Swift Creek Séance at Washington’s Mt. St. Helens
Though not a technical climb, and comparatively smaller even before its catastrophic 1980 blast than its Cascade neighbors Rainier, Adams and Hood, Mt. St. Helens is no slouch. Like all Cascade peaks St. Helens is a weather maker, and remains unpredictable as moist air, fresh off the Pacific, is jammed up several thousand feet by the spine of the Cascades, super-cooled, and condensed. This results in a gamut of meteorological goofs, including sudden storms at high altitudes any time of the year.
