July 2, 2006, NFNWR Mt. Adams

I decided that the time was right to have a go at the NFNWR.  Despite the last minute notice my brother-in-law was able to join me.  We only had time for a day trip.  We left the Killen Creek trailhead at 7 AM.  We realized this was a late start but, based on the north aspect and the occasional cloud cover, as well as recent TR's, I hoped the snow wouldn't be too soft.  We climbed to the top of the North Ridge/Cleaver in running shoes.  I usually hike in my ski boots, but for this trip up the ridge running shoes are very nice.  At the top of the ridge we rested and changed into ski boots.
The trip to the west summit didn't take long as we decided to avoid the true summit as we had been there a few times before.  We started our ski down at 3 PM.  This turned out to be later in the day than ideal.  The NFNWR is an amazing face that rolls over after a short stretch at the top and seems to get steeper and steeper the further one goes down reaching at least 45  degrees in places.  This makes for potentially challenging route finding as you sometimes can't see what's below you.  Correct route finding on this descent is rather critical in that at this time  of year there is only one good exit from the face onto the glacier with the base of the run and most of the sides closed off by cliffs and crevasses.  As the face got steeper in the bottom third every ski turn began to kick off copious slough which gathered quite a bit of volume as it cascaded down the face and off the terminal cliffs.  By this time the snow pack seemed deeply isothermal and even skiing in areas below that had sloughed previously still created more loose slides.
This greatly greatly increased our attentiveness to balanced turns as the snow conveyor belt  wanted to move ours skis down hill.  We found the narrow route off the face and jumped the small crevasse that blocked the exit and skied down the remaining portion of the Adams Glacier.  We rested at the high camp meadows and hydrated and then picked our way with skis on down to the PCT crossing and put back on the running shoes.  A quick down trail trip brought us back to the car by 7 PM.  It was a great day on the mountain with amazing weather down an incredible line.
I have a few pictures that I can post if anyone wants a current shot of the route.