March 7, 2015, Mt Adams
3/7/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4252
3
Solo effort with the potential to ski the sw chutes depending on conditions. I was able skin most of pikers with ski crampons, then the mix of sastrugi and blue ice under a thin veil of recycled pow made booting more efficient. Made it to the top of pikers and nearly got knocked over by the wind. It was blowing a solid 35-40. I went over to the chutes but the top was blue ice chicken heads mixed with some breakable crust. Chutes probably would have skied fine, but being by myself I didn't want to risk it. Best turns of the day were on Crescent and below. Didn't seem to corn up above 8500.
You can drive to the trailhead with 4x4 truck with good tires and clearance. Things were pretty sloppy once the heat turned up though.
You can drive to the trailhead with 4x4 truck with good tires and clearance. Things were pretty sloppy once the heat turned up though.
Thanks for the report - I am looking to get up there sometime soon myself! Were you able to skin up from the trailhead, or did you have to hike the trail for awhile?
Good info! I was wondering if the gate would be open or if it would be an epic trek on a snow-free road to the trail head. We ended up summiting Hood and skiing mediocre ice/snow from the hogsback over to the Illumination saddle where it got good, and then over to and down the palmer, which skied great.
Last year I did Adams in early June and when we crested the false summit it was so cold and windy that most people were huddled just below the ridge and then skiing back down the standard climbing route. Being my first time I pushed to the summit only to learn what most who stopped at Piker's failed to learn, which was that the wind died almost immediately above the false summit. The skiing down from the summit, which is a similar aspect to the sw chutes skied just shy of perfect, but was enough evidence to persuade us to take the chutes, which were prime.
Same thing happened to me climbing south sister, the fierce wind at Lewis Lake (while not a false summit) was certainly a disincentive to continue, but pushing on another 500 feet yield relative calm and an easy stroll to the summit. Basically I've found, that in the PNW, you never know until you go...
Hope that sounds more like reasonable advice and not gloating.
Last year I did Adams in early June and when we crested the false summit it was so cold and windy that most people were huddled just below the ridge and then skiing back down the standard climbing route. Being my first time I pushed to the summit only to learn what most who stopped at Piker's failed to learn, which was that the wind died almost immediately above the false summit. The skiing down from the summit, which is a similar aspect to the sw chutes skied just shy of perfect, but was enough evidence to persuade us to take the chutes, which were prime.
Same thing happened to me climbing south sister, the fierce wind at Lewis Lake (while not a false summit) was certainly a disincentive to continue, but pushing on another 500 feet yield relative calm and an easy stroll to the summit. Basically I've found, that in the PNW, you never know until you go...
Hope that sounds more like reasonable advice and not gloating.
Yes you can ski from your rig. There are a few thin spots though. Yeah, skied off the top enough to know it is not anything special most of the time if the chutes are the goal. I had had enough of the wind and ice by that point. Several groups bailed 1/2 way up pikers. Past few trips I have just stopped at pikers.
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