I agree with the earlier report from today about the conditions including the sno park- it is difficult to get any sleep there!
I hiked up and skied down.  I don’t have an AT setup so I brought mountaineering boots,
crampons, poles and my axe.
 I used spikes in the beginning and transitioned to crampons when the terrain got steeper. There are some very steep sections which I imagine are the same elevations as the Boulder field on the summer route.   I was glad to have the crampons- no slips at all.  I felt very safe with them on and I do not think they were overkill.    

I do wish I had snowshoes for the first 3 miles- lots of postholing even before sunrise. Super windy at the top but skiing was better to skiers left of the main trail Up top.  No wind and softer snow.   Definitely potential for loose wet avy- my friend and I triggered a couple small ones.  Be aware and cautious!  

PSA my pics upload upside down and I don’t know why.

Started at 6:30am. Trail is snow covered the whole way. We were able to keep our skis on the whole time 🙏

I used ski crampons shortly after reaching chocolate falls for the rest of the climb. Traction is needed for this climb right now.

There are several glide cracks mid-mountain to look out for. It looks like a skier punched through a glide crack earlier. There is also evidence of wet loose activity on the upper mountain.

The winds were a sustained 10 mph, gusts around 20. I lost my hat in the wind during a water break. If anyone finds a pink Black Diamond hat... fat chance, I know.

Summited at 11am. Lots of hikers and skiers, all super happy.

The skiing down was fun in the spring conditions. The snow is slop after descending 2000 feet. The glissading aso looked fun.

Don’t expect to sleep in the lot if you camp overnight. People are loud and it’s kind of a party scene. I think we’ll be driving the morning of moving forward.

I was able to get a permit via recreation.gov pretty easily for a weekday, just a few days beforehand.

4.5 hours up, 1 hour down (skiing). 5700 ft of gain and 10 miles.

we stopped at Daddy Ds BBQ in woodland after. Omg. If you are driving north after your climb, just go!! So amazingly good! 

Have fun and be safe! 

Here is a blog post I wrote if you want to see more detailed pics.

https://outsidekams.com/2021/04/24/april-17-2021-mount-saint-helens/

Started from the Marble Mountain SnoPark at 5:15AM after car camping the night before. There was ample parking. The snow was solid and icy from the start, so several of us put on spikes. At the seismic station around 5,600ft, we opted to put on crampons. Several groups were already in crampons. The snow was firm the entire way up and got icy near the top. We attempted to veer from the normal route toward the true summit, but the slope quickly got steeper than we liked so we switchbacked up to the rim with ice axes. We reached the rim at 11AM.

Unfortunately, as the Mount St. Helens Institute conditions report, the rim has is very corniced and blocks most of the awesome views into the crater. From the rim we evaluated the traverse to the true summit and decided against due to the very firm snow and cornices. 

We began our descent around noon and the snow was still firm so we downclimbed in crampons with our ice axes. As we descended, the snow began to soften to the point where we could glissade. Be careful as some established chutes have melted out and exposed rocks. The glissading was excellent.

At about 3,900ft glissading opportunities petered out and the snow was very mushy, so we switched to snowshoes for the last few miles, reaching the cars around 4:30pm.

We didn't see much evidence of loose wet avalanches, but we did see some wicked glide cracks, albeit on fairly distant terrain.