July 13, 2008: Mt Adams wildfire, Cold Springs TH closed

www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_0713...ire_SW.50e19085.html

Wildfire burning near Mount Adams
03:42 PM PDT on Sunday, July 13, 2008
By SUSAN WYATT / KING5.com Staff

SEATTLE - A wildfire is burning about 11 miles northeast of Trout Lake and smoke is visible from locations around southwest Washington and northwest Oregon.

The KING 5 newsroom received several calls from people concerned that Mount Adams was erupting.

Paul Ries at the Interagency Fire Center said crews have been sent from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to battle the blaze, which is about 100 acres in heavy trees. A tanker from Troutdale is assisting.

Access to the Cold Springs/South Climb Trailhead has been closed temporarily. The trailhead serves as a primary access point for climbers. There are a number of vehicles at the trailhead, and the Forest Service is coordinating safe departure as climbers descend and leave the area.

"The fire is in a remote area with many dead trees so as always our highest priority is the safety of the public and firefighters," said Nancy Ryke, Mount Adams District Ranger. "We will monitor the situation and, based upon the status of the fire, will assess any additional closures."

A lightning strike from a thunderstorm earlier this month is thought to be the cause of the fire.

Lots of good photos at: www.king5.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspo...cation=www.king5.com

More info and photos on the USFS website:

www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/20080713b-c...s-fire-1500hrs.shtml

Cold Springs Fire estimated at 500+ acres in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest


VANCOUVER, WA – Gifford Pinchot National Forest fire officials estimate the Cold Springs Fire has grown to 500 plus acres. The wildland fire in the Mount Adams Ranger District of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest has closed access temporarily to the Cold Springs/South Climb Trailhead which serves as a primary access point for climbers of Mt. Adams (12, 276 elevation) in southwest Washington.

Forest Roads 8040 accessing the trailhead has been temporarily closed. Forest Roads 23, 80 and 82 are also closed at the Forest Boundary north of Trout Lake. There are a number of vehicles at the trailhead, and the Forest Service is coordinating safe departure as climbers descend and leave the area.

A type II interagency management team has been ordered and is scheduled to take over management of the fire beginning Monday, July 14.

Fire crews from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest are conducting initial attack suppression of the wildland fire with hand crews and wildland fire engines.

Three air tankers, one heavy firefighting helicopter, and one medium sized firefighting helicopter are assisting ground crews in the suppression of the fire.

The fire is located about 11-miles northeast of Trout Lake, Washington. Smoke from the fire is visible from as far away as the Portland/Vancouver area to the west, and Yakima, Washington to the east.

The fire was first reported at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. A lightning strike from a thunderstorm earlier this month is thought to be the cause of the fire.

Another couple angles...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2667250034_77299eb6cf.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2666426605_ab888cd1a9.jpg?v=0

Definitely added some urgency to our skiing!

my self and 5 friends were above the fire. For awhile it looked like the campground might be overtaken. The fire jumped the road below Cold springs campground. The forest service handled it very well. I had a seat above the fire as about forty of us were held  from descending to the campground . Amazing the efforts that were thrown at this fire, aerial tankers and helicopters with 500 gal water buckets. One right after another .Very professional and impressive.

my self and 5 friends were above the fire. For awhile it looked like the campground might be overtaken. The fire jumped the road below Cold springs campground. The forest service handled it very well. I had a seat above the fire as about forty of us were held  from descending to the campground . Amazing the efforts that were thrown at this fire, aerial tankers and helicopters with 500 gal water buckets. One right after another .Very professional and impressive.

Yeah it felt like Pearl Harbor up there. What time and where did they hold you from descending? We came down around 3 or so (?) and they had just started escorting cars through.

I came down from the Lunch counter around noon and was hailed by the ranger on a small ridge below south butte. This was about 1pm and at that point they were letting people through to the campground. While I was there watching the fire spread it crossed the road below the campground. I hung out near the ranger and helped spot and inform so i listened to the radio traffic. they were very busy.Then the decision was made to keep people up high in the snow and at one point we were told we might have to bivey for the night.
We had a commanding veiw on that ridge. Then maybe 230 or 3 the fire pushed by the wind to the east and heavily assaulted by air came under control on its western edge. It was interesting to see how the air tankers were guided in by the smaller spotter planes.
We ( about 40) were given the ok to go down in groups to the campground and then again the 5 cars at atime down to trout lake. We quickly packed up our gear while looking over our shoulder at the black smoke.
On the way down we drove through the fire retardant on the road for about maybe a quarter mile . We felt good to just get out there .It could have been a bad scene if the fire hit the campground full on.
I'm glad you made it out.

had an interesting view of the fire from the east side of Rainier yesterday... from Whitman Crest it almost looked like Adams was erupting out its eastern flank.

Here's a similar view taken from near Pan Point looking across Unicorn Saddle about 1:00 pm yesterday.

Great photo's! catching sight of that would give me pause for sure

Nice photos, Jerm, Pete, and Ron! Glad everybody on the south side got out OK.

Unfortunately, the fire has increased more than tenfold in size overnight and is raging uncontained. There's now a map of the fire perimeter, and sadly, it looks like it's encroaching on or even consuming Bird Creek Meadows, which is one of the prettiest spots on Mt Adams (or any of the Cascade volcanoes):

www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/20080714a-n...gs-fire-update.shtml

Cold Springs Fire near Mt. Adams estimated at 6,000 acres

VANCOUVER, WA – Gifford Pinchot National Forest fire officials estimate the Cold Springs Fire has grown to be 6,000 plus acres. The wildland fire in the Mount Adams Ranger District of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest has closed access temporarily to the Cold Springs/South Climb Trailhead which serves as a primary access point for climbers of Mt. Adams (12, 276 elevation) in southwest Washington.

