Amazing week long December weather window lead to change of plans to summit Helens.  No regrets, beautiful climb and many others skiiing and climbing on the mountain.  Avalanche risk minimized by the long spell of cold dry weather (this will of course change next time it snows).  Stayed well away from the significant cornice around the crater.  Super fun time.  Ice axe and crampons highly recommended.  Moderate pace with many breaks.  Started 930am, summitted 3pm, returned to car 7pm.

My hike began at 0630 and didn't end until 1830; partly as a result of having to park 1.3 miles from the trail head (low clearance, 2WD) and in part due to the (seemingly fresh) snow cover. The trail was barely visible most of the route, thanks to a Mt. St. Helens Institute party of 3 who were about an hour ahead of me.

This was a seriously tough trek. The snow was deep, the ice abundant, and the Incline ever growing. However, the views were breathtaking. The weather couldn't have been more perfect (maybe a few more clouds for sun cover)!

My saving grace was my snowshoes. They had spikes included and articulated amply to allow for climbing the 45-60 degree slopes of ice on the top third to quarter of the route. My poles were great getting up, yet they both broke on the way down (cheap pair).

Overall, the experience was once in a lifetime and I loved it, despite hating the descent on such inclines. Being my first Cascade summit and my first snowshoeing experience, I learned some very valuable lessons, garnered a new respect, and discovered how incredible(ly difficult) some "day" hikes can be. 

I'd absolutely recommend doing this hike during a period with longer days and with a group of people (both of which I didn't do).

For the winter, it is almost certain to both start and end in the dark. 

The trek is arduous. The views are splendid.

Parked at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park Friday night around 10pm. slept in the back of my truck until 3am. After morning breakfast and gear check, started out at 3:45am. Flashlight and headlamp through the forest. Follow the signs toward Worm Flows. There was a downed tree with 2 more behind it across the trial. Keep going, you're still on the correct path. Come out of the forest to the treeline. Once you cross over Chocolate Falls and continue up, at least for me, it became a "choose your own adventure." I stayed on the same path most of the way up, but saw a path across the snow to another section of solid rock that seemed to lead to the western side and an easier climb. Sunrise was amazing. I recommend poles to help take the weight off your legs. I cramped up several times (was using a monopod and ice axe to stabilize). Got to the top around 9:20 am. Ate, drank, took pictures, and admired the view. Glissading down was a lot of fun, but tricky. Recommend an ice axe to help stop yourself. FOR ME, the way back down was disorienting. I ended up heading towards the bivouac, then overshot my way towards the falls. I ended up finding a trail far north of Chocolate Falls, and followed it back to the crossing (luckily). Way back to the Sno-Park was straight forward.

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.