April 26-27, 2008, Piker's Peak/Suksdorf Ridge
4/26/08
4049
4
KingWilliam and I headed south to attempt at an overnight continuous ascent of Adams via the Aiken Lava Flow. There was significantly more snow above South Butte than I encountered on a solo attempt (halted at the Lunch Counter) at the same route a month ago. Sensible routefinding choices made for a pleasant ascent on a fabulous mountain. We played chicken with a weak and fickle lenticular (sustained winds to 40+) atop the false summit before abandoning our summit plans. The 8000' descent went from scratchy to hard to velvet to corn to goo to mature spring snow. 21 hours car to car - it's probably possible for normal but committed mortals to summit and ski the route to/from the Snowking sno-park in 18 or fewer hours with proper prior planning/preparation/presleep. Snow on the Lava Flow remains plentiful for now - the Snowking cross-country trails are just beginning to melt out rapidly - Pineside might become a better choice soon as the snow melts up the road.
For those looking to do the route, there are a few old threads on cascadeclimbers, in addition to the information on Amar's page (skimountaineer.com), that are of use. Promptly and steeply ascending onto the flow near the Snipes Butte/Mountain (?!?) trailhead, at/near where the snowmobilers do, that's near the Gotchen Creek guard station can transcend some of their woes - friendly routes up/down the flow are possible (as are less than pleasant ones, particularly at the base).
Also, there were recent (Saturday's?) tracks of 2-4 snowmobiles at least as high as the false summit (I have photos, but the tracks don't show well). Folks who like to get bent out of shape about that sort of thing are encouraged to do so. All other tracks (and there are lots from snowmobilers enjoying the Lava Bed) stayed outside the closure boundary (I saw no boundary crossings at all a month ago).
Edit: Photos.
For those looking to do the route, there are a few old threads on cascadeclimbers, in addition to the information on Amar's page (skimountaineer.com), that are of use. Promptly and steeply ascending onto the flow near the Snipes Butte/Mountain (?!?) trailhead, at/near where the snowmobilers do, that's near the Gotchen Creek guard station can transcend some of their woes - friendly routes up/down the flow are possible (as are less than pleasant ones, particularly at the base).
Also, there were recent (Saturday's?) tracks of 2-4 snowmobiles at least as high as the false summit (I have photos, but the tracks don't show well). Folks who like to get bent out of shape about that sort of thing are encouraged to do so. All other tracks (and there are lots from snowmobilers enjoying the Lava Bed) stayed outside the closure boundary (I saw no boundary crossings at all a month ago).
Edit: Photos.
Its snowmobilers like that, that give the rest of us sled skiers a bad name. Unfortunate. >:(
We summited st. helens on Saturday...was supposed to be a multiday/multiple summit tour...someone forgot a sleeping bag!? :'(
We noticed the clouds around Adams and Hood, and thought that visibility & snowpack probably wasn't great above about 8000'. Once the clouds came over and blocked out the sun over helens, we almost instantly felt the snow change to a trap crust.
Also, a LOT of snowmachine tracks all over as well. However, we talked to a few of them and they were all below about 5000'...although the noise pollution reached us almost the entire way up. Not to mention choking on the exhuast on road in...
We noticed the clouds around Adams and Hood, and thought that visibility & snowpack probably wasn't great above about 8000'. Once the clouds came over and blocked out the sun over helens, we almost instantly felt the snow change to a trap crust.
Also, a LOT of snowmachine tracks all over as well. However, we talked to a few of them and they were all below about 5000'...although the noise pollution reached us almost the entire way up. Not to mention choking on the exhuast on road in...
Visablility was good on the summit of Hood on saturday, except for some haze that got worse as the day went on, couldn't barely see Jefferson by the afternoon.
author=shred link=topic=9905.msg39897#msg39897 date=1209400216]
Its snowmobilers like that, that give the rest of us sled skiers a bad name. Unfortunate. >:(
No sign of ski/board tracks down - just snowmobile tracks up and down. The good name of sled skiers remains untarnished ;). (Chatted with some friendly sled boarders yesterday, though I've never seen any sled supported tracks up there.
author=Stugie link=topic=9905.msg39908#msg39908 date=1209405194]
We noticed the clouds around Adams and Hood, and thought that visibility & snowpack probably wasn't great above about 8000'. Once the clouds came over and blocked out the sun over helens, we almost instantly felt the snow change to a trap crust.
We only had, at worst, thin clouds below 11k. I think it was the wind that kept things from softening nicely. Wind protected snow (all ten square feet of it) on the false summit was dreamy (Will napped on it too). 10000-7000' held the best snow for us.
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