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.

A quick trip report on this route since it has been awhile since someone has posted.

Road to the Marble Mountain parking lot has sections covered in ice and snow over the last five miles.  My 4runner made it with no issues but I would have been comfortable driving it in a passenger sedan as none of the sections were covered in deep snow.

Unlike my trip in January, there is a good amount of snow right at the beginning of the route and we put our snowshoes on right away.  A well beaten boot path that makes travel very easy exists and quite honestly, in the early morning temps, we could have probably stowed our snowshoes away without much postholing.

The boot path leads right to the ridge and continued up it.  We kept our snowshoes on at this point taking advantage of our heel risers for the steady incline.  At about 6,000' the temps really soared and we found without showshoes, we would posthole so we kept them on for the entire climb.  

Cornices were evident on the crater rim and honestly, it was difficult to get a view of the crater without moving a bit too close to the edge for my taste.  That being said, it was a beautiful day with fantastic conditions.

With a storm moving in the next few days, I suspect someone will have to put the work in to forge a new trail for the great weekend weather. 

With a perfect window of great weather and low avalanche danger, my buddy and I decided to try for a winter summit of St. Helens. 

We spent a very cold night in the Marble Mountain Snow Park. Only a few cars were there at the time, but a good number drove in between 12-3AM. We had a bit of a late start and rolled out around 5:45AM. It was compact, icy snow from the start. My buddy was in his skins and ski boots and I was in my mountaineering boots. The path was easy to follow with lots of boot prints from the previous days. We crossed Chocolate Falls and then cleared the tree line. It was a little rocky on some of the low flows with a decent slope on climbers left and cornices to the right, but we did our best to stay on the snow instead of having to scramble. I put on my crampons and got out my ice axe shortly before the weather station, as the final push there was very steep and icy. I had some issues getting my axe to bite nicely, but my crampons were solid. 

After the weather station it was starting to get softer in the warm sun. We actually got really hot on the climb. Just below the false summit, we followed the trail to the right instead of hitting it head on because it's extremely steep right now. Everyone else also followed the path to the right for the final push, and then angled back to the left near the top. The last push was really steep. We hit it at a good time where there was some soft snow on top and then harder on the bottom so we had enough purchase with our gear but weren't sliding on mashed potato snow like those who came after us. 

The top was stunning! We did not go to the true summit because it was very corniced and dangerous. We met a lovely St. Helen's Institute volunteer there who warned us of a big overhang even where we were. We could see all the way to the Sisters to the south. After snacks and a few pics, we started heading down.

My friend was on his touring set and I just side stepped down the steep part. It was mushy as I was sliding a bit so I took it slow. Without much drama we made it down to the weather station and then to the Falls, and had a long haul back to the lot. 

We both carried 3L of water. It was very warm on the snow with the sun. We both carried avalanche gear to be safe even with the low risk. We heard that the night of the 13th a big storm rolled in, so stay safe out there! 

Took advantage of a bluebird day and climbed St. Helens in near perfect conditions.  The parking lot at the TH is completely plowed so no difficulties getting there.  Left the TH at 7:45.  The trail to Chocolate Falls is a nice boot path packed snow, once past the falls you meander through the last of the trees onto the boulders or just throw on your traction device and walk in the snow heading to the summit.  With these clear crisp days and nights the snow was hard and crunchy the entire way to the crater rim.  I carried by snowshoes all the way to the top and all the way back to the car not needing them.  Saw several other climbers and a couple people going up to ski down.  Many used crampons, I was able to complete my summit with just microspikes.  Reached the crater rim at 12:45 and was treated with spectacular views of Mt. Rainier and the North Cascades.  The trip down was unfortunately not good for glissading as the snow was too icy, so the slow walk down to the parking lot.  Got back to the car at 5pm.  Overall it was a wonderful day that the views were amazing.  If you have the skill and knowledge to do a winter summit, skip the permit system fiasco and go when  you can avoid the mess.