Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Wednesday, May. 7, 2014

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

I snowshoed up Mt St Helens via the Worm Flows Route from Marble Mountain Snow park it took me about 6 hours to climb the mountain and 5 hours to come down. Snow is patchy between 3250' and 4000' above 4000' the trail is 90% snow. The Route was long and tiring (5600' verticle and 11 miles round trip). The millage wasn't so bad, I have had days where I have done 17 mile day hikes but 5600' is alot of climbing and I was tired and slow the last 1000'. The worm flows route is easy and non-technical, you do not need any special skills or equipment if you stay on route. I would bring snowshoes to keep from potholing, the snow is nice and firm near the top but lower down there are still some soft spots where without snowshoes you sink to your knees. There are some shot steep sections where Crampons/Microspikes might be useful. On a warm day when the snow soft you would not need crampons/microspikes but when the snow is firmer you might want the additon traction of crampons/microspikes for some of these short steep sections. Also Be prepared for both heat and cold most of this climb was hot and I was down to a t-shirt but at the summit the wind suddenly came up and It got cold fast and I needed to put on my layers. I met another hiker who was climbing in a sweater and they were miserably hot and wished they were hiking in a t-shirt like me. Avalanche Danger:Low on the main route but high in some of the gullies. Snow on the main route was consolidated and safe I don't think it would avalanche. However, I accidentally got off route and had to cross a steep gully to get back on route. The snow in gully was lose and unconsolidated. I set off some very small sluffs just booting through the gully. When the avalanche danger is high avoid the gullies. You do not need any special equipment to climb the main route but if you get off route then you should have crampons and an ice axe. I had to traverse a steep icy section to get into the gully and I lost my footing. I immediately dug my ice axe into the snow and arrested my slide within 20 feet but if I did not have an ice axe I would have slid a few hundred feet maybe more and there were rocks in the gully that I could have slid into. The views from the top were spectacular even though it was a tiring hike I am glad it did it. This route has alot of boulders and it will probably only be good for a few more weeks as more of the boulders melt out of the snow monitor ridge is the easier route.