June 18, 2007, Mount Adams South Spur

Our intrepid team of three (Will T, Tracy L, and myself) moseyed down to Mt. Adams in hopes of getting in a fun Monday of climbing, turns (Will and I), and glissading (Tracy). We left the trailhead at about 4:30 and took the South Butte variation of the ascent route. It was Tracy's first experience with foreshortening of large snow slopes and higher altitude, which he found eye-opening and a little tiring. A number of folks skinned up as we cramponed away; one group was remarkably fast.

As we crested Piker's Peak, the snow instantly changed from softening corn to the sastrugified stuff had reported over the previous week.  As we moseyed across the flats in the wind (~25+ish mph), the majority of the day's summiteers glissaded the upper chutes very slowly. On the recommendation of one of the descending folks, we decided to consider skiing some wind deposited snow on the eastern ridge of the summit, so we climbed it. We discovered a mixture of softened sastrugi (about 1 pm) and windpacked powder - the only catch was that the upper section of the route was exposed to the bergschrund of the upper Klickitat Glacier.

We took an enjoyable break just below, and in the wind shadow of, the summit while we watched one pair of skiers ski to the top of our chosen line, but opt for the (icy?!) chute instead). We scurried up the last wee bit and got hammered by the wind (~35+ mph, gusts to more). Preventing my skis from blowing away while attaching them to my feet was a nifty experience. Tracy headed off downhill whilst Will and I clipped/clicked in. The summit plateau was chattery icy mini-sastrugi as we made our way over to our chosen line. The view of the Klickitat an the "Castle" formations was awesome - wander over there the next time you summit. I was initially hesitant to begin the line, but took heart once I saw the snow streaming off Will's skis. Will sent the line in good form, enjoying powder near the lip of the bergschrund.  I sideslipped, stomped, sidestepped, and uglified turned in the icier windpacked stuff.

Disheartened with the wind affected snow, especially for a first long glissade, we opted to head down the South Spur instead of the Southwest Chutes. The reward was several inch deep soft corn. As Tracy glissaded/skated/loped down the snowfields, we managed a 5000'+ continuous ski down through the Crescent Glacier. Someone left a ski pole, or the remains of one, about midway through the glacier - I bit it in a runnel trying to pick it up. It's still there, as I slid about ten feet below it. We were able to patch together a ski route down to ~6200'.

Thanks to Will and Tracy for a great day! Today  (Tuesday) and tomorrow (morning) should have exceptional weather and possibly better snow - get out and get yours!