"December 31, 2025. 7th Helens summit, but first time skiing it. An awesome day! Light snow with exposed small rocks for the first half mile of trail, but still skinable. Skinned up to the ridge and carried from there to save time (less transitions with the ridge rocks). Great boot pack and soft snow, did not even need to put on crampons. Skied all the way down, except for the last half mile. Great snow above tree line, hard packed in the shaded trees. No other skiers or boarders. With Ryan. " — runningvegan • Dec 31, 2025

"For me, #mountsainthelens is as American as apple pie and the 4th of July. I barely remember the eruption as a kid growing up in the 80’s. To see it first hand - the massive crater from the lateral eruption that blew out the entire north side, removing 1,300’ vertical feet from the top of the mountain - well, it just about broke my brain. Looking down into the crater, where Washington’s newest glacier was just starting to form was a high point for this trip (ha, get it?! 🤣). Yet again, we woke up around 3am to get to the Climber’s Bivouac trail head (the summer route for Helen’s). This route was only about 5 miles up. The first two miles twisted through piney PWN forest and only gained 1k of elevation leaving the remaining 4k of vertical gain to be done in just the final 3 miles up boulder fields, ash, silt and a ‘vertical beach’ of scree. We had a lunch amidst the summit boulders, shielded from the 40mph blowing dust across the summit ridge. Refueled, we ran back down to the car." — wiweasel • Aug 13, 2025

"About 2km of walking to the reach skiable snow. The ascent was straightforward, but we are not used to skinning up in this weather. Multiple stops to change layers. Everything was soaked. We were socked in on the rim, so we didn’t have much for views. On the way down, we found a few sections of awesome skiing. " — ivo • Apr 21, 2025

"Attempt, didn't summit. Went with JC on what probably was the last cold snap of the year. The days after today temps were supposed to be in the 50's F, but we only had our passes for today, so we went! Started at midnight from Seattle, on the trail by about 3:45am on Worm Flows. Conditions weren't great. Raining at the bottom. Temps in the high 30's. Temps at the top were forecast at a HIGH of 7 degrees F with wind chill. Winds up there were easily 20-25mph constant. At various times it was snowing, raining, and almost always cloudy (we were in the clouds). We essentially experienced a whiteout from above the weather station up, so we turned around at the last rock outcropping as we no longer had a visual point of reference and couldn't see the top let alone the edge of the volcano. Still made for an epic experience and I am glad to have done it. MSH is still my favorite mountain. " — zachmitch • Jun 17, 2024

"If using the ptarmigan route in winter Definitely follow the valley up to the left. Once you’re in the Boulder field not the ridge after weather station continue up to rejoin with the worm trail." — WanderingHutch • Jan 1, 2024

"Midnight start from Seattle to beat the heat. AK and I arrived at the TH ~3:30am and were on the trail before 4, headlamps through the oddly quiet forest. The only animals I saw were bats eating bugs in front of my headlamp - close enough to feel the wind from their wings. :) Early dawn was spent climbing boulders, fun - but the most tedious part imo. Sunup came as we took Monitor Ridge and with the sun came a lot of wind by the time we were at the weather station. Ash in my eyes was a bit of a problem, but mainly bc I left my sunglasses in the car. The final steep scree/ashy section went quickly, and we were on the crater rim. Up there it was immediately apparent that this was the most unique looking mountain I've ever come across. Heavy steam rose from the crater's center mound, rock falls into the crater were frequent and spectacular, and we heard an odd rumble that we couldn't explain. Lasting for 30 seconds - a minute at a time. Was it the glacier moving? Was it the volcano brewing? No clue! But it was incredible. Highly recommend this climb." — zachmitch • Aug 4, 2023

"Bluebird day called me to Helens! Great day for a climb. Inadvertently found some thin snow and dropped one leg into a hot spot. Careful out there on those volcanos. 5 hours total time up with 5,700 vert feet won’t be any FKT but pretty decent for the minimal training so far this year." — oregon-mt-goat • Mar 18, 2023

"December 16, 2022. Fourth summit. Started at 7:45am. Snowshoes up and down. Did not feel the need for crampons. Back down at 2:20pm. Wind gusts were forecasted at 38 mph. It was windy on the way up and it calmed down a bit on the descent. Only a few other people on the mountain. " — runningvegan • Dec 16, 2022

"February 6, 2022. Started at Marble Mountain Sno Park at 7:30am. 3:50 to the summit. 2:10 back down. Started out with snowshoes, but I did not need them. Switched to crampons when I hit the rocks and the real climbing began. Kept the crampons on the rest of the day. Could have switched to microspikes after descending the steep stuff, but I did not want to bother with stopping. Beautiful bluebird day!" — runningvegan • Feb 6, 2022

"Climbed MSH today (May 30, 2021). My first summit of MSH and my 100th summit overall (which I did not plan). Started at 3:30am, summited at 8am, back at the TH at 11:33pm. Did Worm Flows climbing route from Marble Mountain Sno Park. I stayed the night in Cougar, WA and there was plenty of parking when I got to the TH at 3am. Patchy snow started about 1.3 miles in, but I only needed boots. Put on crampons and got out my ice ax just below the weather/met station. Snow was solid all the way up. A large cornice was along the rim and I did not feel safe traversing over to the true summit which had a pile of snow on top. I was the first to reach the summit (I think that’s a first for a major mountain). Snow was still very firm on the way down and I opted not to glissade. It softened up around 9:30am, but I was already back at the weather station taking off my crampons. Perfect weather! Could not have asked for a better day." — runningvegan • May 30, 2021