Climbing permits for Mount St. Helens will go on sale online beginning at 9 a.m. Feb. 1.
The nonprofit Mount St. Helens Institute will make the permits available on a first-come, first-served basis at http://www.mshinstitute.org.
Each permit costs $22 and is required for climbing above 4,800 feet between April 1 and Oct. 31. They are available for pick-up at the Lone Fir Resort in Cougar.
Permits are required year-round, but the U.S. Forest Service charges a fee only during the main part of the climbing season. Between May 15 and Oct. 31, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest limits the number of permits to 100 a day.
More details about climbing the mountain are available at http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/mount-st-helens/permit-system.shtml.
