Home > Trip Reports > July 5, 2012, Mt. Adams, SW Chutes

July 5, 2012, Mt. Adams, SW Chutes

7/5/12
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
5533
9
Posted by JohnBox on 7/8/12 1:15pm
This is more of a conditions update that a solid TR.  I skied the SW Chutes with two others on Thursday July 5.  The road was driveable to within a quarter to half a mile of the Cold Springs Trailhead.  The hiking was on dirt trail for about a half a mile before skinning was possible.  The skinning was good and the chutes skied well also.  We were unable to find the"Around the Mountain" trail and ended up traversing at around 6,100 feet until we ran into the South climb trail.  A lot of small wobbly descents with skins on in tour mode.  PM if you have any other questions.  I didn't end up with any good photos of the route for coverage.
fyi, we were there on July 6, and a lot of high-clearance vehicles had made it all the way to Cold Springs.

Climbed Adams on July 7th with probably well over 200 other folks, maybe even 300, anyway lots 'o people.  Driving all the way to Cold Springs is not a problem, but being able to find parking was a little more challenging.  On Saturday there were remnants of a couple snowbanks remaining on the road, but these melted significantly during the day and I'm sure after the warm weather on Sunday are now long gone.  The chutes skied great at 1 pm- little sticky at the bottom.  On the way down we decided to skin up a short stretch to regain the Crescent Glacier and the climbing route, and it seemed like it might have been easier than traversing around the elevation of the Round the Mountain trail to get back to Cold Springs.

We skied a line on Adams on Sunday July 8 but I'm not sure what to call it. We skied line A in the picture, which was taken looking back up at Piker's Peak. Are the "SW Chutes" lines C & D? What to call lines A & B? Thanks!

author=richdr link=topic=25324.msg107016#msg107016 date=1341869064]
Are the "SW Chutes" lines C & D? What to call lines A & B? Thanks!


C & D in your photo are the SW chutes, A & B are on the Avalanche glacier headwall.


to add to the conditions update- the White Salmon glacier on the west side of Adams skied very nicely this weekend, two obvious crevasses to cross but both had solid looking snow bridges to scoot over.  Nice to run across a few TAY'ers on the summit and have a group ski down that side.


Nice to meet and ski with you Pete.

To add to the population estimate theories for the South climb; I think Jason mentioned that when he got his permit at around 3pm Friday the ranger had told him that 80 permits had been given out by then. We arrived after the ranger went home as I am sure others did so I would place my bet on 150-200 or so.

When I got my permit Saturday afternoon, the ranger said there were several hundred people on the mountain.

Arrived at the Cold Springs parking lot on Sunday afternoon (7-8-12) to a complete gong show.  Cars everywhere and a steady stream of climbers and skiers coming off the mountain.  Luckily enough people had left that we found a close parking spot.  Headed up about 4:00PM and made camp at about 6500 feet.  We spent the evening entertained by the crazy red sky and lightning show.  Woke up at 4:30AM and out of camp by 5:45AM.  Made the summit by 11:30AM.  Skied back to Pikers and dropped the SW Chutes at 12:20PM.  They skied beautifully.  That fall line seems to go on forever!  Bushwacked our way back to camp, packed up and headed down.  We probably saw 20-25 people all day.

https://picasaweb.google.com/118025853069449417238/MtAdamsSummitAndSWChutes

Added a few more pics of the descent from the peak and the chutes. Nothing quite like 6K of turns!

https://picasaweb.google.com/118025853069449417238/MtAdamsSummitAndSWChutes

For anyone looking to get out via cold springs (as opposed to skiing the smoosh back out to Morrison) there's a pretty solid skin track that contours at 7200 ft. We popped out right on top of the crescent glacier. A painless return after an amazing ski! The chutes are smoooooooth!

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july-5-2012-mt-adams-sw-chutes
JohnBox
2012-07-08 20:15:09