Climb: Mt Adams-North Ridge
Date of Climb: 5/24/2005
Trip Report:
My brother and I drove out to the Divide Camp trailhead on Monday. Our orginal intent was to check out the Adams Glacier, if that wasn't looking good then over to the Lava Glacier Headwall, and if all else failed go up the North Ridge. After we arrived at the base of the mountain (the approach is solid, boot tracks most of the way, and only like three postholes) the Adams Glacier didn't look in for us. Climbers with a little more experience would probably love it, but this being our first big trip of the year we decided to move over towards the ridge and headwall. We set up camp, and enjoyed some good food and jokes before crawling into our bags. We woke up at 3am with the intention of getting the route started under the full moon. When we came out of our tent, the view was unlike anything I have ever seen. Adams, Helens, and Rainier were lit up like beacons by the moon. Probably one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. We started over towards the Headwall, but crossed the North Ridge at a point where we would have had to drop pretty far down to get back on the Lava Glacier. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and my watch was reading 0 degrees celcius, and that was on my wrist. So, we decided to take the easy way out and just continue up the ridge. I have descended the ridge later in the summer when it is the dirty choss pile, but right now is it covered in snow and actually was pretty fun to climb I thought. We moved on up to the summit rim, then the demoralizing summit hike across that white desert. Getting back down was easy, and we hiked out and made it home in time for dinner. A great trip, though I got pretty sunburnt.
Gear Notes:
We only needed crampons and an ice ax.
Approach Notes:
The trail had snow over a lot of it, but again was easy to pass over. Getting to both the Killen Creek and Divide Trail can be a little muddy, the road (2329) is in good enough shape, but I was happy to have a higher clearance pick up truck.