Adams - March 27

We left seattle at 6pm Thursday evening for our first n3wb tour of adams (EC transplants). The logging-access roads are solid until about 4 miles out where the snow started. Very manageable until the last mile and a half where it was a real rally in the 4runner. Thank you to the guys who put a bunch of tracks in a turn around spot near the top.

Napped and then hit the trail at around 5am. Nice skinning crust and sunrise with hood and eventually helens as a back drop. Switched to ski crampons as soon as the pitch got steeper. Snow was a mix of ice from rain event and sugar snow from all of the wind.

Hit lunch counter at about 1030 and started trucking up Suksdorf. Snow turned nastier, but managed to keep ski crampons on until near the top of pikers to avoid becoming human sail in howling wind.

Switched to regular crampons and axe about 200' below piker summit, skis on back. Got onto ridge to pikers summit and wind was whipping, too fast for this guy. Wind was forecasted at 40mph, felt significantly faster than that. Without skis it probably would have been fine and it looked like some folks were successful earlier in the day, but we are skiers first and climbers second!

Strapped in and experienced every snow variation possible on the descent (short of blower pow). Great corn turns from lunch counter to treeline. The road had even melted out largely and the down drive was easy.

Blown tail light fuse on the way back to seattle added spice.

Fun trip! (and my first post on here!)