We left from Seattle on Sat afternoon, got into Cougar, WA, about 8:30pm, picked up our permits, and slept in our car at the Marblemount parking lot. There are toilets and a shelter with a fireplace at the parking lot. It wasn't very comfortable sleeping in the car, but it may have been a blessing in disguise, as we got a very early start. On the way up, we saw 3 or 4 other groups, and about that many groups already coming down. But on our way down, we saw a virtual highway of climbers making their way up. They give out 100 permits a day, and there definitely seemed like there were 100 people on the slope in the afternoon. The only advantage to going later would be that there's a clearly-marked track, but the disadvantage, of course, is being in a very long, slow-moving line. On our way up, every group we met coming down said they turned back about 1,000 feet from the rim. Visibility was extremely low. We were very fortunate that when we got to the 1,000 feet mark, we met up with a group that was more experienced, and more determined to go all the way. They cut steps and used a GPS and managed to get to the rim. In fact, everyone who went up that day probably used their tracks. Visibility was pretty nil at the rim, and it was very cold. We didn't stay very long at all. The weather that day was very overcast, with occasional snow and pretty steady wind. I recommend: Crampons were very helpful. We used them for 80% of the climb, and didn't use our snowshoes at all. Get as early a start as you can. We left at 7 and that worked out pretty well. Bring a sled of some sort for the way down. Fun! Bring your own markers if you're going up early. There were only three before the rim, and footsteps get covered over almost immediately by the wind.

We stayed at the lone fir resort for the night before and night after. If you are accustomed to the Ritz, this may not work for you. But we thought it was fine. The people were friendly. Started at Marble Mountain at 7 AM. Made it back to the car at 6:30 PM. Including us, there were 12 people on the mountain this day. Expected overcast and snow, which is what we got, until we reached 6500'. Then we were looking down on the clouds with the sunshine beaming. There had been fresh snow in the past couple of days, so we did better in snowshoes than the others did in crampons. No one made it to the top on this day. The Eagle Scout crowd in front of us led the way, which was to an impossible slope of sixty degrees or so at 7400'. Not sure where we went wrong, but had to turn around at that point. The other half of the dozen on the mountain never made it close to where we go to. The landscape up there was pretty rad.

We picked a wonderful day to summit Mt. St. Helens. After a 5:00 am (late) start from Seattle, we picked up our permits in Cougar. No-one in our party of four had climbed the mountain before, and so, after reading many conflicting reports of conditions and preferred routes, decided, somewhat confidently, to embark on the Worm Flow route via the Marble Mt. Sno-park. We were on the trail at 9:10am. As we expected, the boot trail was easily followed, and we made quick progress to tree line (apprx. 1 hr, 100% boots on snow), and then another 2 hours of kick stepping up to a nice flat area (complete with solar toilet) for lunch. Even with soft snow, following previous boot tracks kept post-holing from occurring. After a 30 min lunch we embarked on a much slower 4 hours to the top, 7 hours total including frequent rest and 20 minutes soaking in the views at the summit. We eventually did put on our crampons for the steepest part of the ascent, and I found this to be helpful in my forward progress. The views in to the crater and of the surrounding mountains (Rainier, Adams, Hood, and the Sisters) were stunning. A jacket was needed at the summit, but with temps in the low 70’s, even halfway up the mountain, we were in t’ shirts for the majority of the hike. A perfect chain of glissades took us down to tree line in an hour and a half, and we were back to the car in 2.5 hours, for a total trip time of 9 and a half hours. We were 4 of about 16 climbers on the mountain, including 3 snowboarders with whom we shared the summit (together with the sound of two snowmobiles who were buzzing up and down the steep summit slopes). We made it back to Seattle at 11:00PM after dinner in Centralia. All in all it was a wonderful and exhausting day.

We left Marble Mount Sno Park at 6 a.m. under calm conditions. Snow on the approach was very firm which made for good footing. After crossing Chocolate Falls at 3700 feet, summit was visible for much of the remainder of the climb. We were following a group of 8 Mazamas, so we had an excellent boot track to follow in the freshly fallen snow from Thursday night. About 6000 feet much of the snow had blown off, so we donned crampons for the summit push. We met two splendid native Turks currently living in Portland and working for Intel- Arjun (sp?) and Heidar- who climbed much of the way with us. Summitted in a little over 6 hours- not bad for a couple of AARP members- and had a leisurely but somewhat chilly lunch with a great view of Rainier, Adams, Hood, Jefferson, Washington, and even the Olympics. Peter and Arjun led the glissade charge, with about 4000 feet of descent in a bit over an hour. Put on snowhsoes for the walk out to avoid the postholing many were experiencing. Back to the car 3 hours after summitting- our 6th time in the past 10 months on this mountain.Although this route is considerable longer than the summer route, it is very enjoyable. Another great day on St. Helens.