Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

No snow at the trail head. We didn't encounter snow until we were well above the treeline, about an hour into the hike. The snow was hard-packed and icy until we started to hit patches of loose powder near the summit. I made it all the way to the summit in hiking boots and micro spikes, but when I started working my way around the crater to explore the other peaks I ran into steep sections of solid ice and had to get out my crampons. It was also starting to get very windy at this point, which was not helping. I wound up wearing the crampons on the way down because I gave my micro spikes to a woman we encountered who was attempting the climb with no ice traction aid whatsoever (and falling repeatedly). I would suggest anyone climbing to the summit bring micro spikes at least. In the afternoon the snow turned to slush and we were able to remove our crampons and glissade down a fair distance (maybe 1000 ft of vertical) until there was too much exposed rock to safely slide any further. This route usually has a lot more snow in February, but it was a very pleasant day on the mountain regardless.