July 12, 2008, SW Chutes, Adams
7/12/08
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4205
3
As many others have observed, snowpack down low is good, up high it's just kind of normal. This meant there was only one continuous chute off Piker's, and the summit route looked like the scree/runnel/post holefest you'd expect at this time of year (I passed).
Very crowded parking lot. On the trail at 5:30 a.m., snow was frozen from the start despite the warm temps. Can't remember the elevation, but the snow was continuous starting shortly after the RTM junction. Suncups the entire way to Piker's, large enough to use as stairs, which was helpful because there wasn't a consistent bootpack ( ??? pick one people! It's easier for everyone!). It's melted out enough that the narrow spot about 500 feet below the false summit is 5-10 feet wide.
I'm sure that, theoretically, you could skin, but I didn't see anyone doing so and didn't even consider bringing mine.
Growing impatient, I dropped in around noon, only to find the snow still pretty frozen and scratchy, though pretty darn smooth. Hung out for about a 1/2 hour hoping the snow would soften, but there didn't appear to be much progress. Skied mildly frozen corn for 1/2 the chute, and then conditions deteriorated into big potholes, suncups, runnels and lots of rocks. Hellish. Jumped some choss into the next chute north (not continuous from summit), which was great! Fewer rocks and much smoother. Snow was good, if not covered with rocks, down to about 6,500 feet. A little schwacking led to the RTM trail, then the car. I'll add photos later.
Very crowded parking lot. On the trail at 5:30 a.m., snow was frozen from the start despite the warm temps. Can't remember the elevation, but the snow was continuous starting shortly after the RTM junction. Suncups the entire way to Piker's, large enough to use as stairs, which was helpful because there wasn't a consistent bootpack ( ??? pick one people! It's easier for everyone!). It's melted out enough that the narrow spot about 500 feet below the false summit is 5-10 feet wide.
I'm sure that, theoretically, you could skin, but I didn't see anyone doing so and didn't even consider bringing mine.
Growing impatient, I dropped in around noon, only to find the snow still pretty frozen and scratchy, though pretty darn smooth. Hung out for about a 1/2 hour hoping the snow would soften, but there didn't appear to be much progress. Skied mildly frozen corn for 1/2 the chute, and then conditions deteriorated into big potholes, suncups, runnels and lots of rocks. Hellish. Jumped some choss into the next chute north (not continuous from summit), which was great! Fewer rocks and much smoother. Snow was good, if not covered with rocks, down to about 6,500 feet. A little schwacking led to the RTM trail, then the car. I'll add photos later.
I was up there yesterday as well with snoslut, but we got kind of a late start at 6:40 and made a pretty leisurely ascent. It was my first trip up Adams and I wanted to go all the way, so I booked it up from the Lunch Counter to reach the summit and get back down to the chutes to meet Eric at around 5 pm. The snow was pretty soft by then and fun for the first 1/3 or so, but then we had the terrible idea of continuing down the same chute instead of crossing over the rocks into the next one. That was an exercise in sideslipping and survival turns through a joyous medley of runnels, large holes, rocks, and nasty dirty snow.
Seems ideal to do this one earlier in the season/with more continuous snow...
Seems ideal to do this one earlier in the season/with more continuous snow...
author=andyski link=topic=10636.msg43236#msg43236 date=1215972873]I'm sure that, theoretically, you could skin, but I didn't see anyone doing so and didn't even consider bringing mine.
After a brief boot up the Crescent Glacier (my only booting/cramponing in four trips to the Adams summit), I skinned the rest of the way -- was pretty easy since the snow was fairly soft.
The SW Chutes varied between fair and very good, although relatively to prior outings there, that's pretty bad for the SW Chutes.
Then again, all of this beta is pretty worthless since nobody is going to be skiing there for awhile:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/July13AdamsSWChutes
Even though we had much better snow coverage two weeks earlier, my party appeared to be the only one that skinned up the mountain. It was debatable which method was faster, but there is a certain degree of style to skinning over booting. We probably traveled an extra mile, though. ;D
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