Mt. St. Helens
On May 18th, 2000 I climbed Mt. St. Helens. This was especially cool for me for several reasons:
1. this was the 20th anniversary of when it erupted
2. I was the first to summit that day (and had the summit for about 30 minutes before the next person summitted)
3. I didn't formally get a permit so I climbed it for free!
Yeah... yeah... you are suppose to get a permit, but when the Forest Service removes it's head from it's knot hole and they figure out a better system than the "permit lottery" that they do, then I'll play by the rules.
The reason why this is so stupid is because they only allow about 100 permits for a given day. 50 of these are by reservation, and the other 50 they hold a lottery (if there are more than 50 people there... there usually is) at 6 PM. If you aren't fortunate enough to get a permit, then you pack up and go home. If you DO get a permit (after you pay your $15) and you plan on making the climb a 2-day affair, you then have to hurry and get up to the trailhead (30-45 minutes by car) and hit the trail. So at best you get 1 hour of day light before having to stop and setup camp. I think this is just DUMB! Why don't they hold the lottery earlier? Why do they restrict the mountain during the climbing season when it's open without permit in the winter for boarders and skiers? One reason comes to mind: money! Greedy suckers.
But enough of my editorial...
Me on the summit