Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge — Wednesday, Sep. 13, 2017

This was my first time climbing Mt. St. Helens and same goes for my brother who hiked with me. We were finally able to find two permits for sale and bought them last week!(thank you purmit) We decided the best option was to start climbing at 2:30 am (we left about 2: 45) to see the sunrise. Go big or go home I guess! I'm usually pretty good at researching trips but oh my god we got the idiots of the day award. We brought lights, water, and all the important stuff except warm clothes. Somehow it skipped our minds that we were climbing to the top of a mountain and usually mountains are cold especially at night. We took off around 2:45 am and the section through the trees went by very quick. Once we broke out of the tree line we lost the trail but didn't know at the time because we still saw the markers. After a while, through the darkness we noticed a trail down to the left of the boulders we were scrambling over. I guess we just really enjoy scrambling over boulders... Once we actually got to the boulder fields it wasn't too hard to find the "trail" with the marking posts. There wasn't much of a trail but more of "the way to go" and different ways to execute it. We definitely were able to find easier routes in daylight on the way down though. Towards the end of the boulder field when we became more exposed the brutal wind kicked in (I'm assuming it's not usually this bad). After we got through the boulder fields and on to the ash and rock section I was the coldest I've been in my life (keep in mind that I've been a skier/snowboarder ever since I was 7 years old and I've seen some cold days). I just stared at the ground and kept trucking along the best I could up the steep sand-like mountain. Eventually, we made it to the top in 2hrs and 50 minutes. We moved at pretty solid pace the whole time and only stopped twice just to get some water. It was pretty exciting making it to the top but the wind was unforgiving. I stood there admiring the crater in my pretty thin sweats, short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve shirt (layers..ya know just in case it's a little chilly), my Nike thermal sweatshirt (which I tossed in last minute...thank god!), and then my extra pair of socks on my hands because gloves are lame. I spent about 30 minutes at the summit and spent roughly 5 minutes trying to make my hands work enough to set my camera up for a time-lapse of the sunrise. I eventually gave up because I couldn't stop shivering. Despite being unprepared for the weather, the views were absolutely spectacular! I watched the sun start to hit Rainier as it crept out from behind Adams and in the shadows, off in the distance was Hood.  Not to mention the immensity of the crater itself! I was blown away (both literally and figuratively)! I started back down the mountain once I felt like it was light enough for me to easily see because I couldn't bear the cold any longer. My brother, who was just as or less prepared than I was stayed up at the top a bit longer until he was unable to handle the wind. I was finally able to feel my hands and the rest of my body when we reached the trees but I ditched the sock gloves earlier because we started to pass people and I looked like a dork. We made a pretty fast descent because we ran when we could which was mainly at the top through the ash and rocks and at the bottom in the trees. We got down in exactly 1 hour and 53 minutes! I was pretty thrilled to be done and sit in the car with the heat on.

I'll most likely climb it again next year but I'll definitely be way more prepared! BUT the moral of the story is don't be an idiot and bring warm clothes ESPECIALLY if hiking at night! 

day vs night- The sunrise was spectacular but came at some costs. It was difficult to see the trail and was very cold especially with the wind chill. I have not done it in the day but we saw a lot of people going up when we were going down. I personally like solitude on my trips so I'm glad I went during the night. We only had one other person join us at the summit. Also while on the mountain at night (not so much during the day) I felt like I was on the moon which I thought was cool but I'm also the idiot that wears socks as gloves..

GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN!