Featured image: A summer aerial view of Mount Saint Helens (photo by Cheryl Landes)

If you’re planning to climb Mount Saint Helens April 1 to October 31, you’ll need a permit. You’ll also need a permit if you climb above 4,800 feet year-round.

Recreation.gov will start selling permits on Monday, March 18, at 7 a.m. Pacific time, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Permits are $15 per person, plus a $6 fee per transaction.

Five hundred daily permits are available for sale April 1 to May 15, and 100 are available May 16 to October 31.

Permits are unlimited and free from November 1 to March 31. They’re self-issued at the trailhead.

This year, permits are sold as one per group instead of one per person. A maximum of 12 people are allowed per group. The permit holder is the person who buys the permit. At purchase time, the permit holder must include the names of the other group members. Names can be adjusted closer to the climb, but the permit holder must participate. If the permit holder needs to cancel, the permit becomes void and someone else needs to buy another permit for the group.

The Mount St. Helens Institute has more information about the permit buying process and changes in rules at its Climbing Permits page.