Road to Marble Mount SP was pavement all the way but narrows in a few spots due to snow on each side. Late start around 6:30 am. We booted from parking lot until right bf Chocolate Falls then donned the snowshoes. Most were skinning up but some using crampons. For those not on skis we felt snowshoes were most effective and used them all the way to the summit. 5 hours up. Snow was slush most of the way. Glissaded quite a bit on the way down in several sections. Hardest part of the trip was after the ridge walking downhill in slush.

The road is snow free all the way to the trailhead. A friend and myself started our climb at approximately 3:30am. Snow conditions were mediocre and variable, I started off in boots though the forest however once we started to break out of the forest around 5:15am I needed to put on snow shoes. As we gained elevation though the snow was a bit better and there was a decent bootpack so I took them off and went back to boots, I did posthole from time to time but not too bad. As we approached the summit the snow had hardend to the point where I felt it was a good idea to wear crampons. There were quite a few other people on the route but it was not packed. It was a beautiful day and we were enjoying ourselves and the views we took our time and topped out around 1:00pm. Beware of collasing cornices on the crater rim! By the time we started down the snow had softened significantly which made for some slower than normal glissading and sloppy plunge stepping. We got back to our vehicle around 5:00pm.

There was snow in the middle of the road and our suv passed with no problem. Parked 0.5 miles away from the trailhead since the road was covered with too much snow from that point. We started at 5:30 and the trial was well packed. We used midrospikes all the time. Some people put on crampons when it becomes steep. It was very windy at the top. On the way down, we glissade most of time. When it is close to the tree line the snow melted a lot and it was easy to step into the snow holes. We used snowshoe when it was flat which helped a lot.

The NWAC avalanche forecast (nwac.us) increased from moderate to considerable for St. Helens for Saturday due to the warm weather and sun predicted for that day. So we decided to aim to summit just after sunrise to mitigate that risk. On top of that, the road from Cougar SnoPark to Marble Mountain SnoPark was, per the Mt. St. Helens twitter, snow covered and passable only by high-clearance vehicles with chains.

So our plan was to park at Cougar and walk the 3 miles to Marble Mountain. Fortunately, a truck was driving along the road and offered us a ride, which we happily accepted. Most of the road is passable now, until the last stretch before Marble Mountain. Many cars had parked along the side of the road just before the snow started, and seem to have found enough room to do so safely. (it looked like a plow had actually arrived on our way out, so the road is probably passable to whole distance now).

We hit the trail at 1:40am. Occasional postholing early on, but not often. Put on the crampons at Chocolate Falls. Snow conditions the rest of the way were good, with good steps kicked in some of the steeper section. Looked like two other parties were up ahead of us, and a couple more behind. The sun came up around 7:00am, and we got the crater rim around 7:20am, so a total of 5 hours 40 minutes for the ascent. The wind was mild most of the climb until the crater rim where it was really howling, cutting short our time there.

The snow on the way down was very variable, we kept switching around between crampons, no crampons, snowshoes, axes, poles... One section about halfway down was very icy.

We were surprised by how many people were heading up. Estimated around 60. By the time we were down it was sunny and warm.

Made it back to the TH around 11:40am, for a 10 hour round trip. Walked part of the way back to Cougar and another guy in a truck offered we hop in for a much-appreciated ride back to our car.

The 83 road from Cougar Sno Park to Marble Mountain Snow Park is very difficult in places, even with 4WD.  Chains, and slow speed work best.

The trail is good with snowshoes or skiis with skins.  Watch out for large post holes in the trail.  Pleasant temperatures and lots of sunshine today.  Light winds from the east.