My friend Jim and I had a couple good days on MSH. We left Seattle about 9:45, checked in at the Lone Fir "Resort" before 1 and his the trailhead at Marble Mountain Snopark about 1:45. Our goal was an overnight stay above snow line and an easier summit day, but because we started so late, the snow was plenty slushy when we got to it. A lot of shin- and knee-deep post holing. As a result, Jim led us over the rocks most of the way on day 1, which was slow, meticulous, and more demanding physically and mentally that I wanted. Still, a gorgeous day in the mountains is nothing to sniff at. Above snowline around 5,000 feet we found it to be a bit of a slog and kept to others' boot tracks. Not a lot of others coming down or going up... Started getting super windy about 5,500 ft and we found a nice bowl with a fairly level spot about 6,600 ft off to the left of the main trail. Windy windy windy and once the sun was behind the ridge to the west, pretty chilly, too. After a wind-battered night (others we spoke to who camped down lower said it was peaceful as all heck!), we started at 7:35. The snow had solidified overnight and was crampon-perfect. Splendid, glorious, clear morning and great climbing. We summited at 9:05 or so in heavy, dense clouds. And wind. Bummer that we had no views. Glissaded down--very icy chutes from the summit down the first 500 feet--hard to control one's speed. But the glissade chutes got better down lower as the snow warmed a but and the sun came out. Beautiful day to descend--crossed paths with 50-75 people doing it in one day, slid about as far down as humanly possible, and hiked out the rest. Some minor confusion picking up the trail on the way out a couple times, but got to the car 1:05 and back to Seattle by 5 pm.

This was my first mountain climbing. I'm usually just hiking. But it was fascinating. I started from Marble Mountain Snow Park (following blue diamonds marks) at 7:00 AM. It was pretty nice weather. Not too sunny, not too cloudy. There was some snow in forest, but not too much. After reaching rocks, snow disappeared. I forgot to cross "river" on chocolate waterfalls, so I just crossed it somewhere further. When I reached steep ascent, snow appeared again. I was using rocks as much as possible to climb up, avoiding snow - I had just light outfit (more summer than winter). I was following those wooden rods, because I didn't know the way. Somewhere here I passed by last group which I met on my way up. When I reached radio station, rocks almost disappeared and I had to walk in snow. There were many paths of steps, but not all of them were good to use - there were big gaps between single steps (and I had no snowshoes). Not too far from top clouds began and I saw almost nothing. When I reached top, I saw like 2 meters ahead and I almost felt down - because I didn't see edge. But fortunatelly I stopped. It was really cloudy / misty up there so I saw almost nothing and couldn't shoot almost nothing with my camera. After a while I decided to go back down. I fortunatelly took some plastic bag with me, so I was glissading almost whole way to radio aerial (with some walking) and a little further (down). Somewhere on my way I lost plastic bag so I just sat on snow and slide down - it was really fun. When I reached no-snow zone, my knees were really tired (after descending), but I made it to the parking lot. Distance walked: 16 km (10.25 miles) Elevation: 1715 meters (5626 feet) Time total: 6 hours 12 minutes (up ~ 4 hours, down ~ 2 hours)

Our first Mother's Day Weekend climb of Mt St Helens was fantastic. We hit the trail at 4:05 AM to beat the traffic. There was a record 685 permits issued for the day. We hiked in our boots most of the way up the trail from the Sno park and at about 2.25 miles we added microspikes. It was warm and the snow was a little juicy in places, but it was great for climbing for the most part. We arrived at the summit at 9:35 and hung out at the top until 10:00. We glissaded down below 4900 ft. We arrived back at the trailhead at 12:20.

LOST: Orange and grey backpack with lots of stuff in it left on Mt. St. Helens. The bag was left around 6600 ft near the last rock outcropping before the final push. If you found or have it, please call me at 206.856.4578. I will come wherever you are to pick it up. Thank you.

Had to drive out there from Seattle and was able to head out only at 3:30. Picked up the permits from the Lone Fir resort and cafe at about 7:30 and were on the trail by 9:00 AM. The first couple of miles were pretty easy with a lot of firm snow. Once we hit the treeline, the snow started to get softer and we were postholing a lot. Especially since the sun was out, the snow was slushy and hard to climb. It took us close to 6 hours to get to the top. We reached the top at about 3 PM and were treated with spectacular views of Rainier and Adams. Hood was visible in the distance but was hazy. We were able to glissade down right from the top to almost the treeline. Walked the last couple of miles and were back at the trailhead by 6 PM. Great hike, but I'd recommend starting out early so that you can get some firm snow to walk on. We carried crampons but never had to use them. My boots sufficed for the entire trip. The ice axe was handy while glissading and trying to practice some self arrest maneuvers. And yes, made a mistake by not carrying sunglasses. Was snow blind the next day and it wasnt pleasant at all. Make sure you carry sun glasses on snow.