Home > Trip Reports > May 26, 2007, - Mt Adams South Spur route

May 26, 2007, - Mt Adams South Spur route

5/26/07
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4729
5
Posted by Double E on 5/28/07 5:40am
Paul, Jeff, Yves, and I skied the South Spur route on Adams this past Saturday.  Very very long, but fun, day.  Snow was good for the ascent (skinned all the way to the summit) but crusty for much of the descent, since we didn't start going down till about 445 pm.  This was many €œfirsts€ for me€¦ first ski-from-volcano-summit trip; first time skiing above roughly 11000 feet; and also was my longest one-day climb ever, about 7800 feet worth. 



The road is driveable to about 1/4 mile short of Morrison Creek camp.  From there to Cold Springs, it€™s got off-and-on snow, so we followed the advice of others we€™d talked to on Friday and just booted to Cold Springs.  As the USFS website says, it probably wont be driveable till mid June.

Paul and I woke up at 3 am, got going at 430€¦ hiked to Cold Springs, put the skis on, then wound our way through the trees and small gullies and ridges, following ski- and snomo-trails.  Went up the ridge to the west of the Crescent Glacier.  Then, at about 9000 feet, we had a liesurely lunch and water-melting break.  At about 10K, we met up with Jeff and Yves who, despite having left camp about an hour after us, had charged ahead past us, taking a different route around the Crescent. 

For most of the day so far, there had been hazy cloud layers in the distance, but nothing much close by.  During lunch, we watched a few thick but isolated clouds envelop the upper mountain (and our lunch spot, dropping visibility to about 20m) for brief times.  But overall, visibility and weather was great for most of the day. 

From about 9K to 10K, during the climb, the snow was like no snow I€™d seen before.  It was sort of corn, but with this cellophane-like crust on top of it, which would break off in sections about the size of an index card or small plate.  Very cool. Wish I€™d gotten a picture of it.   



Got to the summit around 430 pm.. total of 12 hrs of uphill, at least for Paul and I.  Took a couple of quick summit shots, had a little snack and then started heading down.   

We had debated on whether to ski the SW chutes or just the South Spur €¦ one of us really wanted to ski the chutes, but the other three were totally ambivalent about it all, so we ended up just skiing the SS.  For me personally, I€™ve never seen the allure/magic of the SW chutes€¦ I mean sure, they€™re nice and steep, but then you use up your elevation all at once, and then you have that long traverse to deal with, so it€™s like what€™s the point?  It€™s almost nicer to just have a long sustained skiable gradient. I dunno, I€™m sure I€™ll ski that there mountain at least a few more times in my life, so I€™ll ski the chutes sooner or later. 

On the way down, the snow was textured scalloped crustyness, making for teeth-chattering skiing, from the summit all the way down to about 9000€™.  Then for a brief strata there, maybe 500€™ of it, it was still hard but very workable, sort of part potatoes, part corn.  Then below 8500€™ or so it got really moist.  We skied the Crescent Glacier, and ended up setting off a large but thin wet slide, which ran into the pocket in the middle of the glacier€™s basin, about 3 feet deep.   

Got back to camp at 830 pm, had a quick snack and beer, then crashed out for a long deep sleep, and then drove back to Seattle Sunday morning.

It was really strange €“ for all the cars we saw at the €œtrailhead€, (maybe 15 when we got there, 30 when we left), we hardly saw any people on the mountain; kinda strange.  Only saw about 15 others during our entire 16 hours on the hike/ski.  Saw one lone tent at Lunch Counter.  Musta been a lot of parties camped in the lower forested areas just above Cold Springs, or maybe doing entirely different routes/hikes. 

Only gonna use one of the three photo slots for this thread; more photos here.  Hopefully some of the others' summit shots and action shots turned out better than mine...?



Gear notes: 
Brought crampons; never used 'em.  Jeff however used ski crampons for the last several hundred feet of the climb, which was good; without them, putting in the skin track for the final slog up the main summit might have been kind of dicey for him .... well it woulda been for me at least. 
double e ,Thanks much appreciative for the road and ski info. Jeff's a good guy ,I'm glad to see him getting his share. Did pollen give you any trouble that far south?

Good Work E!  Glad to see you guys got it...I am hoping to get there later in June...

Cheers,

C

author=Robie link=topic=7258.msg28891#msg28891 date=1180396485]
Did pollen give you any trouble that far south?


Nope, I didn't notice any on my skis at least...

A few more pics  online. A long day in good company. And _I_ see the allure of the SW chutes (what's wrong with using all your elevation at once? Ski fast, babe :p).

drC

Thanks for the TR! I am inspired again!
I put this image of the SW chutes on my desktop. I must ski Adams again. I must ski...

I think the SW chutes are unique in their sustained fall line. I cannot think of another place that offers the same sustained 30° over 3000 ft run. The South Ridge (South Spur or, really, Suksdorf Ridge) is a fantastic run as well but similar, in profile, to some other routes like Coleman Deming on Baker.


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may-26-2007-mt-adams-south-spur-route
Double E
2007-05-28 12:40:32