June 6-7 Mt Adams SW Chutes

TomB, ClimberDave, and myself left Seattle in a mist around 7:30 Saturday morning in TomB's overloaded Rav (see the Partners Wanted section from last week for the real time on how this came together) and drove the four or so hours to Hood River in alternating showers and heavy overcast, each of us at times wondering whether any of us would continue on this outing if the other two weren't along.  After lunching at a taco stand in Hood River, set out for Mt Adams where we met up with Dave Perkins.

After a brief discussion about whether to take Morrison Creek or the road to South Climb, we unanimously agreed that it would be harder to get lost on the road.  After a short walk we reached snow and started to skin.  We soon ran out of snow and abandoned the skinning idea.  Walking up the road we would occasionally glance back over our shoulders to admire the mountain, bathed in sun at this point, as it receded in the distance.

Eventually the road turned back towards the mountain and turned snowy again and we were able to skin.  Following the South Climb route was easy and enjoyable, though at one point below the lunch counter we reached a high point on the ridge that required a brief walk down on the pumice to a snow field and a short descent on our skinned skis (Dave Perkins impressively managed this without locking down the heels of his Dynafits).

A final push up a white ribbon of snow ended in a rock garden just below the Lunch Counter.  We again took off our skis and pushed up maybe 200 vertical feet to the campsites.  All told, maybe a five hour effort with both Daves out in front most of the way but me, the laggard, never more than a minute or so behind.

Numerous nice flat campsites with small stone walls to block the wind which was howling until about sunset.  Only ClimberDave had a tent; the rest of us slept in sacs which were both lighter to carry and easier to set up though claustrophobic.  Pikas scampered around, eyeing our packs for loose foodstuffs.

The full moon made for a bright night and the early sunrise for a shortish sleep but we had an easy morning before setting off for the false summit around 8.  During our breakfast, the cloud understory that made the top of Mt Hood the only visible feature on the horizon began to lift up.  These clouds seemed to chase us up to the false summit, both Daves choosing to skin (they had ski crampons, though one young woman made it up the ridge without them).  TomB and I, without ski crampons,  followed any easy boot pack until the last few hundred feet when the pack inexplicably and unfortunately disappeared.  Since it was a bit icier here, we both put on boot crampons and gained the false summit around 11. 

The SW chutes were still quite firm so our party minus ClimberDave (who decided to be RestingDave for a while) skinned to the summit (in the sun) across unskiable frozen suncups.  The view from the summit was, well, the same view of Mt Hood and clouds that could be seen from 3000' lower.  We were all glad that we were not on St Helens.

We clicked in and began our descent, swing to the north to find surprisingly good corn snow turns on a ridge that led us back to the top of the SW chutes (and an amazing view down the Klickitat Glacier).  Picking up our packs and ClimberDave, we began our descent. 

Of the four of us, only Dave Perkins and I had been down the chutes before.  In my case, I had skied them with my boots in walk mode so it doesn't really count. 

The first 2000' of vertical was great smooth corn but the whole time you could see that we would soon drop into the cloud bank and not be able to see.  Once enshrouded we were able to keep together and after about 2000' feet got below the cloud bank and began to cut to the left. We tried to put a positive spin on things: surely the fog was keeping this lower altitude snow from turning into mank.   

Thanks to the numerous tracks and ClimberDave's GPS we managed to ski almost all the way back to the road, though we did lose the path and ended up having to take off our skis and wander through the trail free forest.  There is a lot of downed timber in this area and another big fire like last years would make for much easier walking.

A few beers to toast a great run and a long drive back to Seattle awaited.  Pictures to be posted...