Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Saturday, May. 5, 2018

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

Hiked up Worm Flows route- my husband and I bootpacked up & skied down. Our friends hiked up and glissaded down and had a blast! Skinning even with ski crampons is very cumbersome past Chocolate Falls. The snow is soft and slushy so you slip around, even if making your own switchbacks. We bootpacked after Chocolate Falls all the way up to the top. Only saw one other person try to skin up and they were miserable, and gave into boot packing later anyway. The top was greatest usual- and as always with snow, that cornice is huge! Skiing down is super fun! Pretty chunky after the first 2 miles down. Beware of cornice releases- we actually watched a few big loose wet slides release from steeper slopes. I triggered a few non-threatening small slides with my skis which illustrates the conditions... The last 2 miles are a blast to ski in the trees. Feels like an easy rollercoaster! I hiked up in my ski boots. Our friends who didn’t ski used mountaineering boots with crampons. They brought snowshoes but only used them on the way down after chocolate falls- just to avoid slipping around so much in the warm snow. Clothing involved of layers- hot, cold, hot, cold throughout the day. Camped the night before at the TH parking lot. Started at 5:30am, down to car by 3pm. That was the most crowded I’d ever seen MSH climb! So many people! For that reason I wish we started a bit easier, but otherwise timing was fine.