sun protection. The gooey pasty stuff turned everything white and everything including the fine pumice dust stuck to it. We simply turned red under the covering of white paste. Our lips blistered. We were having fun! During the night, the effects of poorly applied zinc oxide and less than adequate goggles on some of the young scout clients became apparent. Two kid’s had sunburned their eyes and complained of the awful feeling of sand in your eyes that accompanies that condition. A half a dozen or better were sporting “ubangy lips”, swollen, distended lower lips that protrude far enough to serve as a landing strip for small airplanes.

The descent was exciting. One of my kids had the sunburned eyes. We put two sets of goggles on, one over the other, to try to offer greater protection. This created the desired level of protection, but carried a side effect as all good remedies do. The combination of double goggles and warm temperatures created tremendous perspiration that completely fogged over the inside of the goggles. He could not see a thing. I would not let him remove the goggles for fear of further damaging his eyes, so down the mountain he stumbled, blind as a bat. I think I still hold the record for the most team arrests that day. Every few rope lengths he would fall, feet first, face first, head down, you name it, he fell. After a while, since he was so small and the snow so mushy I just stood up and braced myself, I was getting too wet falling into the self arrest position.

We made it back to the bottom and camp, tired, hot, thirsty, but no shade to be found.

The next day we decided we had had enough direct sun and needed shade for relief. The only shade in sight were trees about 1000 feet below us and a couple of miles away. On the map a small lake showed. We gathered the group and headed for the lake. A couple hours later found us in spindly alpine firs and 1000 ft lower. The temperature had risen due to our decent and the warming of the day into the high 90s. The intermittent shade provided by the poorly foliated trees was no relief. All they did was block what little breeze might have been blowing. We could not find the lake in the tangle of buck brush After sitting and sweating for a few minutes, we decided to return to camp and hope for a breeze.

Another day, another climb to the summit. We had descended the Swift Glacier, now we would climb its neighbor, the Sarvent. I don't think it had any crevasses. Just one big snow field We were going to climb this thing three times on this trip but I think two was more than enough for all of us. We descended by the same route, then traversed the last few miles and finally reached the parking lot after 7 grueling days of 80 to 90 degree temperatures, no shade, lots of pumice and a vow to never do that again. I noticed it did not get on the next year’s schedule of events.

I remember Denny, Chuck, Ed and Craig on the trip. It was one of those trips you try to put out of your mind.

There was another trip to St. Helens with Denny. It wasn't a Shepherd trip though. We had girls with us. We took the McKinleys and decided to save weight by leaving the flies in the cars in the parking lot. We hiked up to the seracs west of the Dogs Head. I can't remember the name of the route. The weather was not the greatest but we figured we would be above the freezing level. Right! It rained, and rained and rained. I woke up to 6 inches of water in the bottom of the tent, a hypothermic, angry female friend and it was only like 1 in the morning. Somehow we survived and retreated to the parking lot to climb another day. Whose idea was it anyway to leave the flies?