June 8, 2014, Mt Adams, SW Chutes

Another poster asked for a conditions report on Mt Adams from last weekend and I€™m happy to oblige. We car camped at a burned out and almost deserted Morrison Creek campground, successfully bypassing the Cold Springs zoo. We left the 4,700€™ trailhead at about 5:50 am, hiking the Shorthorn trail through completely unfamiliar looking terrain after the Cold Springs fire of 2012. Snow parches slowly appeared and after about 2 miles we were able to skin from around 5,600 feet. We crossed a huge avalanche swath probably over a mile long with tree debris so thick that we had to take off skis. After a slight battle with a steeper frozen pitch it was an easy skin to the lunch counter and a good break in the gorgeous sunshine. The long slog to Piker€™s Peak and the true summit was uneventful, but longer than remembered, as always. The summit was breezy, cool and busy and we started down on skis around 3 pm. After a quick detour east to look at the spectacular Klickitat glacier it was an unusually smooth ski to the top of the SW chutes. I€™m not sure what combination of aspect, elevation, snow and sun is responsible, but once again the chutes delivered almost 4,000 feet of the most perfect corn possible. (Perhaps Amar can be persuaded to research a thesis on why this is consistently the best spring ski run in the state, if not the world!). Once out of the chutes a couple of quick sidesteps and soft pitches bought us back to our up track. No more than 30 minutes was spent searching for our trail shoes, to cap off a strenuous but perfect day on Mt Adams. It looks as though the chutes will remain in good condition for a few more weeks, until they eventually get burned to a crisp by the July sun.