June 28, Mt Adams, South Spur
6/15/06
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2185
0
From the sound of other recent TRs, I think I hit Adams about 1 or 2 days late, at least as far as winds and temps were concerned. Oh well, good fun day to be in the mountains still.
Got to Cold Springs around 5 pm Tuesday; was able to drive to within about 40 yards of the actual trailhead. Went for a quick hike up the trail to see where the continuous, skinnable snow started. Ended up being about 500 vertical feet higher, according to altimeter.. maybe just under one mile. Headed back to camp, had a quick dinner, and jumped in the sack.
Left camp 5 am Wednesday. Snow was icy and slick, but nonetheless very skinnable. Went up the main route, up the ridge on the left of the Crescent Glacier. At about 7500 on that ridge, I saw a fox, hanging out next to some trees! First fox I'd seen in a long time. He seemed kinda sleepy, almost lethargic, as if he'd just come out of hibernation. Or at any rate, he just seemed pretty tame; let me get very close to him.
Had great horizontal visibility for most of the day; could see for miles and miles. But above, it was kinda cloudy/hazy; sun was coming and going. Snow was icy and slick for most of my ascent, but not too too sun-cupped. There were a bunch, but they were pretty shallow... sun "depressions" I guess you'd call em. The winds picked up quite a bit around 9000 feet, got stronger after Lunch Counter, and by the time I'd skinned up to 10,900 ft they were really, really strong, blowing me off balance now and then.
So, I stopped there to have a snack and decide what to do next .... hike up with skis? hike up w/o skis? ski down from here to better snow? And then I thought "ahh, screwit, I've been up this mountain before, I don't need to go to the summit again. I just want to ski good snow!!" :) So I took the skins off, clicked in, and headed downhill.
First few hundred feet or so were teeth-chattery skating over the frozen, shallow suncups. Kind of annoying, but still better'n hiking down. Then the last 800 feet or so before Lunch Counter was starting to soften up a bit, and made for nice, smooooth, steep turns. This SHOULD have been my cue to lap that section, or just hang at LC for a while to wait for the upper mountain to soften up, and hopefully for winds to die down. But I was having too much fun, and just wanted to keep skiing.
So, I skied down to the base of the Crescent Glacier, had a break to enjoy the sun, which was starting to come out and stay out. I then put the skins on to go up and ski the CG again, and then some. The CG was very soft, almost to the point of being mushy, but was still very skiable even the second time around at 2 pm.
As far as I can remember, it was the first time I'd done 7000' of climbing in one day (by foot, bike, or ski); previous record was about 5700 I think. Amazing how little I'm sore today... about the same as if I'd hiked 3000' uphill and then hiked (ugg) 3000' downhill. I'm getting more and more in the mindset of not wanting to climb any mountains that I can't ski down, or else mountain bike down, at least 80% of the route of. ;D 8)
Got to Cold Springs around 5 pm Tuesday; was able to drive to within about 40 yards of the actual trailhead. Went for a quick hike up the trail to see where the continuous, skinnable snow started. Ended up being about 500 vertical feet higher, according to altimeter.. maybe just under one mile. Headed back to camp, had a quick dinner, and jumped in the sack.
Left camp 5 am Wednesday. Snow was icy and slick, but nonetheless very skinnable. Went up the main route, up the ridge on the left of the Crescent Glacier. At about 7500 on that ridge, I saw a fox, hanging out next to some trees! First fox I'd seen in a long time. He seemed kinda sleepy, almost lethargic, as if he'd just come out of hibernation. Or at any rate, he just seemed pretty tame; let me get very close to him.
Had great horizontal visibility for most of the day; could see for miles and miles. But above, it was kinda cloudy/hazy; sun was coming and going. Snow was icy and slick for most of my ascent, but not too too sun-cupped. There were a bunch, but they were pretty shallow... sun "depressions" I guess you'd call em. The winds picked up quite a bit around 9000 feet, got stronger after Lunch Counter, and by the time I'd skinned up to 10,900 ft they were really, really strong, blowing me off balance now and then.
So, I stopped there to have a snack and decide what to do next .... hike up with skis? hike up w/o skis? ski down from here to better snow? And then I thought "ahh, screwit, I've been up this mountain before, I don't need to go to the summit again. I just want to ski good snow!!" :) So I took the skins off, clicked in, and headed downhill.
First few hundred feet or so were teeth-chattery skating over the frozen, shallow suncups. Kind of annoying, but still better'n hiking down. Then the last 800 feet or so before Lunch Counter was starting to soften up a bit, and made for nice, smooooth, steep turns. This SHOULD have been my cue to lap that section, or just hang at LC for a while to wait for the upper mountain to soften up, and hopefully for winds to die down. But I was having too much fun, and just wanted to keep skiing.
So, I skied down to the base of the Crescent Glacier, had a break to enjoy the sun, which was starting to come out and stay out. I then put the skins on to go up and ski the CG again, and then some. The CG was very soft, almost to the point of being mushy, but was still very skiable even the second time around at 2 pm.
As far as I can remember, it was the first time I'd done 7000' of climbing in one day (by foot, bike, or ski); previous record was about 5700 I think. Amazing how little I'm sore today... about the same as if I'd hiked 3000' uphill and then hiked (ugg) 3000' downhill. I'm getting more and more in the mindset of not wanting to climb any mountains that I can't ski down, or else mountain bike down, at least 80% of the route of. ;D 8)
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