Forest Road 8040 accessing the trailhead has been temporarily closed. Forest Roads 80 and 82 are also closed at the Forest Boundary north of Trout Lake, closing access to all roads, trails and campgrounds east of Forest Road 23.

The fire is currently 0% contained with no estimated date for containment. The fire is burning on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the Yakama Reservation, and is threatening Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) managed land.

A type II interagency management team from Central Oregon is scheduled to take over management of the fire at 6 p.m. today.

More than 200 personnel are working on the fire. This includes fire crews from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest with support from Yakama Nation and Washington State DNR. Personnel are conducting initial attack suppression of the wildland fire with hand crews and wildland fire engines. Nine 20-person crews including two type 1 hot shot crews along with 10 engines and six dozers are working the fire this morning.

Air tankers, one heavy firefighting helicopter, and one medium sized firefighting helicopter are assisting ground crews in the suppression of the fire.

The fire is located about 11-miles northeast of Trout Lake, Washington. Smoke from the fire is drifting east towards eastern Washington and Oregon. No structures or communities are immediately threatened.

The fire was first reported on Saturday evening, July 12. A lightning strike from a thunderstorm on June 29, 2008 is thought to be the cause of the fire.

The good news is that there will be some great morel and ski combo trips next spring...

Glad everyone seems to be safe!

We skied the chutes Saturday and saw the fire start when we were in Trout Lake Saturday night!

- Matt

As much as this fire's a bummer, it may make for some interesting skiing in the Spring....

Kudos to the fire folk for apparently affording everyone safe passage out of the affected area!

It's kind of low and flat where the fire is ... but the extra sun exposure might help that road melt out earlier, which would be nice. Burns can be nicer to ski through too, no tree wells or bombs to muck up the surface.

I posted a sequence of photos on TTips showing the fire going from just a plume Sunday am into a Chernobyl-like-thing by the afternoon. You can see them here:
www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=46778

Robbie - Where you on the mtn Monday or Sunday? They never told us the fire had jumped the road or we might have to bivy up high. The USFS we met was at the TH and then they were about to let cars down 5 at a time.

The good news is that there will be some great morel and ski combo trips next spring...

No kidding! Bring on the trail supreme pizza - made with the freshest mushrooms!

Jeff ,We were on the mountain on sunday. I came down around 1230 or so, at that point they were letting people go to the campground. I didn't think that was such a good idea from the looks of things. Quickly events happened that confirmed my opinon. I stayed with the ranger and after discusion between him and Hedquarters the decison was made to hold people up high. the next thing on the radio was the fire was closing in on the road and then no more than 5 minutes later the fire jumped the road. We were not told that we were going to spend the night but just that it could happen and to be thinking about it. From the looks of things I thought for sure the campground would be lost . So much so that I was mentally shopping for a more fuel efficient car than my explorer. Other thoughts were to the amount of food in my pack! Quite a few of us were calling home warning loved ones of a late return.
After watching tanker after tanker and helis carrying water the road was secured around 330 0r so. then we were given the ok to go hike down to the campground sticking together. I skied a bit of it and returned to join up with group from Yakima. if you came down later than say 330 or so or skie dthe chutes and came back the round the mountain trail you would have missed the upper mountain delay.
The reason I came down early was my hip was bothering me and I had to give up at the Lunch counter around 9am . I did get to take my long long dreamed of mountain nap of 2 hrs . Five others in my group made the false summit and came down not too long after 430.
Again I think the rangers and firefighters did a hell of good job managing what could have been way worse.
by the way I saw your photos, very good. Was that you on dynafits and f3s.
if so we started out about the same time as you. leapfrogging abit on the way up.

Was that you on dynafits and f3s.

That was me. (Jeff was Dynafits & Megarides, on Dynafit Mustagh Atta skis, and my brother Ben was Dynafits & Flexon-tongued Lasers, on Shuksan skis.)
We started driving down the road at 3:45, which was just about when they stopped the convoy system and let everyone down as usual.
We had reached the campground at around 2:30.

Hmm ,i looked at your dynafits and they didn't have the nylon tie strap for the runaway connection ! anyway I would have noticed you in the backup. Did you come out lower down ? Still touring out here?

If you click on the magnification button for this photo:
picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/July11WyEa...#5223663154969176562
. . . you can zoom in on my toe piece, which has a girth-hitched loop of purple-colored 3mm accessory cord attached via a cable tie to a simple plastic hook, which then clips to a wonderfully color-coordinated orange ski lift ticket loop on my orange F3 boots.

Anyway, we skied the SW Chutes starting around noon (after I skied the summit in some of the worst snow I've ever experienced), then downhiked a bit to the RMT.
Some pics:
picasaweb.google.com/jshefftz/July13AdamsSWChutes
(Full TR to follow eventually -- the other three days were on Hood.)

Sorry now that I didn't connect.

From the GPNF website: Access to Mt. Adams South Climb to Reopen this Weekend

But it's probably too late for any good skiing on the south side, I'd guess that it's likely to be heavily suncupped and runneled. Maybe the Mazama Glacier could still be decent? Hopefully someone will go check it out this weekend and post . . .