We camped at the trailhead the night before to get an early start. We were on the trail by 5:45am. It took us about an hour to get to the water crossing about 2 miles in. There was minimal snow on the trail at that point, and we were able to continue along the rocky ridgeline all the way to the weather station. From there, we put traction devices on and were on the snow for the rest of the way to the summit. We didn't need crampons and were fine with microspikes - the snow was really soft by the time we got out there. Lots of folks did have crampons, some people had nothing, and both groups seemed to be making it to the summit. It took us about 6 hours to get to the summit and another 4 to get down.

There are tons of glissade chutes on the way down - the ones closer to the summit were really great, but the farther you go down, it starts to get a little iffy. Some of the tracks definitely lead way off route or have run-offs directly into rocky areas so be careful to stay on track. A little ways below the weather station, some of the glissade shoots seemed to be melting out and there were areas that looked dangerous to glissade down (although we saw people doing it). Lots of people had little sled-things for glissading, which would be super helpful. Others brought trash bags, which also helped.

All in all, the weather was beautiful and conditions were great. If it had been colder, I think crampons would have been necessary but some sort of traction devices and an ice axe/poles at the very least are needed to summit.

 We got a permit to do summit climb on June 18 with my son’s Boy Scout troop.  While we hoped to use the shorter summer Monitor Ridge route, weather did not help in this cold and wet year. It seems the summer route is closed for a few more weeks. As such we took the longer Worm Flow route.  

As we got closer to June 18, the weather forecast changed from excellent sunny to cloudy/light rain in the morning.  :( We stayed at Cougar over night, and got to Marble Mountain SnoPark trail head at 6AM.  It was cloudy with rain.  We put on rain jacket and pack cover,  hit the trail expecting this will be a boring hike with no view.  

The first half of the hike had little elevation gain and challenge.  A few climbers came down confirming our low expectation: very low visibility at top. We met a party that decided not to go up on that day. This beginning part of the route had surprisingly large amount of snow on the trail, mostly due to the lack of good sun coverage in those sections.   As we got higher up, the trail became clear from snow.  

After Chocolate Falls, the path got harder to navigate.  With rain and fog, we could not see the mountain as we hiked up. We checked map and GPS to ensure we were on the right path.   There were a lot of rocks and boulders that significantly slowed down our climb up.  While they were not hard to get over, it was not an easy walk in the park.   After 5000 feet elevation, the snow field got larger and larger.  There were still rocky path most of the way, the snow field became the easier path.   

We put on crampons, helmet and ice axes as we go higher up. They were really important as the snow field got very steep and icy at places.  While I saw one guy going up with none of those, he did not appear to enjoy his experience.  That was certainly a big safety risk.

As we got into late morning, the sky opened up.  We were rewarded with blue sky, beautiful clouds and wonderful views to Mt Adams and Mt Jefferson.  We stopped frequently to admire the view, and enjoy the moving ocean of clouds. The sudden change also meant that everyone needed to put on strong sun glasses and sun screen lotion. Luckily we were prepared with those too.  Alas, many of us still got strong sun tan/burn from the trip.  Never underestimate UV reflection from a high mountain.

The last 3000 ft elevation climb was very strenuous, on mostly open snow field. The summit looked incredibly close, yet the climb seemly took forever.  At last we reached the summit after 1pm.  That was way slower than our original plan.  By this time, the sky was very clear.  From the summit rim, we could clearly saw Mt Rainier to the north. Mt Adams was the giant neighbor to our east. The clouds were way below us, forming a nice blanket. What a long and wonderful climb!

After a bit of rest, we ventured around the summit to look inside the volcano crater. We could see smokes coming out from gaps of the rocks. The dome inside the crater appeared to be bigger than what I saw in 2012 when I climbed in mid summer. I took some photos so I could compare it back home. Sure enough, it did grow quite a bit in five years!

Coming down the mountain was much easier. We took the opportunity to glissade down the snow field. That was a lot of fun! However there were some rocks as we got to lower altitude. We switched to hiking down. We could now clearly see the mountain in our back as we hike down. No more fog or cloud. It took us a long time to get back to the parking lot. Everyone was super tired for the long day, but excited by the summit experience.

