We arrived at the Marble Mountain parking lot Friday night around 10 after the long drive from Seattle. There was plenty of parking to be had still, but the lot was definitely active. A number of groups were up before daybreak to get an early start. Unfortunately, a few of them were pretty noisy and thought yelling at 4AM was a good idea. Please be considerate of the other hikers around you trying to get some rest in before taking on this hike.
Apart from that, the whole day and experience was great. We left the lot about 6:30AM, and returned around 3:15 or so. In all, it took us 6 hours up, with several breaks, including a longer lunch at the mid mountain weather station.
From the lot, the trail immediately was snow covered. We tramped on the light uphill grade until the trail peeks out of the trees and you get your first view of the mountain around 2 miles in. From here, it's all up and up.
At this point, we strapped on our snowshoes, which we would abandon after lunch. Due to the super slushy snow, the snowshoes didn't have great traction and felt pretty slow. With the bootpack, they're also too wide to fit properly, which becomes awkward on the steeper pitches. Once we abandoned the shoes for microspikes after lunch, we were much happier. Wish we had done it sooner. A lot of people making their way with just boots and trekking poles, however.
Cloud ceiling was a little low, but the view from the summit was pretty spectacular. There were a few people who were closer than I'd want to be to that spring cornice, though. Be careful up there.
I was jealous of the skiers and boarders who skinned or carried up, but the glissading on the way down was a blast. We took some contractor bags and clipped them around our waists. These things could really pick up some speed in places! Make sure to have a good brake if you do this. A lot of the popular glissade paths became really deep trenches by the end of the day.
All in all, great hike and summit.
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