We arrived at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park At 7:20 AM on Saturday, 1/22. The lot was about 90% full at that time on this forecasted bluebird day. We hit the trail in microspikes and blew through the first 2-3 miles, pretty mellow, through the trees. Once we broke the treeline we followed the obvious trail towards a rocky ridge. The ridge began our real climb.

The trail was steep in parts and 99.99% snow covered. We eventually swapped to snowshoes as we started to sink in and posthole. The path was obvious, but definitely led up some steep terrain. MSR snowshoes worked, but most people had crampons.

We made it to the crater rim at about noon. Not too many people up there. We didn't try to make it to the true summit, no obvious trail and the same views. Speaking of views, we had amazing weather, no clouds, no wind, and views from Baker to Jefferson.

Coming down, we swapped to microspikes for more maneuverability. Again, I wish I had crampons. The snow softened considerably in the afternoon, to all the skiers delight. We had a great time glissading down the mountain. Pro tip, wear a trash bag to shield your pants and help you slide better. We swapped back to snowshoes towards the bottom as the snow lost all stability and everyone was postholing.

Overall, conditions were great. A bit icey in the morning, but definitely softening up now. I'd say ice axe and microspikes are necessary at a minimum to make it to the crater rim. Bring snowshoes if you're going Sunday as you will be postholing without. Bring Crampons if you got them. The snow softened for us, but there is one section that I would not do again with microspikes if there was ice... a fall would've resulted in a long, steep slide.

Ok, so no writes about good snowshoe routes with intermediate steepness, which is what we seek, and this is a great one. Easy up and down for the first 2 miles until you start up towards chocolate falls where it gets fun and you do a few thousand vertical - though need some skill -no longer beginner- Nd the view opens to the whole mountain.  We didn’t go far past that because we like short and steep and then lunching with a view of mt hood in the distance.  But others were headed to the crater which we’ll do in a day with more sunlight left. (You can turn right to June lake before the the fork to worm flows) to keep it easy and still beautiful.  

I was fortunate to do a number of climbs this Summer up Monitor Ridge and when I would get to the point where you can see the Worm flow route I kept saying to myself you need to try that when there is no snow. I’m sure hikers do the worm route when there is no snow on the route I just haven’t seen any reports so I decided to try this on last Thursday. Snagged a last minute permit Wednesday so I did it all legal like.

I was the only one parked in the lower parking lot at the Sno-Park. One other vehicle was there when I got back.

If solitude is what you want on a hike to the summit this is the way. Didn’t see a person until I merged with the Monitor ridge route. Chocolate Falls was dry on the way up but on the way down water or should I say the chocolate milk was flowing pretty decent. So from there you just basically follow the Winter route ridge line up to Monitor Ridge. I tried at first to hike on the East side of the ridge because it was void of rocks but that started getting too close for comfort for me to the deep gulley that feeds Chocolate Falls so I ended having to cut back on the ridge proper anyway… If I were to do this again I would just follow the top of the ridge. There are no large boulder fields like Monitor but there are large rocks so it is also slow going. There is a trace of a trail through them and I did see some footprints so this route does see some action in the summer.

As you get closer to Swift Glacier you can hear the water that feeds Chocolate Falls and you get a good look at the crevasse’s which seem deeper being this close.

As you get closer to Monitor ridge you can see and hear the hikers. Finally, you top out at around 800’ below the summit. Unfortunately, you still need to do the scree part up to the rim. No way around that.

Decided not to go to the true summit this time as that would have taken another hour so I ate lunch at the rim. On the way back down I decided to go down the Monitor Ridge route and then take a left on the Loowit trail and go back to Sno-Park that way to get a few more miles in. Also I just didn’t feel like going back down all those rocks.

All in all, this is a neat hike. Without snow it is definitely a different look if your used to doing this route in the Winter or Spring. The ridges seem higher and the gulley’s seem deeper without snow blanketing them.

After an unsuccessful summit attempt last year (you can read my trip report from 6/13/2020), my partner and I were able to summit this past Saturday (6/19) on a beautiful, clear day! 

Climber's Bivouac had opened, but we decided to stick with the Worm Flows route, as we had tried it last year and wanted to best it. We stayed in Portland for the weekend, so were out the door at 3:15am, at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park at 4:45am, and started on the trailhead at 5am. Didn't need headlamps as the sun was already rising. The first few miles in the forest were quick and easy, and once we arrived at the Chocolate Falls, we were greeted with our first view of Mount Hood. We continued up past the weather station on the rocky/sandy part, before it ended and we opted to put on microspikes and start using our trekking poles. The journey through the snow to the summit was definitely a slog (felt like going up stairs). The snow wasn't too slushy at this point (although there were some parts where a foot would slip - having the poles were definitely a lifesaver), and I would just walk in someone else's tracks, which made the going up easier. It had gotten quite windy on our way up, so there were a lot of pauses taken to rebalance and wait for the wind to pass. It was also annoying because it would be blowing dust/silt around and into our eyes. That false summit is definitely a tease. Summitted at around 10:45am and spent about half an hour enjoying the expansive views of Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, and other smaller mountains and having lunch. 

On the way down, we were able to glissade all the way to the weather station. There were some existing chutes we took, and other times, we would glide down on our boots (the snow was getting softer at this point). Neither of us brought an ice axe, but were able to use our poles for control. The glissading was super fun, and saved us so much time. (For reference - it took us about 3 hours to reach the summit from the weather station and only 1 hour to glissade down).  We were back at the parking lot at 2:15pm for a total trip time of 9.5 hours, including lots of snack breaks and a long pause at the summit. 

As for packing - on the way up to the boulders, it was quite warm so I was wearing two long sleeve shirts and a zip up, but layered up once we reached the snow, especially because of the wind. On the way down, I de-layered once we reached the boulders as it had gotten quite hot. Definitely bring gloves (garden gloves would work) for the bouldering (they were HOT by the afternoon) and the glissading. We each had 3L of water and had finished it by the time we were done with the boulders, so I would say about 3-4L minimum. We had a GPS, which was helpful to keep us on track with the glissading, and I had nearly full service at every point on the hike I had taken my phone out for pictures - including the summit! (T-Mobile).

Also, wear sunglasses, suncreen and chapstick with SPF! The sun didn't feel too bad on the way up, but on the way down, our faces were definitely sunburned. This was definitely a perfect day for the summit, and I'm so happy we were able to make it!

This was my first time climbing St. Helens - and my tallest peak yet.  I was quite nervous, but it was amazing!  We arrived to the Sno-park the night before around 10pm and camped out for the night.  There were probably another dozen cars already parked doing the same.  We got up at 3:15 began our hike at 4am.  This was a perfect time, as we got to watch the sky lighting up shortly into the hike and by the time we hit the snowfields they weren't too slushy.  We used microspikes and poles which were fine, but I would not do this climb without traction.  We reached the top at 9:30am, and enjoyed a morning beverage, amazing views of surrounding peaks as well as conversation with some really great fellow hikers.  

I would suggest rain or snow pants if you plan to glissade, as I did not want to have a wet bottom for the remainder of the descent.  I also used an ice axe, and was very happy I had it as some of the tracks were pretty steep and I used my axe to brake most of the way.  Glissading was so much fun though, and saved so much time on the way down!

One suggestion I do have is to make sure you bring plenty of water.  This was the first time I went through 2 liters in a hike, and luckily I had brought a small platypus soft bottle with gatorade...I was happy I did!

We made it back to the car just before 2pm for a total trip time of ten hours.  There is plenty of parking at the Sno-park and lots of space to spread out if you want to camp out the night before.  The stargazing at the Sno-park was an added bonus!