Trip Report
Day Scramble Mount St. Helens/Worm Flows
We headed up to the crater rim on a gorgeous Thursday in May.
Jim Griffing
- Thu, May 7, 2026
- Mount St. Helens/Worm Flows
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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There was one blowdown not far from the trailhead - it was easy to step over.
We hit snow at 6200' and wore crampons from there. Snow was firm during our time on it (~0730 to ~ 0930).
The cornice at the top of the route is marked with wands. There are no views of the crater from the top of the route, but traversing west (staying under the cornice) leads to good views of the lava dome and spirit lake.
The true summit is highly corniced and there are no views into the crater.
The snow warmed up enough for good glissading and plunge stepping on our way down. Left rim at ~1030.
Four of us drove down to the Marble Mountain Snow Park on Wednesday evening. We camped in or near the parking lot and agreed to a 4AM start.
Everyone was ready to go at 4 so we signed in and headed out. The approach trail was snow-free.
We hiked and scrambled on rock ridges up to about 6200'. We then got out the ice axes and donned crampons and helmets. The snow was the perfect hardness for crampons, so we continued up the snowfield. There were only a couple of people ahead of us, so we mostly made our own track or followed older ones.
Weather was clear after a little light fog along the approach trail. We were able to see all the way south to the Sisters in Oregon. Rainier, Adams, Hood, and Mt Jefferson were all easily identifiable. There was some haze to the north so we did not see Glacier or Baker.
We arrived at the wands marking the edge of the cornice at the top of the Worm Flows route around 9AM. The crater was not visible from this point. Recent trip reports said the crater was visible about 400 m to the west so we headed over that direction. We were careful to stay below the cornice line or on bare rock. We sat in the view area for over an hour enjoying food, views and good company.
We did not try to go up to the "true summit" due to cornices and lack of views.
When we left the rim just after 1030 the snow had warmed up enough for great glissading and plunge stepping down to 6200'. The rest of the hike out was uneventful.
Overall time car-to-car was 10 hours. We gained about 5700' and traveled about 10 miles according to my GPS watch.