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

Route is in overall good condition.

Snow is getting squishy, but there's still plenty lot of it. Definitely recommend shoe traction - chains were good enough for me, but those in my group with crampons were certainly not complaining. Gaiters were unnecessary.

Cornice is in very dangerous shape so stay way back. For the best views, skirt east along the summit for a couple of minutes when you get up there.

Decent crevasse forming in one of the main glissade lines so be aware.

At long last, I finally summited Mount Saint Helens! My buddy and I got to the Marble Mountain Sno Park at about 8:30pm on the 18th. We set up camp, got most of our gear all packed, and slept there. We got up at 4am and set out by 4:30am. It took us about an hour or so to make it past Chocolate Falls. Between the Park and the Falls, there were some stretches of snow, so we put our spikes on. It was extremely humid in this whole section and rather buggy. We both wore warm jackets and leggings and changed out of them within a mile and a half. 

Shortly after Chocolate Falls, we hit the Worm Flows. We mostly stayed on the rocks and sand until the weather station. We saw the sunrise on Mount Hood to the south. Past the weather station, it was almost all snow with a couple of rocky sections. I'd say the last 2,000 feet was nearly all snow, but before that you can mostly avoid it if you want to. 

From what we saw, we were the first to top out in the morning at 9:20am after 4hrs and 50mins total between camp and the summit. The push to the false summit was very, very steep. We had microspikes and ice axes. Crampons would have been more useful for ice and the really slushy stuff, but spikes worked fine provided we were aware of our weight and had our ice axes out in case we needed to self-arrest. The final ascent was long, as we were tired, but the view when we topped out was absolutely stunning. Stay back from the ledges, as they were very corniced out and dangerous. 

We met two other two-person groups who came up after us, two ladies and a father and son. We all had a nice time taking photos and talking. My friend and I were there for almost an hour. We donned our rain pants and gloves. He put on gaiters and I wore a lovely trash bag. We glissaded down a whopping 4,000 feet! The first 2,000 were prime glissading real estate with well carved out chutes. We had our axes to control our speed and self-arrest if things got out of hand. We had way too much fun. From then on we hopped from chute to chute, sometimes crossing rocks to find a good one to go down. We made it all the way down to the bottom of the worm flows. 

There were a TON of people coming up as we slid down. It was very hot, even near the top past 8am in the last hour we climbed. We thought an early morning was worth it so we didn't have to struggle up slush in the heat. 

Once we finished our glissades, we hopped on the trail and hit Chocolate Falls again within ten minutes. The rest was an easy but somewhat long walk back to the parking lot. We had an incredible adventure!