Mount Saint Helens

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

Cascade Range · Washington · United States · 2,549 m

Plumes of steam, gas, and ash often occurred at Mount St. Helens in the early 1980s. On clear days they could be seen from Portland, Oregon, 50 mi (80 km) to the south. The plume photographed here rose nearly 3,000 ft (910 m) above the volcano's rim. The view is from Harrys Ridge, 5 mi (8 km) north of the mountain.

About Mount Saint Helens

Mount Saint Helens is a stratovolcano in Washington’s Cascade Range whose summit elevation is 2,539 m (8,330 ft) after the 1980 eruption removed its upper approximately 400 m and left a horseshoe-shaped crater partly occupied by a lava dome and glacier . The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program classifies it as a composite stratovolcano and records an elevation of 2,549 m (8,363 ft), reflecting a differing reference measurement, with the latest known eruption listed as 2008 .

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles (83 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle.

Mount Saint Helens is a stratovolcano in Washington’s Cascade Range whose summit elevation is 2,539 m (8,330 ft) after the 1980 eruption removed its upper approximately 400 m and left a horseshoe-shaped crater partly occupied by a lava dome and glacier . The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program classifies it as a composite stratovolcano and records an elevation of 2,549 m (8,363 ft), reflecting a differing reference measurement, with the latest known eruption listed as 2008 .

Documented mountaineering milestones

  • 1853 — First recorded ascent, approaching from the south side and reaching the summit on August 26: Thomas J. Dryer, John Wilson, and two companions identified in the contemporary account as Smith and Drew

Routes and approaches

The standard summer approach is the non-technical Monitor Ridge route from Climbers Bivouac, beginning on Ptarmigan Trail #216A and gaining about 4,500 feet in five miles to the crater rim .

These records are loaded from the existing route API. No route metrics are invented when the source does not provide them.

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Sources and provenance

Mountain information is factual reference only, not a current conditions or safety report.

Page reviewed .