Home > Trip Reports > June 3, 2017, Mt. Adams south side beta

June 3, 2017, Mt. Adams south side beta

6/3/17
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3681
5
Posted by jakedouglas on 6/4/17 10:14am
When stopped by snow in my car, GPS told me that I was still 2.3 miles from Cold Springs via the road. However by taking shortcuts through the the trees on approach in the morning we had only covered about 1.2 miles and ~750ft of gain by the time we arrived at Cold Springs. Not bad.

On the walk back in the afternoon several vehicles had punched through the snow that had previously blocked everyone else. Not sure how far they made it, but I'd guess another mile or so. There are probably still 2-3 feet of snow at the campground itself so it might be a while depending on weather.

Skiing from the summit was nasty as usual, and intermittent overcast plus a stout breeze kept most of Pikers from softening much either. Upper 2/3rds were chattery and somewhat tedious for my cooked legs, but not scary. Lower third turned to great corn for a while before hitting deep unconsolidated mush at the lunch counter. More heavy but generally pleasant skiing after that until things got sticky near treeline.

I suspect conditions on the south side will improve early this week after more consolidation and with higher freezing levels. Looking at the SW chutes through binoculars showed lots of wind effect and rime, so they may not be pleasant for some time.
can chime on the chutes—they are fine. I hit them sat and i am not a strong (or good) skier. not been in that late (2:30) but the high overcast and being terribly out of shape colluded for the late descent. Anyways top bit (300ft?) had some was-rime or something that is metamorphosing into snow or something, but it wasn't chattery or icy, just not consistent corn....then there was a nice 700ft of great corn, before it turned into deep slush and then into slough management/wet slide city..which was a little disconcerting if a big one entrained you. Also had ppl go up sunday and the chutes were the usual magic (without the wind and cloud cover keeping it a little more firm at the top).

the traverse back towards cold springs was a sloppy not so much fun mess..but we didn't have to skin. next time i will descend sooner and just put skins on and slog a bit higher towards the crescent 'glacier' area and drop in higher to give myself a more fun run back to cold springs.

We passed on the chutes, uncertain if the SW wind had kept it too cool and firm. Bummer!

We skied Mazama Glacier instead, and had hero corn from 10k to 7400', then dirty corn to 6,800, before starting the traverse back to Cold Springs. No tracks on that part of the mountain and fun to explore a new area. Only 1 crevasse to negotiate ~9400' that spans most of the glacier, but easily passed skier's left. Lots of snomo tracks up there despite multiple signs around 6800' marking the wilderness boundary.

Thanks for the chutes updates. Appearance sure fooled me, we didn't even bother taking a look from the top after looking at it from below and experiencing the wind up there.

author=cchapin link=topic=38589.msg156181#msg156181 date=1496690323]
Lots of snomo tracks up there despite multiple signs around 6800' marking the wilderness boundary.


Please report the tracks to the trout lake ranger. I have had tons of runins with snomos up there over the years, but it seems like they are hammering the e side wilderness and rez this year. It is pretty rare to NOT run into them up high on that side of adams lately.

I skied the chutes today and hero corn from top to bottom. Some slide debris at the bottom, but no biggie. Skinned from trailhead to the summit. Left car at 7:30 am. 6 hours car to summit. Summit to pikers peak skied nice too. Firmer than the chutes, but it still skied like a champ. No wind, perfect day. Also snow down low wasn't ever sloppy or sticky.
We walked 15 minutes to the trailhead from where we parked. So no big deal. And the road is melting fast.

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june-3-2017-mt-adams-south-side-beta
jakedouglas
2017-06-04 17:14:20