May 28, 2005, Mt. Adams SW Chutes
5/28/05
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2920
2
Sorry it's so wordy....but just note it was really good....
Since the forecast called for deteriorating weather as the weekend progressed we headed out on Friday just before 4pm from SODO. After a stop at Scale Burgers for a required Overload Burger we headed for FR23 and were at the trailhead setting up our bivi's just after 9 (5.5hrs). With the warm forecast we decided we would rather risk a nap on the false summit than have to ski mush snow so we headed out at 4am from Cold Springs. The snow was fair for traveling, we chose to just boot pack as we were making decent time...and I guess it's a habit with this route for me. After a long break at the lunch counter we were all on Pikers Peak between 9:30 and 10:30 (5.5-6+hrs). A bit slower than last year but the snow was softer....oh well we would still have to wait for the corn to pop.
Since Bill brought few layers he chose to tag the summit, Mike, Dave and I took naps and watched the steam on St. Helens. At about 11:30+ Bill skied off the summit with reports of buttery snow... so we packed up!
At about 12:10 we headed down the SW Chutes to find perfect corn for the first 2,000 feet and slightly (I'm being picky here) deeper corn for the bottom third. We didn't have any pin-wheels or sloughing in the chutes. We opted to do the traverse around to Crescent Glacier as we didn't want to post hole on the RTM trail. We quickly glided around the basin so as not to sit under the rocks and steep snow in the heat, there was some minor sloughing here, but nothing of note. The traverse was a little more melted out than last year in mid June, but will probably go without much effort for another week or so. We had one short carry and then an easy skin slightly up and around a couple of ridges. With some final turns past the masses of people climbing up in the heat of the day we were back to the cars at 2:30pm.
As others have said the lot was full, but I didn't think it was as full as last June...the drive home went quickly and we were back in Ballard in 4.5hrs.
The Snow Troll
Since the forecast called for deteriorating weather as the weekend progressed we headed out on Friday just before 4pm from SODO. After a stop at Scale Burgers for a required Overload Burger we headed for FR23 and were at the trailhead setting up our bivi's just after 9 (5.5hrs). With the warm forecast we decided we would rather risk a nap on the false summit than have to ski mush snow so we headed out at 4am from Cold Springs. The snow was fair for traveling, we chose to just boot pack as we were making decent time...and I guess it's a habit with this route for me. After a long break at the lunch counter we were all on Pikers Peak between 9:30 and 10:30 (5.5-6+hrs). A bit slower than last year but the snow was softer....oh well we would still have to wait for the corn to pop.
Since Bill brought few layers he chose to tag the summit, Mike, Dave and I took naps and watched the steam on St. Helens. At about 11:30+ Bill skied off the summit with reports of buttery snow... so we packed up!
At about 12:10 we headed down the SW Chutes to find perfect corn for the first 2,000 feet and slightly (I'm being picky here) deeper corn for the bottom third. We didn't have any pin-wheels or sloughing in the chutes. We opted to do the traverse around to Crescent Glacier as we didn't want to post hole on the RTM trail. We quickly glided around the basin so as not to sit under the rocks and steep snow in the heat, there was some minor sloughing here, but nothing of note. The traverse was a little more melted out than last year in mid June, but will probably go without much effort for another week or so. We had one short carry and then an easy skin slightly up and around a couple of ridges. With some final turns past the masses of people climbing up in the heat of the day we were back to the cars at 2:30pm.
As others have said the lot was full, but I didn't think it was as full as last June...the drive home went quickly and we were back in Ballard in 4.5hrs.
The Snow Troll
Sounds like maybe you cut back skiers left about 8 or 9,000, is that right?
I don't know if it was that high, well maybe 8K, we hit the same traverse line that I hit last year with a gaggle to TAY folks (we knew KAM in common, but he gets around, I hear). We skied the full chute to around 8K (I guess), then traversed the left side of the moraine to make the corner at about 7300. There was less snow than last year in mid June, but I think it was still a better option than the RTM.
The Snow Troll
The Snow Troll
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