Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Sunday, Mar. 21, 2004

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

We left Marble Mount Sno Park at 6 a.m. under calm conditions. Snow on the approach was very firm which made for good footing. After crossing Chocolate Falls at 3700 feet, summit was visible for much of the remainder of the climb. We were following a group of 8 Mazamas, so we had an excellent boot track to follow in the freshly fallen snow from Thursday night. About 6000 feet much of the snow had blown off, so we donned crampons for the summit push. We met two splendid native Turks currently living in Portland and working for Intel- Arjun (sp?) and Heidar- who climbed much of the way with us. Summitted in a little over 6 hours- not bad for a couple of AARP members- and had a leisurely but somewhat chilly lunch with a great view of Rainier, Adams, Hood, Jefferson, Washington, and even the Olympics. Peter and Arjun led the glissade charge, with about 4000 feet of descent in a bit over an hour. Put on snowhsoes for the walk out to avoid the postholing many were experiencing. Back to the car 3 hours after summitting- our 6th time in the past 10 months on this mountain.Although this route is considerable longer than the summer route, it is very enjoyable. Another great day on St. Helens.