Drove in from PDX, spent the night of July 3rd tenting at one of the very nice campsites surrounding Marble Mt sno-park. No water, but two composting toilets. Definitely some loud voices at dusk, dawn and a couple points throughout the night. Woke up at sunrise, on the trail just before 7:30.

Took us 1 hour to get through the gentle path through the forest, another 15 min to Chocolate falls, then out into the heat of the sun. Hats, sunscreen, and plenty of water became quite important at this point, as there was not a cloud in the sky past 630am. Sparse trees dotted the ridgeline, providing the occasional break from the sun, but these soon got smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing once we got onto the main 'worm'.

This section was laden with boulders and as we gained altitude, the steps got more difficult and required more planning. Trekking poles were very useful here. As we went up the ridge, more and more snow was in the gullies on either side, and you could occasionally go down and grab some to cool off from the still intense heat. The rocky ridge continued until just past the seismic station at 5600' feet, where the exposed rock shrunk and the snow started to dominate. Above this section, we had a choice between slippery ash and melty snow, and chose the latter, finding others' footprints to be much easier to walk in.

We pretty much stayed on the snow, occasionally resting on the exposed rock. By this point in the day, the snow had become soft and crampons were not required. However, an ice axe for stability and sunglasses/ski goggles for snowblindness were vital here. The last 2500 feet are all snow and steep as hell, though the false summit is the steepest bit. After that, it's just a push to the summit alongside glissade routes.

At this point, the rock was exposed on most of the rim, but not all. The trail basically led straight to a cornice, and we had to walk horizontally before hitting the rim to avoid being on unsteady snow. It was a beautiful clear day and we could see Hood, Jefferson, Adams, and Ranier, though the cornice snow extended too far out for us to see much of the crater itself. We got to the rim around 2:40pm (~7 hours to summit, and that seemed to be the average for most) and were worried about getting down with enough energy, so we didn't take the extra half hour to reach the true summit.

Getting down was a breeze, and the glissading was a blast. We packed away everything, cleared our pockets, padded our pants as much as we could, and slid down with our ice axes in hand. It looks crazy steep going up, but the friction keeps you from going too fast. If you want to go faster, use a tarp or a garbage bag--we didn't have one, and some bits were not steep enough for us to slide down with just pants, but we maintained a safe speed through the steeper ones.

The glissade routes down were clear, and the existing chutes that people were using were not hazardous as long as you were paying attention to the layout of the mountain. Be sure to take note of which way you want to go, as the route splits left and right, and you could potentially end up somewhere you didn't want to go. After you pass the seismic station, there are some much steeper bits that you definitely need an ice axe for. Many people choose to get back onto the rocky worm at this point, but we decided to take the train as far as it would go and needed to self arrest one or two times (looking downhill, we went to the left of the main worm). We ended up to the east of the main worm, and could not get back onto the rock. This turned out to be great, as we could walk on snow for longer and skip more of the boulders. Once the snow got too melty, there was a secondary path running parallel to the main ridge that we walked on, and it joined up with the main trail before long. The rest was simply a walk back along the easier parts of the trail back to the carpark.

All in all, we did the whole trip in 11 hours and 30 minutes. Exhausting but a great day.

PS: Make sure to bring enough water--we each drank over a gallon and had to ration by the end.

My best hike up St Helens yet....and I've been up at least 12-15 times.  I don't remember the exact number.

My young friend Logan and I left Seattle at noon and reached Marble Mountain parking lot at 4pm.  That included stopping to eat.  No traffic.  We hiked in for 1 1/2 hours to tree line and spent the night.  Perfect nights sleep.  We did have 6 guys go by at 12:47am (yes I looked).  At 5am we left our campsite and headed up.  The dirt/rock path is fast and easy hiking.  Around 1 mile from the summit the trail turns to snow.  Make sure to bring traction devices.  We had Microspikes and they worked perfectly.  We reached the summit at 8am....only 3 hrs from our campsite.  We saw the 6 guys heading down.  They caught the sunrise.  We had the summit to ourselves.  Absolutely no wind and clear views looking at Rainier, Adams, Hood and the Sisters.  We couldn't see Baker.  We stayed for around 45 minutes.  We were fortunate to have camped out and awoken above the clouds.  While hiking up the clouds kept sneaking up in elevation on us, but we stayed ahead and had a clear view of the summit the entire way up.

