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

Beautiful day on St. Helens! Snow on all but the first mile, where it is intermittent. Started at 5:15am, and it was mostly firm on the way up. Summit at noon, snow still ok. By about 1 it was pretty slushy. Lots of people in crampons or snowshoes, but they weren't necessary. My whole group wore microspikes the whole way and had no problems. Mostly glissaded down. Chutes available from the summit until about half way between the monitor and chocolate falls. Super fun! For the small stretches between chutes, plunge stepping worked fine. Even though it was cloudy, they were high clouds and we had amazing views of Adams, Rainier, Hood, and Jefferson. There was a chute above monitor ridge with really high walls, probably 4 feet high. Do not take this one! We looked at it from an angle and there are exposed rocks about half way down it! There are 2 other chutes in the same area, one with about 3 ft walls, and another that is just started. These 2 are fine. Also...saw a lot of people glissading with crampons on their feet. Please don't do this! If a crampon tip hits an obstacle like a rock under the snow, it will catch and you will break a leg! Also saw a lot of people heading down chutes holding ice axes in dangerous ways, with the pick aimed right at their stomach or thigh. Please, if you are going to use rent crampons and ice axe, at least watch some YouTube videos or something before you go sliding down a mountain at 20 miles an hour with a weapon in your hand. Thankfully, didn't actually have to treat any injuries along the way...but there were certainly a lot of people tempting fate. Be careful up there!