Summited on 5/26 and skied down!

Parked in the lower lot to camp the night before. Road is paved and totally clear for any type of car. Bathrooms were 6/10 - nothing notable. 25ish cars in the lot overnight, with 50+ on Sunday afternoon.

Started at 4:15am on Sunday morning with two hikers. There was intermittent snow starting around 1.6 miles in, but it was totally gone once you exit the woods near Chocolate Falls. We stayed on trail and climbed the rocks in the exposed "finger" rather than booting up the snow. Around 4.2 miles / 5200' I traded the trail runners for skis and skinned up. The hikers I went with donned crampons here. I booted a bit of the climb to the weather station (probs unneeded). Then put ski crampons on there and was fine skinning to the top. Took us 5:45 to get all the way up. We decided the false summit with the flags was enough for us considering the white out conditions and winds on the crater rim. We stayed above the freeze line the whole way up. We were the second group to summit (a very fit couple passed us on the way up), and there was an 8 man team + dogs that summited very shortly after us.

Coming down, there was some surprising nice snow and turns around 8k. Became corn around 6800, and was full on slush fest below ~5800' around 11am. The folks I was with glissaded while I skied. I was shocked at the number of people that were slugging through the slush at 5k' around noon. This is deff a case of start early to climb in nice snow.

9.5hrs car to car.

Snow starts at 1.6 miles from Marble Mtn Sno Park trailhead and is intermittent until 2.5 miles in, then full snow to Summit crater. We started at 7am and there were 20 cars in the parking lot.  Snow was softening, but we used crampons the last mile for better grip. We glissaded 4000ft down from the summit to just above the snow line in multiple chutes. Started out in mist and clouds for first 3.5 miles and popped out in full sun.  Despite sunblock and face buff most of the time we got quite sunburned. Recommend face buff full time. 

Climbing permits required at Recreation.gov

We had a late start, after 6am. Easy hiking to chocolate falls on trail with intermittent snow. It was about 3 miles before the snow was consistent enough for my friend to put on skis. Most people wore crampons but the snow was soft enough by this time that microspikes were enough. Strong winds past the weather station made for a challenging climb but it was a beautiful, partly sunny day. Lots of sunscreen needed. No views at the top other than a peek-a-boo of Mount Adams. Despite the forecast for temps in the upper 20s, the snow had softened enough that glissading was a little slow but it also made for good plunge stepping conditions. Met lots of friendly climbers along the way.

Windswept and icy
Started at 4am. Icy but a bit soft. Windswept, often unable to fully kick steps. Recommend Crampons. Glissading from summit didn't feel safe due to icy conditions. people either walked or skied down. Snow got mushy further down .Saw some chutes that may have gotten used today. Didn't observe anyone glissade though. Some rocks in chutes.only glissaded a short stretch once it got flatter it was over due to soft Snow. Stay on route, there is a flag to left of wormflows on way up, which I suspect is for people to stay out avalanche area (see observation.5/17 on NWAC)

Our scout troop met early Saturday morning for the long drive to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park trailhead. The road and parking were free of snow. The warming hut was closed. There are some very large potholes on the paved road in the last couple of miles, so take care driving up.

This was a training hike for scouts preparing for a long trek this summer, so our plan was to camp on snow at the top of the tree line, and summit in the morning.

We began our hike about 9 AM. The hike into the forest was uneventful. We eventually began to encounter snow regularly and we put on our microspikes.  We had a few incidents of post-holing, but nothing that made us wish we had brought snow shoes. The trail crossing near Chocolate Falls was suprisingly snow-free. 

We reached the tree line around 1 PM. We used ice axes to cut tent pads into the snow on each side of the trail. We spent the afternoon practicing ice axe use and glissading on the nearby slopes. We enjoyed a sous vide steak dinner.

We began our hike to the summit at 5:30 Sunday morning. (Our large group had a lot of inertia when it came to getting moving.) We carried packs with essentials but left our tents and most of our gear at base camp. Snow was firm and perfect for microspikes. We saw people skinning up and encountered some people with crampons on their way back down. 

We completed the hike to the summit in 7 hours. As expected, the mountain brought out all of her weather options. We had bright sunshine and amazing views. We had light rain. We had snow. We had dense fog that made us wonder how we would find our way back down. We had wind from every direction. It was glorious!

On the way up, we regrouped frequently and took in the amazing views that appeared from time to time. Microspikes were the right selection as the snow remained firm all the way to the top.

The summit experience was amazing. We heeded the flags. The trail to the true summit was very icy, so we were happy stopping at the rim. Despite the fog at the summit, things cleared enough to see some of the rim wall for a bit. After eating to restore some energy, we began our descent. 

The summit area was steep and icy, making it worrisome for glissading. The snow softened on the way down, and we quickly found our way to some chutes. We also hiked lots of the way, with forgiving snow conditions. Route-finding on the way down was difficult at times and we strayed onto the Climber's bivouac trail for a bit before getting back on track. Once we arrived at base camp, we encountered some heavy rain for good measure. We packed up our things and proceeded out. We arrived at the parking lot at 5:30 PM. 

The mountain gave us an amazing experience. We'll be back. Next time, we'll be more diligent about applying sun block, since everyone was pretty crispy by the end of the day. We were pleased to have some dry clothes back in the cars for the long drive home.