Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Wednesday, Apr. 9, 2025

Only climber today past climbing permit marker.  Seems like 6-8 inches of snow fell above this marker.  Broke trail up to near top.  Some things of note is snowshoes were helpful halfway up and then I switched to crampons.  The snow to halfway point was powdery and a lot of postholing.  After the halfway point you’ll only sink in 5 inches and hit hard pack.  To the right of the weather monitor station there is quite a snow cornice building.  I recommend not going up and not going to the right.  Go to the left up a small rock field and you can climb up gravel to the weather station.  Head straight up.  Be careful not to head left.  I stayed straight.  To the left appears to be unstable with cornices building and the rim on monitor ridge route appears unsafe.  I was trying to avoid and stayed straight up from weather center.  I had heavy clouds move in and could no longer see the cornice overhangs and that new snow started icing up.  I sat on a rock for 30 minutes and never cleared.  It was beautiful up there with all the fresh snow.  I used a hiking pole and held a Petzl sum’tec.  If you want to attempt the summit, I recommend really early before the sun starts melting out.  It was a 10 hour day for me total.  Have a great time!