re: Outdoor Board Great Outdoor Scenery

Thanks.

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How hard a climb is Mt. St. Helens? (ie length and altitude gain) I'd love to do it some day, maybe next summer.

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Depends on how conditioned you are. It's a strenuous hike. When I went in June we had no choice but to start at Marble mountain sno park due to a lot of late season snow. Road to climbers bivy was snowed in. This adds a few more miles round trip.

Starting at the climbers bivouac is about 5.75
miles and 4500 ft elevation gain. That is the monitor ridge route. Both routes are awesome.

When you go, be very aware of the cornices. Stay away from the edge by ten feet. Typically, people watch others and make a line for those who don't know. People die there by getting too close. Also, if you don't have snow pants bring heavy duty garbage bags to glissade down on. Very fun! You can glissade about 3k vertical feet, and it makes going down very quick. I don't do it but snowshoes are helpful for some and there are places to rent those from. Regardless I would bring trekking poles. Makes walking on snow and scree much easier.

Permits are 22$, it's also good for a day of parking and camping overnight. They only issue 100 permits a day during the summer.

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