June 4, 2003, Mount Adams (12,310') South Route
6/4/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3033
0
Volcano #3 Volcano Tour 2003
Ski descent: 6,000 vf
Total Climb: 7,700 vf
Distance: 15 mile round trip (+!)
Mount Adams was something of an apex for the tour. It was without doubt the very first Volcano I had become interested in skiing in my youth. Ever since reading about the pilgrims who toured the Volcanoes with the seasons, returning again and again, I had to find out what this Volcano skiing thing was all about. I was young when I read that article, having just the experience of Tuckerman's to judge 'backcountry' skiing, but this new proposition seemed to have it all - big skiing, relatively easy access, big skiing, corn snow, big skiing, and the aesthetics of skiing a Volcano.
Mount Adams is a big mountain. To reach its summit you need to hike 9 miles from the trailhead, and if the access road is covered in snow, like what we found, you'll hike even more. From the base at 6,300' on the south side, you'll need to climb 6,000 vertical to reach the summit. And the kicker is, that entire vertical is (usually) fine skiing. It's not like Rainier or Shasta which surges past the 13,000' mark where truly good skiing is hard to find, it's bigger than Hood for larger skiing potential, and has a tasty south facing side that readily corns up to accept ski descents. Yes, Adams was the peach of the tour, all four of us had yet to ski this mountain, and the weather couldn't have been nicer: continued high pressure and sunny skies. Our tour's energy started to ramp up again.
We decided a truly early start was warranted, considering we needed to park down at 4,600' because of snow, so at 2:45 am Wayne woke us and we donned ready-prepared packs for the hike up the access trail. We set a blistering pre-dawn pace and our group made it to the Timberline Campground in 1 hr 15 minutes. Just in time to watch the light starting to change as we entered the thinning forest and alpenglow light up the upper mountain.
As we climbed, we could see very early morning climbers were already coming down the Suksdorf Ridge. One was so far ahead of his compatriot that when he failed to move for a half an hour, I was convinced he was a rock. Only when his partner arrived from beyond Pikers Peak did he rouse. They descended toward the Crescent Glacier, and as we had stuck to a route that passed the South Buttes, we never made contact with these early birds.
We dropped the packs at the base of the pyramidal Suksdorf Ridge and sat in awe of its impressive size. To think, a whole ski descent of Mount Mansfield would fit on this one face. And we had just climbed a Mount Mansfield to get here. One by one, our party walked out onto the face and started the monotonous climb. Ron was first to turn the top of Pikers - maybe the fresh guy was showing us up after all - and quickly ventured on to the saddle approaching the summit proper to get out of the fierce wind. Luckily, the wind came out of the N-NE so while cold, once we started the climb of the summit cone, we were sheltered to a large degree.
At 12 noon, we summited, Wayne taking the honors of first up. We each took turns on the summit block, trying to enjoy the views north to Rainier, but the wind quickly bore right through our clothes and we made a hasty descent, skiing right off the top. The first section off the top was decent smooth wind board, while the face below was more wind affected sustrugi that luckily was in the early throws of turning to corn. We made the most of the run out, but ended up having to walk the last hundred yards with our boards under our arms to the top of the Suksdorf Ridge and the start of the real fun.
As we crested the pyramidal face, we could see we were chased by a dozen or so climbers and skiers all strewn out on the huge face. We put on a show for the tired climbers and found delightful corn for the whole of the 2,700 VF section right down to the Lunch Counter. There we took a short break before continuing down. We didn't want to waste time because the snow was in great shape and we wanted to take advantage. On the climb up we had scoped out a true south route down the ridge to South Butte and wanted to give this route a try. This choice was highly enjoyable, consisting of twisty fun snowfields covering 1,700 VF down to South Butte in one continuous run that meant we didn't need to take the boards off.
Then it happened - lost in the woods!
The woods section below South Butte was a crazy maze of new and old tracks and we quickly became disoriented when we missed a crucial turn. A couple hundred more VF and it was obvious we had made a mistake. Luckily, after a short discussion, we decided to climb back up to where we knew we had been following the trail and this was the best decision of the day. Soon we were cruising the obvious road bed and only one hour of time was wasted on our debacle.
Then bad luck struck again!
At the trailhead at 6,300' where we stopped to put the snowboards back on the packs, Wayne realized he had dropped his jacket. Somewhere. It was a Herculean effort, but he actually RAN back up the trail to find it. One hour later he came stumbling out of the woods with the jacket tied around his waist - he had dropped it when we had decided to climb back up when we made the wrong turn. And now he only had another three miles to hike out!
Back at the car at 5 pm, we decide that a rest day is in order. Ron left for work himself and our tired crew crashed near a campsite down by the Columbia River Gorge - exhausted.
