The Big Climb

Im so super tired but really in a good way. Kieran,his sister Katie, and I finally climbed to the crater of Mt. St. Helens yesterday. It is approximately 5 miles to the top at roughly 8,300 feet. Our hike went a bit over the 10 mile round tripper because we wound back and forth through one area hoping to avoid killing our knees further with some helacious bouldering. It took us 12 hours...I was hoping for 8-10. :) Katie picked up Kieran and I at 4:30ish and we headed off to Cougar to the Lone Fir Resort, where we picked up our Climbing Permits. We took of from Climber's Bivouac and headed up the really really lovely Ptarmigan trail. This is a two miler through the forest, not too steep, really pretty. Tons of wildflowers, which kind of shocked me being it feels so late in the summer, but actually up here it's just about the middle. You don't need a permit for this first part of the hike and I highly recommend it if you can make it here. After we finished this portion, it was time for the games to begin...
The Boulder field was the area I most highly anticipated for this hike. I used to freehand climb and boulder a bit in Alaska and Wyoming and it had been a while for me. A little concerned about my skills but really excited, was bouldering like riding a bike? Not quite, my body has changed a bit since I was 20 and this made for some interesting scrambles. Smile on my face I perservered but it was obvious Kieran and Katie were being extremely patient with me particularly when I announced "this is my favorite part!" The Boulder field was longer than it at first apppeared and although I was slower going than I wanted to be our timing for reaching the top of the crater was still dead on. All three of us quickly recovered from any fatigue or breathlessness after even very short breaks. The weather up until this point had been quite fair. We passed in and out of clouds that mostly obscured the valley floor but left our visibility of the Mountain great. There was a slight breeze and the temp was perfect. By the time we reached the top of the boulder field our beautiful breeze had turned into gale force winds. The clouds have moved up the mountainside leaving us in a mist that, although it didn't act like rain, left us dripping wet. The worst part was the wind...


And then...there was...the pumice. I had been estimating and had read that the pumice/sand field that lies around the throat of the crater was approximately one mile wide. Try a Sisyphus mile. (Sisyphus was the poor soul condemned to roll a boulder uphill for eternity) I was too lazy, wet and windblown to take my gators out of my pack and ill-advisedly marched up towards my final destination without them. No biggie, pebbles were not my problem. Fatigue, burning muscles and a hacking cough brought on by inhaling wet pumice were my problems. I hope this doesn't frighten you from the climb, it really was quite spectacular, except this part. I usually cry on hard hikes. 7 miles or more and at one time or another I burst into tears and vow never to do this again. Well this time, I did not cry. I don't know why I didn't cry, I thought I'd die...(rip-off from my fave Burl Ives tune) I didn't cry but I did quit. Several times. Kieran would trudge back down the pumice and ash and go through various techniques of persuasion: imploring, begging, cajoling, admonishing, flattery, tenderness...he's my hero.

And so with Kieran and Katie calling to me from the Crater "We're here Barb, really, we're here! It's not a false ridge!" I stumbled up the last 100 feet to the edge. We had made it right on schedule for my timetable (a little after 1:00pm) I leaned over to look into the Crater and there I saw mist, clouds, fluffy whiteness with slight shadow. But I knew, it was the Crater. The group of men that traveled up in front of this said this was their fourth time up here and they had NEVER seen the weather like this. They assured me it was, indeed, the crater. The slight smell of sulphur confirmed it. I was at the top of a live volcano. And I was scared silly. I sat down, too terrified to look down again, Kieran took some pictures. Some really lovely ladies that had followed us up shouted to us, "Are we there?" "Yes!" we replied and they shouted back "Do you have the Margaritas ready?" I freakin' wish.

Our trip down took longer we anticipated and so I'll blog that out in detail later. Today, I am in considerable pain (mostly my knees and my glutes) and quite wiped out. I'm also pretty darn proud and really emotional- today, I think I'll cry. :)