 

 

I was on a "Guided Summit Rim Climb" with a group organized and led by the Mount St. Helens Institute.  We met in the Marble Mountain Sno Park parking lot because the summer route was still not open, although it probably will be soon.  We started hiking at 6:30 AM.  The first 2 miles were mostly without snow.  After that, it was snow all the way.  I was glad I was wearing crampons, but most people in the group were wearing microspikes which were supplied by the trip leaders. I was glad I had the crampons.  I was wearing hiking boots with a good tread and Gore-tex, but without the crampons, my feet were slipping backward on many steps.  We reached the summit at about 1:30 PM. It was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit and quite windy.  There is still a large snow cornice so we could not go anywhere near the rim and we could not look down into the crater.  We had great views of Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood to the south.  The good part of all the snow was that we glissaded for thousands of feet down the mountain as we descended.  This was a fabulous experience.  We all had ice axes to slow ourselves down, as needed.  This made for a relatively quick descent.  We were back in the parking lot by 5:30 PM. Even with the partly cloudy day, I was glad that I used the sunscreen I had for my face - and I still got plenty of color.  This was the longest/most elevation gain in any hike I have ever taken.  I could not have done it without the professionals and volunteers from the Mount St. Helens Institute  http://www.mshinstitute.org/.  If this hike takes you out of your comfort zone, I recommend signing up for one of their guided hikes.  The leaders were fantastic.  They also have useful info about the mountain on their website that you may want even if you do not hike with them.

I stayed at the Lone Fir Resort the night before in order to be relatively close to the trailhead in the morning.  Other people camped in the parking lot.  You do not need to make a reservation to camp in the parking lot.

After reading all the trip reports reporting hitting the trail at 5am (?!) we were nervous about being able to reach the summit, as we were planning to come from Seattle that same morning. It turns out that it's totally doable provided you have appropriate equipment (crampons! poles! ice axe!), keep a steady pace, and approach the hike with the knowledge/healthy attitude that you might need to turn back early.

We left Seattle at 6:30am and arrived at the trailhead at 10am. After gearing up and signing in, we hit the trail at 10:30am. We were definitely the last ones to leave (or at least the last ones to leave who made it to the summit). It took a little less than an hour to get to Chocolate Falls. From there we took the rock ridge up to the weather station. On the climb up there was cloud cover blocking views of the mountain. We checked with people descending and they said that the cloud layer was quite thin and that it had not prevented them from summiting.

At the weather station we put on crampons, and began the slog up through the snow. I cannot stress the value of crampons enough. You can rent them from REI if you don't want to own. We also used poles for stability. We passed 5 - 10 people on our way up who were also ascending, but I don't think any of them made it to the summit. The cloud layer cleared and we had spectacular views the entire way.

We arrived at the top at 3:00pm (4.5 trip time). The summit is actually pretty underwhelming, as you should stay well away from the cornice. Others at the top told us we could hang a right and reach a viewing point that looks over the canyon. It was breathtaking (see pics).

At 3:30pm we were the last off the summit, though others started down only shortly before us so we kept people in view all the way. We tried glissading for the first time and it was SO FUN! We glissaded down to the weather station, and arrived with very wet feet (we forgot gaiters but definitely would have benefitted from them). I stopped to change into dry socks and pants, and we took the rocks down the rest of the way.

I wouldn't recommend glissading much further past the weather station. The snow gets shallower and you see many more rocks poking through. YMMV.

We passed 10 or so people on our way down, and I suspect the last folks arrived back at the Sno Park around 8:30 - 9:00pm. We arrived right at 7:00pm, then began the long drive back to Seattle.

All in all, the long day was totally worth it and we had a ton of fun. Were we to do it again, however, we would camp/stay near the trailhead the night before or drive to Portland after the hike and hang out for the rest of the weekend. If you're planning to do what we did, make sure you're prepared! Stay safe!

Spent the night at the trailhead to get an early start, 4am. It got light by 5am ish. The trail starts in a forest and turns in to a rocky/snowy canyon before the snowfields. We hiked on the rocks until the weather station. We put our crampons on there because the snow was so hard. Please! If you are going, be prepared! Crampons are NECESSARY to feel stable and secure. The second to last slope is so so steep and rough, but I mean they all are😉 Got to the summit in 5 hours, down in 4. We didn't glissade much because of control issues, even with ice axes. The snow also got slushy as we were going down and we saw a lot of people coming up with improper gear. Careful- the map on wta for this trail leads you to climbers bivioc..I ended up using all trails and it took me to the right place. Have fun and be safe!