Mount St. Helens

[nyker]

For those who have climbed Mount St Helens in Spring, any helpful hints?

I know a permit is needed, and likely a parking permit.
In Spring, the Winter trailhead is used = Marble Mountain Sno-Park (~2700ft), which I am hoping I can drive to. Is this one of those trailheads where there is zero parking until you get to it or are there available/legal spots to park beforehand if snow impedes access to the trailhead proper?
Route ~ 12 mi r/t, +5700ft gain
I am assuming 100% or near 100% snow coverage in Spring

Questions- for those who have climbed it in the Spring from this trailhead:

Did you need snowshoes or are crampons alone enough for the slopes higher up? i.e. how is the postholing lower down in this climate in April in those parts?
Crevasses - seems like the route avoids any glacial terrain proper and goes between two small glaciers and not ascending over them?
Looking at the ascent up the south slope overlaid on the topo map, the gradient doesn't seem to steep but a more steady climb to join the summer route at ~7400ft then up to the crater - I've heard mixed views of avalanche risk on this route - any thoughts (barring any immediately recent snowfall)?
Did you see Bigfoot?

[SnowAlien]

Good luck with the weather - summit views are the best!
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=17754

[nyker]

Skies would make it easier huh!

[AlexeyD]

What time are you going? Cmonster and I are heading down there the weekend of 4/20 for a ski descent attempt...maybe we'll see you up there!

[nyker]

Still sorting exact days, you might be there a bit earlier than me!

[AlexeyD]

Still sorting exact days, you might be there a bit earlier than me!

10-4

Assuming all goes as planned, I'm happy to report on how it goes!

[uthorns22]

I climbed St. Helens in early May 2016. I would make setting the date and getting your permit the first priority. I'm not sure of the total, but they only allow so many permits per day. As far as parking, I don't remember any issues finding parking and I was able to park at the winter trailhead. This route does not have any glaciers or crevasses and the gradient is not very steep, but having crampons or microspikes will help with the ascent.

On the return from summit, you can glissade a good portion of it in April. I hope this info helps.

[mtn_nut]

I climbed St. Helens in early May 2015, which just happened to be on mothers day weekend. Apparently its a "tradition" for everyone on mothers day weekend to wear a dress, even the guys, but I didn't know about that until after I started climbing. It was an interesting sight.

They had opened up the road to the higher trailhead (830 road) that day, so it saved 1k feet of gain. Also, it looked like half of the people didn't realize the upper road had opened (didn't check), so there were still people hiking up from below. It's a pretty straightforward hike, and there were rangers and lots of signs to tell people to no get too close to the edge of the crater because of the snow cornices (they are pretty massive cornices). There are A LOT of inexperienced people up there, trying to hike without crampons, glissading with crampons down the uphill path, etc. Just keep yourself aware so they don't hurt you.

[Wandertheworld]

The Washington Hikers and Climbers Facebook group has more information on St. Helens than you could ever dream of. Seems like people are posting about MSH climbs almost daily, and members are always more than happy to dole out advice.

[mommyhiker]

A link to that page, please. Thank you.

[Wandertheworld]

A link to that page, please. Thank you.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/washing ... dclimbers/

It's a closed group so you have to request to join.

[AlexeyD]

In case you haven't gone up yet, here's a summary of our trip on Friday, 4/26, via the standard early season route (Worm Flows):

We had a group of 4 skiers and one hiker. We started around 6, which is probably a tad late if you want to avoid mashed potatoes snow on the way back. The road was dry and clear to Marble Mountain Sno-Park. Snow started approximately 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead (3.2k) and was continuous thereafter except for a brief section around Chocolate Falls. There numerous boot and skin tracks to follow, taking various lines up the south face of the mountain. The main boot track currently joins the Monitor Ridge route near the top in order to take the line of least steepness. We ascended this way, and descended the Swift Glacier headwall, just east of the ascent route. The snow stayed pretty firm on the ridge much of the day, but corned up nicely on the Swift headwall by about 11:30. The upper 2500' or so of the headwall was absolutely glorious corn skiing around 1PM, but the lower gully was getting pretty soft (not fun especially for one hiker in the group). Once in the trees, the snow quality improved again, and the ski out to the end of the snow was quick and easy. All in all awesome conditions on an awesome mountain! Enjoy