On the way down we glaciated.  Our last glaciate put us within 150 feet of our campsite.  I really felt sorry for those that started late from the parking lot.  Their entire hike up was in the clouds for those people.  I'd say the clouds stopped climbing at about 6,500 feet in elevation.  Other hikers kept asking us if the clouds will ever clear.  

We packed up our gear and it took us only 1 hr and 15 minutes to get back to the car.  Hikers were still heading up by the time we were done.  We were back in Seattle at 3pm.

It took us 4 hours to get to the trailhead Friday night leaving from Seattle and running into lots of traffic. We finally got to the trailhead and slept in the back of the Outback. Some had tents set up in the forest or even in the parking lot. Woke up at 3:15 and our group of 8 was hiking by 4:30. It was already getting light at this point, so if you want to see more sunrise leave earlier. The climb starts through the woods on a nice trail. Snow free (besides some patches) for the first 4 miles about. We hiked up the rock middle part while others chose snow. Some of the rock is very slippery and hard to get any traction on. After this point we donned our microspikes for the rest was all snow. There is a false summit and this has the steepest part. There were good kick steps already made until a snowshoer walked on them and ruined them (please don't do that!). One more push to the real summit and that section is not too steep at all. Took me 6 hours 15 min to get up. Applied sunscreen probably 8 times and didn't get burnt. Spent almost 2 hours at the top enjoying the views. At the top you can go to the left for the true summit, someone said it was another half hour away. To the right you can go down and get a good view into the crater. Make sure to give yourself a lot of space from the crater rim. A Mt. St. Helen's Institute guy was up there and said if you can see Rainier, then you are too close. Put on the rain pants, put away the spikes (don't glissade with spikes on) and git the glissade shoots. The first one is fine and didn't get too much speed. Then when you get to the false summit (steep section) there is a very steep glissade route that makes you gain a lot of speed. Make sure you know how to use an ice axe through this and know how to self arrest if necessary. This glissade route was the longest one I've ever taken. You can keep taking glissade routes down for thousands of feet. Be careful near the bottom as rocks are starting to melt out. We chose to hike down the ridge line/ rocks towards the bottom and the going was slow with how slippery the stuff was and trying not to fall. I brought 5 liters of water and drank 3.5 as it was a really hot day on the mountain. Off the trail at 4:30. Mt. St. Helen's is a beautiful mountain, but make sure you come with the right gear depending on conditions and respect the mountain and your limitations. Many up there not prepared or not with the right gear. One person without an ice axe glissaded face first into rocks. 

We started yesterday morning at 4:45 AM, made it to the top just before 10 AM. It was a beautiful day, but very windy on the way up (we were not expecting wind as per the weather forecast!) The wind was a nice break from the summer heat, but at times we had to stop moving because it was so intense. However, it was completely gone by the time we reached the top. 

We took the trail during the midsection, while many others climbed in the snow the whole way up. We got about 4 miles in without hiking in snow. Not sure which way is better, I think personal preference. 

We used microspikes and poles on the way up, ice ax and microspikes on the way down glissading. The snow is soft and slushy until after passing the false summit, from there it is much easier to step in the footholes already there. We felt fine in spikes, but many had crampons (REI was sold out for rentals, that was our first choice). 

Must haves- SPF (we used 100 and I didn't sunscreen my ears and they got fried), poles and ice ax, spikes at the very least, sunglasses are a must.

It was a great day, with the glissading we were able to make it down in under 3 hours. We should have continued glissading into the canyon, but we weren't sure where it let out, so we took the rocks down. Mistake!! Bring trash bags to slide down. Check out the glissading paths on the way up, some are a little sketchy, most are totally fun and fine! 

It got VERY hot towards the end, we arrived back at the car at 2:30 PM after spending about an hour at the top soaking in the experience. 

Saw five different poles left on the mountain from glissading, be sure to fasten all of your gear to your packs tightly so they don't fall off when sliding.

We wish we would have started at 4 AM instead of 4:45. Only about 4 groups were ahead of us, however. 

• Have some traction device - crampons preferred, but spikes also worked fine
• Lot of sunscreen, hat, glasses are a must.
• Lots and lots of water - since it is getting hotter, please take at least 3 liters of water
• Lots of food, you need that energy for that final push.
• If possible start early to avoid the sun before the final climb 
• Hiking poles are very helpful