Mount Saint Helens Climb

Way back in 1987 I climbed Mount Saint Helens shortly after it opened since the 1984 eruption. Twenty three years later I climbed it again with Matt. I was concerned about the weather, but we had clear skies during our night at Climber's Bivouac and during the morning of our hike. The first two miles of the climb were through the forested Ptarmigan Trail, but things got harder once we got above the tree line. The last three miles consisted of scrambling around and over rocks up Monitor Ridge. As we got closer to the summit the wind picked up and clouds started blowing in below and above us. By the time we got to the summit it was totally socked in. Matt got a brief glimpse of the lava dome and we got a fleeting sighting of Mount Rainier, but that was all we could see. We attempted to find the true summit along the crater rim, but with limited visibility we couldn't tell if we were on it or not. We waited around for the clouds to clear, but soon gave up and headed down. Shortly after we left we noticed that the clouds had mostly blown off the summit, but we were already too far down to return. Overall it was still a good hike. It was tough, but it seemed easier than my teenage assent.