WARNING: the following report is only for the snow conditions on Feb.11, weather could change significantly afterwards,I strongly recommend checking the NWAC website and mountainforecast website for avalanche and safety issues.

Report: I finally made it to the top of mount st.Helens! Although not actually the real summit, hiking in the snow with just microspikes and trekking poles while reaching the false summit on volcano rim Viewpoint(around 8250ft) was an arduous workout( 5600 ft elevation gain in 11 miles). It was my first time on the wormsflow route to st.Helens. Previously I only hiked the Harry’s ridge trail and had a distant view of the mountain. thanks to the earlier hikers who had broken trails, I could simply step on safe spots to ascend. The view was gorgeous all the way from chocolate falls to the top. on my way down I even tried a bit of glissading with my ice axe. It was also my first time doing it on steeper terrain. The weather was perfect yesterday, sunny almost no wind before summit(summit was about 10-15 I think) . When we were moving , the temperature felt like in the 50s. I just have one base layer for the last 2000ft hike. But remember to bring extra layers, once I stop for breaks, it got cold and chilly quickly. The snow was packed when we hiked up from 7:30am, but got a lot softer on the way downhill. I postholed a lot. Snowshoes will be helpful too. I saw a lot of people wearing mountaineering shoes and sharp crampons , that makes it better to Climb uphill. Altogether I just drank about 1 liter of water, but it could be a lot more for others( one guy in our group drank 3L!), so it’s better to carry enough water especially with electrolytes. Also don’t forget to bring headlamps, it could take more than 10 hours for the whole hike. 

Found a single snowshoe (pictured) at 5000’. Assuming someone was grabbing it on the way back down but if not it’s on the side of the main bootpath there.

Stats:
11 mi, 5500 gain, 5.5 hrs ascent, 3 hrs descent

Roads:
Bare pavement except for a bit of ice spots in parking lot, 4 other cars in lot when we arrived at 7:30am

Equipment:
Microspikes and poles (used ice axe on descent to attempt to glissade but forgot a garbage bag and snow was too soft), carried snowshoes and crampons (snowshoes wouldn’t have been useful, most other people were in crampons but we never needed to switch from microspikes)

Had great weather and snow conditions for a pretty straightforward day, had boot tracks to follow for most of it although they would get covered up by the blowing snow pretty quickly in places. Put microspikes on once we made it past the treeline and just followed the ridge most of the way up. We were prepared to switch to crampons but never needed to since the thin ice crust was easily kicked through. Saw 6 other groups up there on the day. We made it to the false summit but there were no boot tracks to follow to the true summit and we were nearing our turnaround time so we stopped there (the wind was pretty brutal along the summit ridge as well). At least 4 other groups made it to false summit as well. Descent was straightforward as we plunge stepped through most of the steep areas (snow was too soft to glissade) and just that first section above the treeline along the ridge where the snow was soft but not deep required more mental effort. Overall a great day!

Trail is snow-covered from the parking lot. Boot/ski pack was solid for the first few miles. At 4200' we switched to snowshoes, and kept them on up to the crater rim. Snow above treeline was loose and unconsolidated and postholing was typical without flotation. Crampons were not useful, but will be advised as the snow hardens. I was able to glissade four pitches and the loose snow made for comfortable speeds and ride. Ski/board conditions seemed good (I would have preferred to go down like that vs snowshoes!)

Hiked this on November 17 2022. Trail snow covered from parking lot to the summit. Still a bit early for skiing as there were many rocks showing below Chocolate Falls although skiable with rock skis! The section on ridge above the Loowit trail crossing was melted out near big rocks on the ridge and was dangerous for post holing through. Allow extra time for this section but otherwise good hiking with micro spikes or crampons upwards. I found a hard shell jacket near chocolate falls, text me at (360) 507-5340 with a description and I’ll return it.

it was a good day with clear skies and warm weather. trail contains everything from ash and loose gravel to snow and boulders. microspikes, poles, gaiters, trash bag & ice axe for glissading, minimum 5 lts of water - are a must. snow gets really slushy in afternoon, so glissading might not be that smooth. while coming back, it might be hard to stay on trail as the white marker poles are too far apart and there are two parallel trails running. staying left will generally help, but we needed help from our navigation tools.