On May 12, 2007, our intrepid group (Mindy, Jim, Jeanne, Dee, and Erica) set out from the SnoPark (Climbers' bivy was still closed) under overcast skies after spending the night in the lowland campground by the reservoir. Even at 6:30 a.m. the parking lot was brimming. No snow on the trail to around 3500 ft, then patches, then full coverage. We had a normal snow year, too. I guess the spring rains took care of that.
We have been doing this since 2002 or so, but when MSH was closed down for climbing, we decided to climb another mountain on Mother's Day, but dressed as superheroes. Why? I really don't recall. But we combined the themes for MSH2007: we dressed as superhero moms.
Note: our dresses are not a reflection of our mothers (they made us say that before we posted).
It's a pretty jovial crowd, and there is much mutual preening and admiration. When we stopped for a rest just before the final section to 
the summit, one woman wanted to know if I (dressed in leopard print hat and dress) was pimping out Pink Panthera. Nope. You can look but you can't touch. Is it the short pink skirt or the bunny purse that draws them in? I know, it's the bunny purse.
The overcast skies cleared with about an hour to go, which really brings out the colors in the dresses. The temperatures had been pretty warm, and we saw the signs of a textbook spring wet avalanche. I'm sorry, I just can't turn off my inner nerd.
We had great views of Rainier, Adams, and Hood. If you haven't seen the building lava dome, get up there and look! But not too close to the corniced edge. Snow conditions were pretty good-- no postholing but no crampons necessary. We made it up in maybe 4 hours from the parking lot. Steps were very well established by the horde. And what a colorful horde it was! There had to be 300 people, and half in drag. The other half were slightly puzzled. Only one or two were unhappy at having to share the mountain with the mob-- enjoy the quota system next time. There were skiers and boarders and climbers and hikers. They were dressed in floral prints, some sequins, a few externally visible WonderBras, and some very tasteful straw hats with flowers. There was only one bunny purse, though. It was so popular that Pink Panthera is converting it to a chalk bag for summer rock use. Watch for him on the crags.
We ate, took pictures, and posed for pictures for an hour basking in the sun and surprisingly wind-free conditions. SuperMa (Dee) had to take off her red cape since it was bunching under her pack. Leopard Lady (Erica) and Lianessa Jr. (Mindy) would have been hard to spot in the forest, but clearly stood out against the snow (next year we'll be snow leopards). AquaMom (Jeanne), complete with fish-covered shower cap, was quite popular with the crowd. But the standout favorite was Pink Panthera (Jim). I wonder how many other blogs he is featured on? We took a picture for next year's Christmas letter (and to embarrass our mothers).
Some folks were passing around a great "Hi Mom!" sign for everyone to take pictures with. We decided to go with edible art for our message to Mom:
Then we bid farewell to summit of Mt. St. Helens, took a last sweep of the volcanoes on the horizon, and zipped down the mountain on one of the best glissades ever-- over 3000 ft vertical!
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