I got off work at 10 P.M. on Tuesday and headed to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park trail head. Got to sleep about 2:30 A.M. in my car and woke up at 7. I hit the trail at 8. The road was dry but the trail had snow from the start. I wore snow shoes up through the first two miles of trees. The snow was packed and easy. After the tree line there was a mixture of rocks and snow on a ridge which was a bit more difficult with snowshoes on. Then the slope got steep and didn't quit. About a mile below the summit I felt a slide without an ice ax could get out of control. I took off my snowshoes and put on crampons and used an ice ax and one pole to the false summit. I traversed the crater to the true summit. There was large blocks of ice that maybe could of been avoided by going below the ice boulder field. I attained the summit at 2 and traversed back to the false summit. I snowboarded down and the snow was nice and consistent making the turns. 

This is a very hard hike and takes a lot of energy and the proper equipment. Be prepared as this one is a great challenge. Stay safe out there.

Road is snow free to the trailhead.

Started at around 7 AM surprised to see a mostly empty parking lot given the favorable forecast.  It was fogged in and lightly raining at the start.  First mile of the trail is intermittent packed snow and dirt, turning to all snow after a mile or so.  The trail was beat down enough that I kept my snowshoes in my pack.

Quickly made my way across Swift Creek and started towards the ridge.  Again, the boot path solid enough that I didn't need snowshoes.  I was surprised by how little snow there was as I made my way onto the ridgeline starting at about 4,500'.  Breaking trail began here but I was still able to make good time and the breaking clouds and blue sky above me put a smile on my face.

Then around 5,600', a hard layer of ice had developed over the softer snow and the going became a lot tougher as I started to kick steps to break through the ice layer to the softer stuff beneath.  I put my crampons on after a few hundred vertical feet of this.  I really slowed down at this point and eventually gave the lead to another duo so that I could reap the benefits of their steps. 

We made the summit around 11:00 under blue skies with no wind.  I decided to forego a trip to the true summit and just soaked in the views from the crater.

Headed down after about half an hour. The sun had really softened the ice and I was able to quickly plunge step my way down.  By this time a very well beaten path had been created by the groups of climbers and I was a bit jealous of the staircase that had been created.  I guess sometimes it doesn't pay to be the first up the mountain.

Made it back to my car by 1:15.  Never found the need to put on my snowshoes or take out my ice axe but crampons were definitely helpful in the early morning.  Finally, when I checked cell reception during the climb I didn't ever get a very good signal which was unusual for me as I typically get good reception over 7,000' with Verizon. 

Day hiked to the summit rim.  Departed the parking lot at 7:20am, hit the rim by 11:30am, back to the car by 3:30pm.  The road in was in great shape, no snow or ice.  The route was very easy to follow.  There are a few sections where the snow coverage on top of the ice is thin, and those were a little sketchy but otherwise fairly easy conditions.  Used spikes and walking poles all the way up, crampons are necessary for the journey down.  Took an ice axe but never felt the need to pull it off the pack.  Apparently there were 17 earthquakes on St Helens on this day, but I didn't detect them.

New Year's Day summit attempt. TLDR: started too late in the day to summit.

Be mindful of black ice - we slid off FS-83 at the horseshoe over Swift Creek. We got ourselves unstuck, but on the way down, there was someone in a 4x4 pickup who wasn't so lucky. There were at least 4 other tracks of people who'd slid.

The hike itself was glorious. We had a bluebird day, about 35 degrees, just perfect. Groups coming down from an alpine start got turned around by ice. We had a late start at 10 am, and didn't experience the thick ice. However, we weren't quick enough to trust getting both up and down before everything solidified. We turned around at about 7000'. Sounded like successful bids all took off between 7 and 8 am.

We didn't need snow shoes in the least, however crampons were a must. The late afternoon snow got a little soft, but not soft enough for snowshoes. 

There were a few glissade shoots already created, so we shot down them.