Started from the Marble Mountain Sno-Park at 3 AM, road completely fine and plowed the entire way up. Minor ice on the last few corners into the lot, and in the lot itself, but overall really not a problem. Hike starts out very easy and flat for several miles, working through the trees until you finally get out to a clearing. We had no moon on a very clear night so we were hiking only by the light of our headlamps and couldn't see even the silhouette of the mountain when we got to the clearing. Snow was compact through here and didn't need snowshoes in the morning due to low temps, but needed them coming back later in the day as the snow got softer. Once we got on the ridge we put on our crampons and pulled out the ice axes, and soon thereafter reached a really steep portion that gave us pause and almost made us turn around, as we had never done the climb before and didn't know if it would continue getting worse or not. This turned out to be a short spurt of the steepest section of the hike (except perhaps the final push to the summit) so we were glad we had pushed on and reached the top of that hill (there's a monitor station here for what I believe corresponds to the 6562 ft forecast here). Sunrise was incredible, and a sea of clouds had rolled in over the valley below us.  We kept on pushing and soon realized that the massive ridge that was facing us wasn't the summit after all, that was another 500+ feet higher and about another quarter or half mile ahead. While demoralized, we took a quick breather and pushed on, making the summit before 9 AM. Intermittent clouds had us worried, but we had a quick window up here before getting rushed off by a massive cloud/brief snowstorm. There's definitely some cornice danger here, so make sure to stay back from the edge, but if you're looking to get a view the true summit provides a bit more of a glimpse since the edge isn't higher than where you should stand back from. Descent was smooth, just wears on the knees a bit. There are a few spots were you can glissade down quite easily, and probably more that you could, but neither of us felt like it. I would highly recommend doing this hike early in the day, as there are a few signs here and there of avy risk and slabs that could possibly break free as temps rise. We had no issues though and the climb was great, saw lots of people heading up as we were on our way down, lots with split boards, which sounded like a much better alternative on the knees than our method of descent. Once back down off the ridge, we took off our crampons and ice axes and put the snowshoes on, making the few mile trek back to the lot through the trees. This bit seemed to drag on as we were just wanting to get home, but overall we made good time and made it back to the lot by 12:45.

More pictures on my Instagram page at @steven__bell

Climbed Mt. St. Helens via Worm Flows route on Sunday. Just a bit of snow on the road at the Marble Mount Sno-Park. Snowshoes needed immediately at trailhead. Snow was soft and deep, especially on decent. Used crampons above 5000 ft. Large cornices at the summit, climbers should stay 60 ft away. There were lots of climbers (100+) out on a day with such beautiful weather. 

Stayed Saturday night (3/10) in the Jeep, got up early around 3am to start our hike. Parking lot was just about bare with no snow coverage, and easy to get around. LOTS of cars preparing for the great sunny conditions Sunday had to offer. 

Trail: With the warm weather on Saturday snow was a little slushy at the beginning of the trail head and into the trees. We wore snowshoes for this part until clearing the treeline, and getting out in the open where we had more sturdy snow coverage .  Right at the base of the mountain we stored our snowshoes and strapped into our crampons for the next and the rest of the journey of MSH. The trail in the trees, as well as the trail leading up to the base of the mountain and further was nice and packed down. Obvious directions, and helped with footing with the steeper incline towards the summit. Slightly cloudy morning lead to a fantastic sunrise, and cloud burn-off lead to spectacular views 360 degrees while climbing up. At the top windy but beautiful, and beware of the cornice's around the edge of the crater. There's a slightly packed trail from those who made it to the top. Feel free and safe to travel on that small trail. On the way down, glacading is the way to go. Cut the travel time down, and the legs didn't mind the break either. Make sure you have your snowshoes ready at the base of the mountain, the intense sun and heat from the day makes the snow nice and slushy. We ended our trip on snowshoes all the way back to the parking lot.

Make sure you have lots of water!! We were sweating mid-mountain the sun is super intense. Sunglasses, light long-sleeve, snowshoes,gaiters, crampons, gore-text pants if you want to glacade, lots of snacks, SUNSCREEN, and a beer for the top! I suggest staying the night prior and waking up early to catch the sunrise, that in itself was a highlight. All around great hike and great weather. With the warm weather this following week, conditions will likely be the same. 

Car camped Saturday night at Marble Mountain and started at around 7:00 Sunday morning. My sister and I brought both spikes and snowshoes. We met a guy the night before who just got down who said in the afternoon sun people were postholing up to their hips and even having trouble floating on top with snowshoes. In the morning we used our spikes up to the tree line with no problems but had to switch to snowshoes after that. The midsection on the rocky ridge was tough and people without snowshoes were postholing deep in 10:30-11am sun. The last couple inclines were steep and we were down to base layers around noon. We summited at 1:00. The way down was brutal- we didn’t bring skis and the heat had melted that middle section snowpack to the point where every step we post holed at least to our knees. My sister almost lost her shoe and was up to her waist many times! We fought through it and switched to snowshoes when it was less steep. Our first accent! It was a beautiful weekend for views and climbing conditions. I would recommend an earlier start to avoid slushy snow.