Spent three days on Mt. St. Helens this weekend. We set up camp around timberline. We found a very well built igloo next to our camp on Friday night. We were thinking about sleeping in it on Saturday night after we got back from the summit but there was a group of 5 people in it. Turned out they were the ones that built it last weekend. They were happy to see it still standing. They called for sunny weather but we didn't see much of the sun. It was very windy,cold,snowy, and white out conditions untill we got to the 7000' mark. Then it cleared up for a little while. there was quite a few people climbing witch made it easy since there was a nice path to the top. I have never been up to the top in the winter. It was awsome. I've been up there 3 times in the summer. Any time is great but I think it was actually easier with snow. I'm sure some of you will disagree with that, but there is alot less scrambling this time of year. Everything is coverd with snow so it is basicly a long stroll to the top. give it a try as long as you have the proper gear.

Spent the night at the TH on Friday, and awoke around 6am at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park. Only a few other cars there, so we left around 7am and headed up the mountain. 50/50 snow in the parking lot, and all snow once you break out of timberline. The weather was incredible the whole day, as we were skinning up in t shirts and sweating. We reached the summit around 1pm and were able to take in the views on a warm and wind free summit. The skiing from the summit down to about 7000 feet was good snow with real icy patches here and there. But the middle section of the mountain was awesome (5000-7000 feet) It was 3 inches of mashed potatoes on a hard crust. I was able to get fresh tracks here and there alongside the hiking route. Even on the way down we did not run into that many people - maybe 30 folks all day long. Now the lower portion of the route just plain sucked. The last 2 times I have skied down the worm flows route, the last 2 miles or so in the trees was either way slow slushy snow, or just right. But not today - It was pure ice, solid as a rock. And with the snowshoe path a foot deep, it created an element to our ski down that was uncomparable to anything else. Needless to say, I fell down 3-4 times on this hard packed ice layer and jumbled my cranium a few times. We finally made it back down to the car around 5pm as we ran into some friends that were camping on the mountain around the 4000 foot mark, so we chatted for awhile. Wish I had images to show, but alas - no one has found my camera on by hidden peak still!

Wow is all I can say. Headed down with Ely and Bill Saturday afternoon and got to the the Marble Mountain Sno Park that evening. Bill and Ely slept in the cabin and slept in my car as there were rats and such in the cabin. Started at 730am in rain and yucky weather. Bill and I skinned up on our skis and Ely snowshoed and carried his snowboard. Once we got a few hundred feet up we could see the mountain and it was almost clear. The forecast was not the optimistic, but we wanted to do this so we trudged on in weather that changed every 10 minutes. Once above treeline the sun shined brightly and tanned my pale hide. Around 6500 feet the clouds came back in and snowed and blew on us pretty hard. Once at 7000 feet the clouds were below us and it was gorgeous weather! We had to carry our skis the last few hundred feet as it was pretty icy in spots but we never needed our crampons or ice axes. Hit the summit around 130pm. Hung out for about 30 minutes and then started our descent. Great snow up top, then icy in the middle and cement near the bottom, but we were able to ski all the way to the parking lot, and made it there by 4pm. Could have been faster but we had to retrieve all of our wands. What a great day to get in 5500 vertical feet of skiing! scott@nwog.org

Got a late start on this 85 degree day. Super hot and windy towards the afternoon. The snow is starting to harden up nice. The hiking is nice with softening conditions in the afternoon. Mid-week is better with no crowds. Saw five people all day. Had the place all to ourselves.

St. Helens via Worm Flow route Excellent conditions. Crampons are useful if you leave early: there are a few steeper sections that, when frozen, can be a bit uncomfortable without them. We left at 4:45 from our campsite above the timberline (""the flats"" - approx 4100 feet), and had nice hard snow all the way to the top 3+ hrs later. The snow started to get soft around 9 in the morning when the sun hit, and by noon it was slush. There are literally hundreds of people on this route around noon, leaving early definitely pays off.

We stayed overnight at the Marblemount Sno-park just east of Cougar and camped out in the shelter that had a wood stove that was going from a few hours before so it was about 60 degrees inside! What better way to sleep we thought! We woke up at 5am and didn't get on the trail till 630 am due to fumbling around with packs and other stuff, even though we did that the night before. After finding everything we needed we headed up the lower flats of the trail. The Swift Ski Trail #244 connects you with the Worm Flows Climbing route which is the recommended route in the winter/spring. We had called the Ranger Station the day before and got all of the necessary info and plotted out route on our topos. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and there was only one party ahead of us and they were placing pickets every so often, even thought the X-country skiiers marked the trail quite well. It was icy at the bottom, but come 9am it was pretty good conditions. This route is 6 miles one way to the summit and goes from the Marblemount elevation of 2700' to the crater rim at about 8200' from there you can reach the true summit at 8365'. As we neared the mountain it looked quite difficult to traverse some of the ridges but we just kept putting one foot in front of the other. The grades were quite minimal at some times, and then steeper at some times, ranging from 20 to 40 degrees. Poles were the only option as self belay with our ice axes would have only slowed us down, but I would have felt more comfortable with my axe a few times where our steps we were kicking were just disappering in the slush on the higher grades. Towards the UW Seismograph station, I remember hearing Alison say, ""This really sucks"" as the steep grade was just slushy corn snow, and we were on the wrong portion of the route after following some previous steps. After scrambling up some rocks and the soft soil of the volcano, we found ourselves at the 6000 foot mark by the seismograph tower. We rested, had some goo and kept going. The summit seemed so far away, and we still had 2365' left to go. The grades started getting steeper, and the sun was brighter. The view was so unbelievable, with Mt Hood as bright as day, and Mt Adams pronouncing itself out loud. Mt Jefferson was viewable as well, which was a real treat! As we started getting closer we found ourselves traveling over snowfields that had small cracks that went from 100 feet on your left to 100-200 feet to our right. After my encounter with a snow raft on Granite Mountain, I started to get a little freaked out and more cautious. Alison was about 50 feet in front of me and Rick was about 50 feet behind me. We made sure that we were always in view of the other on the ascent, staying close together. The cracks started to get more frequent and our location under the summit got me worried. 3rd Spring day in a row, and slushy conditions. We were in a safe spot on the ridges from summit avalanches but something did not feel right. I caught up to Alison and asked her how she felt about our ascent. She had a cough that was burning and she had a small gut feeling as well that we did not belong here w/o the skills that we were going to learn in the next few seminars with the Climbing Course. The risk seemed to great at the time, and we were still 2000' below the summit, which could be another 1-2 hours. Given the spring conditions, we knew we could make it up, but coming down might have been a disaster waiting to happen. We made a group decision to have lunch at the best seat in the house that day, and head down. The mountain was not going anywhere, and I'm sure it will not be too hard to get others to go with us next time. We learned alot, got some great pictures, and got some great experiences on a snowfield. The most important thing that one could learn was from Rick's mistake: Always wear Sunscreen!!!!! We passed many people on their way up as we were heading down, mostly skiiers and boarders, and one guy didn't understand why we turned around. When I asked him if he was concerned about snow rafts and avalanches, etc, he said ""That crap doesn't scare me!"" He was a loaded gun talking in my opinion, and traveling alone at that! We had smiles almost all the way down until the last mile when it seemed like eternity on the flat ground in our full steel shank boots. Ouch! After signing out at the Climbers Register, we got lots of food and headed home. After all, we had to go up Mailbox Peak on Saturday!