July 1-2, 2004, Mt Adams

I finally got the weather window I hoped for so on Wednesday evening Chris and I took off for Adams.  We arrived at the Cold Springs campground around 10pm, set up tent, and crashed.  We woke around 6am, got our gear together, and were hiking by 7am under clear blue skies.  When we arrived at the Timberline campground we started to head north on snow rather than hiking on dirt.  We continued north and found ourselves on a ridge overlooking a valley that Morrison Creek runs thru.  The ridge also provided a good view of the Cresent Glacier, the lines already carved into it, and the possibilities of more.  We stayed on the ridge that led us climbers left of South Butte which eventually put us near Suksdorf ridge.  We followed the ridge to lunch counters and set up camp at 9200ft.

By 2pm our camp was set, belly's full, and ready for our afternoon run.  It was still sunny but there were the ocassional clouds that provided some releif from the heat.  We planned on climbing half way up and ski/board down a big finger of snow that was seperated by a rock band skiers right of off Pikers Peak (false summit).  When we got there we decided to keep going since we were making good time and only 500ft from Pikers.  Well that's when we started to post thigh deep holes into moats.  After 50 or so feet of that we opted to climb on the rocks.  Once on top of the false summit we both felt pretty darn good so we kept going for the true summit.  So we crossed the mello flat section before the final steep pitch and only posted up to knee deep holes in the worst sections.  About half way up the last steep pitch things started to ice up.  Was better than posting holes.  From here it was an easy boot up to the true summit where we struck our pose and took pictures.  Conditions at the summit were chilly so we didn't stay long.  Well we were having so much fun that we didn't realize it was already 7:30pm.  We burnt alot of time post holing in moats and climbing up the rocks but didn't waste anytime riding/skiing down.  By the time we started down Pikers Peak it was pretty icy.  It was survival boarding (hop turning) at best.  I watched Chris as he took the first few turns on blades (looked like pocket rockets cut in half) cause he was too lazy to haul his real skis.  Boy it was a real workout as we frequently took rests and laughed at each other when we would appear to fall.  The joke was if one of us did fall and couldn't regain an edge that we would slide all the way down and up a hill to our camp.  Well about half way down the hill we encountered a trap crust that sent both of us going ass over elbows.  I prefered the ice.  Well we made it back to camp safely and just in time for dinner and sunset.  Was amazing watching the shadow that Adams casts over the east.  After dinner it was lights out.

We woke around 6am on Friday to try the 35 degrees slopes of the Southwest Chutes.  Sun was out and there was a constant breeze.  We were accompanied by my friends Marco, Rick, and Jon.  Rick and Jon planned on summiting while Marco, Chris, and I waited.  By the time we reached the false summit the winds were howling and clouds had capped the true summit.  We watched as Rick and Jon ascended and they quickly decided to turn around.  We decided not to wait for the weather and dropped in the chutes.  Winds were really strong out of the west so we thought it might be icy.  Once in conditions were firm on firm.  We proceeded to take turn after turn after turn.  Chris made it look easy on the blades while Marco and Rick tore it up on skis.  Jon was just climbing so he hiked/glissaded down the climbers route.  I was thinking to myself that I wished it was mushier but it was still a blast.  We watched as Marco and Rick cruised all the way down while Chris and I opted out at about 2/3 thirds down since our camp was at lunch counters.  Well the traverse back was sketchy.  We crossed numerous steep rock bands and snow fingers, with carvable potential, to get back to a chute that would lead us back to camp.  The rock bands were easy compared to the steep snow fingers that Chris would kindly kick step into for me.  I lost footing across one snow finger and Chirs watched as I slid shortly but stopped thanx to a hole a falling rock had made.  I was able to get a foot anchored in and just stopped short off doing the splits.  So we continued on this crazy traverse until we came upon the snow finger we wanted to do the day before.  Snow conditions were great with half a foot of carvable, old softened snow on what seemed to be a rather smooth base.  We laid our carves down and arrived back at camp shortly after 1pm started to break it down.  By 2 we started our descent and went down skiers right of the Cresent Glacier.  Chris and I were able to find some steep lines that we spied on our way up the day before.  Snow conditions were like butter and made the ride down with heavy packs enjoyable.  On the way down we bumped into Marco, Rick, and Jon and chatted a bit while they broke down their camp.  Anyway we were able to ski/board about half a mile from the Timberline campgrounds.  We couldn't believe how much snow had melted since the day before.  Thanks to Chris's gps we were able to find the trail back and were at the car in no time.  What a great trip! ;D