[Volcano Tour 2003 sample photos available @: http://groups.msn.com/MCSAWashington/shoebox.msnw?Page=1 ]
Ski descent: 6,000 vf
Total Climb: 7,700 vf
Distance: 15 mile round trip (+!)
Mount Adams was something of an apex for the tour. It was without doubt the very first Volcano I had become interested in skiing in my youth. Ever since reading about the pilgrims who toured the Volcanoes with the seasons, returning again and again, I had to find out what this Volcano skiing thing was all about. I was young when I read that article, having just the experience of Tuckerman's to judge 'backcountry' skiing, but this new proposition seemed to have it all - big skiing, relatively easy access, big skiing, corn snow, big skiing, and the aesthetics of skiing a Volcano.
Mount Adams is a big mountain. To reach its summit you need to hike 9 miles from the trailhead, and if the access road is covered in snow, like what we found, you'll hike even more. From the base at 6,300' on the south side, you'll need to climb 6,000 vertical to reach the summit. And the kicker is, that entire vertical is (usually) fine skiing. It's not like Rainier or Shasta which surges past the 13,000' mark where truly good skiing is hard to find, it's bigger than Hood for larger skiing potential, and has a tasty south facing side that readily corns up to accept ski descents. Yes, Adams was the peach of the tour, all four of us had yet to ski this mountain, and the weather couldn't have been nicer: continued high pressure and sunny skies. Our tour's energy started to ramp up again.
We decided a truly early start was warranted, considering we needed to park down at 4,600' because of snow, so at 2:45 am Wayne woke us and we donned ready-prepared packs for the hike up the access trail. We set a blistering pre-dawn pace and our group made it to the Timberline Campground in 1 hr 15 minutes. Just in time to watch the light starting to change as we entered the thinning forest and alpenglow light up the upper mountain.
As we climbed, we could see very early morning climbers were already coming down the Suksdorf Ridge. One was so far ahead of his compatriot that when he failed to move for a half an hour, I was convinced he was a rock. Only when his partner arrived from beyond Pikers Peak did he rouse. They descended toward the Crescent Glacier, and as we had stuck to a route that passed the South Buttes, we never made contact with these early birds.
We dropped the packs at the base of the pyramidal Suksdorf Ridge and sat in awe of its impressive size. To think, a whole ski descent of Mount Mansfield would fit on this one face. And we had just climbed a Mount Mansfield to get here. One by one, our party walked out onto the face and started the monotonous climb. Ron was first to turn the top of Pikers - maybe the fresh guy was showing us up after all - and quickly ventured on to the saddle approaching the summit proper to get out of the fierce wind. Luckily, the wind came out of the N-NE so while cold, once we started the climb of the summit cone, we were sheltered to a large degree.
At 12 noon, we summited, Wayne taking the honors of first up. We each took turns on the summit block, trying to enjoy the views north to Rainier, but the wind quickly bore right through our clothes and we made a hasty descent, skiing right off the top. The first section off the top was decent smooth wind board, while the face below was more wind affected sustrugi that luckily was in the early throws of turning to corn. We made the most of the run out, but ended up having to walk the last hundred yards with our boards under our arms to the top of the Suksdorf Ridge and the start of the real fun.
As we crested the pyramidal face, we could see we were chased by a dozen or so climbers and skiers all strewn out on the huge face. We put on a show for the tired climbers and found delightful corn for the whole of the 2,700 VF section right down to the Lunch Counter. There we took a short break before continuing down. We didn't want to waste time because the snow was in great shape and we wanted to take advantage. On the climb up we had scoped out a true south route down the ridge to South Butte and wanted to give this route a try. This choice was highly enjoyable, consisting of twisty fun snowfields covering 1,700 VF down to South Butte in one continuous run that meant we didn't need to take the boards off.
Then it happened - lost in the woods!
The woods section below South Butte was a crazy maze of new and old tracks and we quickly became disoriented when we missed a crucial turn. A couple hundred more VF and it was obvious we had made a mistake. Luckily, after a short discussion, we decided to climb back up to where we knew we had been following the trail and this was the best decision of the day. Soon we were cruising the obvious road bed and only one hour of time was wasted on our debacle.
Then bad luck struck again!
At the trailhead at 6,300' where we stopped to put the snowboards back on the packs, Wayne realized he had dropped his jacket. Somewhere. It was a Herculean effort, but he actually RAN back up the trail to find it. One hour later he came stumbling out of the woods with the jacket tied around his waist - he had dropped it when we had decided to climb back up when we made the wrong turn. And now he only had another three miles to hike out!
Back at the car at 5 pm, we decide that a rest day is in order. Ron left for work himself and our tired crew crashed near a campsite down by the Columbia River Gorge - exhausted.
[Volcano Tour 2003 sample photos available @: http://groups.msn.com/MCSAWashington/shoebox.msnw?Page=1 ]
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