Flying off Mount Saint Helens

On Saturday January 26th I had the incredible experience of paragliding from the summit of Mount Saint Helens. I'll start off this post by sharing a video from the flight. I am the one with skis on and the gold wing.

Paragliding descent of Saint Helens (1-26-19)

When I started researching paragliding mountain descents this past fall I decided that Saint Helens would be a good choice as one of my first mountain flights. The Worm Flows climbing route up the South face is very straightforward and I had done it previously during a Boy Scout trip back in August of 2013. As part of that trip we also spent several days circumnavigating the mountain on the Loowit trail. It was cool to see all the different ecosystems around the mountain ranging from old growth forests on the south side to the desolate pumice and ash plains to the north. The scout troop was featured in the Boy's life magazine as part of that trip. 

Video feature from Boy's Life Magazine

If you aren’t very familiar with the Saint Helens eruption, you should spend an hour and check out some videos or pictures online. I find myself spending several hours watching documentaries or reading about details from the eruption at least a couple times per year. Here is another video to get you started down that rabbit hole if you choose to jump in.

Sorry for getting a bit off topic, let's get back to the paragliding thing. I'd like to give credit to the Washington Hike & Fly Paragliding YouTube channel, as that is where I got the inspiration for my flight. Weather was looking very nice in the mountains during the weekend of Jan 26-27th, and the skiing conditions were quite icy because of a period of dry and warm weather in the Cascades. During work on Friday I kept checking the weather and saw that sun and light north winds were forecasted at Saint Helens. Even though south winds would have been preferable because of the south-facing takeoff, I decided it would be worth a shot figuring that conditions would be quite calm and in worst-case scenario I would at least get to ski down. 

I was prepared to go solo, but thought it would be better to fly with someone else for the added stoke and safety. I had met Greg while flying at Tiger and Saddle mountain, and decided to invite him along because I knew he had some mountaineering practice and was a more experienced pilot than me. Luckily Greg was up for it despite less than a day's notice.

The plan was to leave from my place in Eastgate at 4am and pick up Greg in Tacoma along the way. I had a difficult time sleeping because of my excitement, and remember doing a lot of dreaming/visualization on how I wanted the next day to go. After getting a late start in the morning because of an accidental snooze-shutoff on my alarm, I was on the road by 4:45. After picking up Greg we blasted down I-5 and arrived at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park before 8:30 and started hiking at 8:50. See my full GPS track of the ascent here.

Looking South towards Mt. Hood as we climbed above treeline

With nearly 6000 feet of elevation gain in 7 miles, the Worm Flows route is fairly direct. We scouted out a landing zone adjacent to the approach trail, but were disappointed with how small it was and by the fact that there was no snow on the ground for my ski-landing. We decided it would be better to land at an alternate spot further from the parking lot which I had scouted out on Google Earth. It was fun to chat with a bunch of other backcountry skiers on the way up. I knew we would look a bit conspicuous with the huge backpacks, but was still surprised by how many people approached and were psyched as we explained our hopeful plans to fly from the top. 

Chatting with a skier during the ascent.
Photo Credit: Greg Overton

Greg half way up his first mountain climb in Washington

It felt like spring on the mountain, with actual corn snow that had developed during the past week. I was in full beach-mode wearing a T-shirt and repeatedly slathering sunscreen on my face and arms. The last 2000 feet were quite icy, and I was glad to have my dynafit ski crampons with me. Greg was a bit slower without a ski setup, but we maintained a steady pace and made it to the crater rim by 2:00.

Panorama looking north into the crater
Photo Credit: Greg Overton

Although most everyone else was hanging out at the top of the route, we wanted to tag the summit and traversed below the ridge westward across some really gnarly windblown ice and sastrugi. In spots I had to take off the skis and boot through some of the worst ice. 

Greg beginning the traverse towards the summit

Booting through sections of windblown ice
Photo Credit: Greg Overton

A gap on the traverse with views of Mt. Rainier

After tagging the summit we thought about our launching options. Winds directly at the crater rim were probably at 5-10 mph from the north, but even slightly down-slope there was almost no wind, and at times some slight breezes from the west. We decided to down-climb about 100 feet to a gradual southwest-facing slope where there was some nice clean snow. 

We setup our wings for a forward launch and felt good about the conditions. The sky had turned slightly cloudy to the southwest and a beautiful sunset display was beginning. I had never done a ski launch before, but it turned out to be quite simple and I was able to execute it well enough. Because the snow was firm I decided to leave my skins on as I was confident I could still pick up enough speed while maintaining better control.

I took off first at 3:50 and Greg followed just after. The flight was everything I hoped it could be. The views of Helens, Adams, Rainier, and Hood were amazing. Although I didn't catch any lift, there was plenty of altitude to play around and take everything in without stressing about making it to the landing zone. Here is a full GPS track of my flight path.

Greg packing up his gear in the LZ after an epic flight

After packing up we took what was in hindsight a really dumb route back to the car which consisted of bushwhacking and crossing the same stream twice unnecessarily. I don't think I've ever done a worse job of navigating before, but we were both so pumped up from the flight that we didn't care about our soaking wet boots as we walked the last half mile to the sno-park. GPS track here.