Mount St. Helens Trip Report: 5/10/2025
Mount St. Helens Worm Flows (Swift Glacier) Route: May 10, 2025
A lovely day on the mountain in my party of 5 on feet (no skis), 2 of whom were “volcano virgins”! Biggest thing I want folks to know before I share the photos/details…
Please do not glissade with crampons on! Three men on their descent together came scarily close to my group and others while sliding down with crampons still on. This isn’t only dangerous to others (because of potential impact and sharp metal), but is incredibly dangerous for the glissader as well (ACL tears, broken ankles, lacerations, etc.)
I love how on Mt. Adams there are signs at the start of the South Climb warning people about the dangers of doing this. I wish MSH had the same ones! Here’s some info to review on staying in control while glissading, proper ice axe position, etc.
Okay, now the fun stuff!
Timing:
Left parking lot at: 8:10 AM
Summited at: 1:20 PM (just over 5 hour ascent)
~35 minutes at summit
Back to car: 4:45pm (about 3 hour descent)
ASCENT:
Most parking spaces were taken by our relatively late arrival. Easy dirt hiking from the trailhead with snow becoming consistent at just about 1.5 miles in.
View at Chocolate Falls (note the trail marker post, all of which were easily spotted on the way up):
It was quite warm and sunny in the morning! We sweat a bit on the way up the rock ridges.
The transition spots between rock/snow were pretty sketchy right now with the melting. Take extra care in your step placement to avoid post-holing through and twisting an ankle.
For a bit in the route just above treeline, we stayed atop the ridge, boulder hopping a bit:
Finally, we found an easy way down the rocks to get back to a clear snow route (others stayed on the ridge as another option).
You can see evidence of rockfall here and next to all the other ridges:
The snow was soft without being slushy all day. Plenty of stair-step footprints for the hills. I never felt the true need for crampons, but we did put them on in the last couple miles for extra stability.
Check out all the people dotting the route:
We did see a handful of folks who’d presumably accidentally taken the wrong ridge down from the summit (which is easy to do if unfamiliar with the mountain). A few skiers seemed to spend a lot of time debating how to most safely get back to the official route. We met a MSH Volunteer who noted that it wouldn’t be easy to communicate with the folks off route, but that it seemed like if they made a traverse back soon they could get over without too much trouble.
See the blurry person in the middle of this photo… Make sure you don’t go too far right when you leave the summit!:
The way up was the easiest climb I’ve had on this mountain. Friendly conditions for snow and weather, a stair-step boot pack nearly the whole way, steady pace from my group. Just gorgeous!
Summit:
As we approached the summit, we noted how much care folks were taking to stay far back from the cornice. We noted at least one orange flag marking where to stay behind.
You can’t currently see towards the north or the crater (if you’re staying a safe distance back from the cornice, but we had some fleeting views to the east as clouds began to roll in.
However, we did see three people precariously close to the edge on a lower crater ridgeline… Spooky.
And I got my fun summit shot as usual!
It got pretty chilly once the clouds came in at the summit, so we bundled up quickly and left the summit after a little over a half hour. It’d taken a little over 5 hours to get there from the car, which felt pretty relaxed for our athletic group (in a great way!).
DeSCENT:
And then, we were able to glissade (without crampons on!) from the summit and most of the way until treeline!
The snow was still wet from a warm morning, so our butts got soaked. With the cloud cover it got a bit chilly, but we kept moving happily.
Many great glissade chutes! A fun, relaxed descent with far fewer people around by that time of day.
A few final remarks:
I did get a little sunburnt despite a big hat, fully covered body, and sunscreen. I think blowing my snot into my glove rubbed my sunscreen off more than usual and I should’ve reapplied one more time. :)
There was no toilet paper at Marble Mountain toilets at the start of our day. At the end, someone had a left a roll in there.
Skiing looked decent! I saw people both skinning up and hiking up with skis on their backpack.
I packed 3L of water. (Here’s a Mt. Adams packing list I use for many climbs.)