May 20, 2013, Mt Adams, SW Chutes

We took advantage of a the weather window on Monday to ski the sw chutes on adams.  Left the house ~1:30, hit the ranger station and were climbing by 2:30am.  We parked at the end of the 150rd @ ~4500 ft.  Started bushwacking up to the Pineway/Snipe trial intersection. We were on continuous snow ~1.6mile into it.  Gained the lava bed and made our way through the maze.  Took a break at the base of pikers around 8 to take a nap and have some tea.  Things were still pretty solid.  Got to the top of pikers to find a foot to a few inches of powder.  Rested and debated the summit.  With the loooong traverse back we opted to rest a bit longer and drop the chutes.  We found powder and wind affected powder over solid ice up top but it quickly changed to perfect smooth corn on the descent.
Opening it up on perfect corn



Requisite SW chutes Helens shot


Made it to the bottom and slog began.  We probably only had to do 4 portages.
Looking back


Making our way back through the old burn


Stopped at our shoes for a beer break and were back to the truck about 5:15. Not sure on total mileage, but probably 16-17 miles round trip.  The only other group we met took a..um, lets just say a shorter route......