Climb: Mount Adams-Adams Glacier
Date of Climb: 7/10/2006
Trip Report: Short Story:
We climbed Adams Glacier Monday morning from the lake at the base of the north ridge in six hours roundtrip (north ridge descent). The weather was great and cramponing conditions were excellent. The route is still in-shape with only a few thinner snow bridges along the route.
Long Story:
After Wimbledon and World Cup action Sunday morning (great outcomes for both), I met up with my good friend Bjorn and we drove off to do the Adams Glacier route on Mount Adams. We had both never ascended Adams and the route seemed interesting enough for both of us to justify the drive from the Seattle area. A very smooth drive and we were off on the trail at 5 pm. We made fast work of the approach arriving at a nice glacial lake at the foot of the north ridge of Adams at 7:30 pm.
We stopped for photos of paintbrush in the evening light.
What a cool camp camp in a castle near the lake, which is located at the foot of the north ridge of Adams.
The wildflowers near camp were an unexpected treat.
The views to Adams Glacier were stupendous all evening with great alpenglow at sunset.
Studying the weather forecast Sunday morning, I knew a marine layer was coming in that night, but I was expecting it to be well below us – 2k to 3k elevation. It turns out there were two separate layers, one at about 2k and another at around 7k feet. The 7k layer was hovering just below our camp spot when we woke up which caused some trepidation. Nonetheless, we decided to climb up to the base of the Adams Glacier route with hopes of being decidedly above the layer, departing camp at 4:40 am.
Soon after leaving camp, we saw that the marine layer was thin and stable. We would be completely above it for the entire route.
In fact, the 7k layer slowly retreated and burned away as the morning wore on.
A cooler night produced excellent cramponing conditions, which allowed us to make quick work of the route.
The snow bridges were still solid, although a few important ones over very large crevasses may be history in a week or two.
I like the silhouette shot below; we didn't think it would turn out any good.
As we topped out on the summit plateau, we were no longer protected from the wind and we quickly made the trek over to the blustery true summit, arriving at 8:20 am.
We snapped some photos and began down the north ridge, where we rested at the first protected spot along the ridge. We continued down the north ridge reaching our balmy camp at 10:40 am, just under 6 hours roundtrip.
Pleased with our good time, we enjoyed the great weather at camp and stopped for photos several times at the meadows below as we descended to the trailhead, arriving at 1:25 pm.
Adams Glacier is a fun route and it was nice to not have to wake up extra early. The setting at Adams meadows is worth the visit alone with fabulous wildflowers.
Note: Times listed in this TR are primarily for my reference
Gear Notes: one axe, crampons, 30 meter glacier rope, brought picket but never used
Approach Notes: Some snow on trail once you get to the first meadows.
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