Mt Adams approach this spring

[jt newgard]

Hello all, dumb California climber here.

I'll be visiting the northwest for a ski mountaineering course at the end of April and was hoping to climb Mt Adams on the way home. After doing some basic googling it sounds like roads will be closed at some point along the usual south spur approach to this mountain.

So just wondering if the approach would be long enough to turn the outing into a multi-day affair, if it's worth going for it at all, etc. Also, if anyone wants to do this trip week of April 30 - May 4 I could use a partner. Although be forewarned I have the opposite of summit fever and often am completely content tooling around on the lower flanks of the big mountains! ha!

Thanks!!

JT

[mthorman]

Mt. Adams can still be climbed in a day trip even if the road is closer lower down.  I did it several years ago in March from one of the lower snow parks.  It makes for a much longer day but the plus is fewer people!  Of course you could easily turn it into an overnight or even a 3 day.  It really depends on what you want.  If you are looking for good skiing then you might be happier just staying slightly lower as the upper mountain can get pretty hard and windswept....obviously condition dependent.  I think it is worth the effort and I honestly had a lot more fun being the only person on the mountain than when I went back later in the season and walked up the ant line of people.

[Kameron]

It's all weather dependent. If you end up with enough viz and not too much wind, it's doable but expect a lot of fairly flat road skinning. Typically, people start skiing that route some time in May.

[jt newgard]

Sweet thank you both for the input. Sounds promising, especially since I have a few days to wait out the weather. 

I actually don't mind flat road skinning. Sometimes you can get that nice glide going...

I do enjoy the early season solo trips for the solitude. Usually scale back the summit ambitions but mthorman, you're right...it's so amazing having a mountain all to yourself!

[Chris Hopkins]

If you make it to the Morrison Creek trailhead, just head North from there instead of going up the road to the South climb trailhead. You'll still be able to connect with the South climb.

May want to take a GPS with you though because it's easy to drop too low heading heading back to the Morrison Creek trailhead.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Chris Hopkins

[Kameron]

@Chris Hopkins has the beta. You can probably find more by searching around for trip reports on TAY for this time of year: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php

[jt newgard]

Ah nice, I see what you mean about heading north from the Morrison trailhead. (basically avoid unnecessarily wrapping around McDonald Ridge on the road)

Also know what you mean about dropping too low, haha. Looks like if I stay west of McDonald Ridge on the way down, the fall line points pretty much straight toward the Morrison trailhead.

 

PS. It's a full moon on April 29! Could be a great moonlit ascent, and late morning ski down! If anyone else wants to join...

[jt newgard]

Thought I'd give an update since I finished my trip yesterday:

conditions as of May 1 ......

1) Very first snow patches on the road show up around Elev. 4000' (this is where I chickened out and parked my Civic at a nice turnaround)

2) If you're willing to drive through some pretty OK looking snow patches with tire ruts packed in, you can get to about Elev. 4300'

3) The truly committed Jeep drivers could get to Gotchen Creek area (although I still wouldn't recommend it, tough to turn around and the road is really sloppy in the afternoon)

4) At least one snowmobiler made it to the South Climb trailhead recently! LOL

 

I started skinning at Gotchen Creek where it's pretty much continuous snow to the South Climb trailhead. Because it was dark and Morrison Creek sounded like it was flowing pretty good, I decided to follow the road all the way to South Climb trailhead. I was worried about falling in the creek, and there were some downed trees from the burned area sticking out of the snow here and there. Otherwise I could definitely see why heading north from Morrison Creek area would be a good idea.

 

It was a cooler day yesterday, and snow near the summit and Pikers Peak was kind of icy, crusty, windblown....difficult to ski! I booted down one section since I skied right into a thick cloud and couldn't see a damn thing.

 

But after going below the cloud, it was truly epic corn skiing for like 5000' of vert, down the south spur route, and back to the trailhead area. So good! (I was on the summit around 2:30pm for reference)

Edited May 2, 2018 by jt newgard

[JasonG]

awesome, glad you had a good trip!

[Water]

awesome early beta, champ to work with what you got and bang it out with the extra elevation gain on the road.. how's an 8,000ft climb in a day feel? very solid work, glad you were rewarded with excellent corn for so long, you def earned it!

 

appreciate the follow-up post as well

[Kameron]

Thanks!

[jt newgard]

Thanks all!

 

Here's some pics from the day's events

 

PS. 8,000 feet in a day...let's just say I was a little more wobbly than usual on the skis! ha!

[thefortrees]

Awesome work! What time did you get started? You said you made it to the summit at 2:30PM?

I'm in the Hood River area next week, and am hoping to ski the same route. Looking for a partner... is anybody interested?

[jt newgard]

I think I started zombie-walking up the road around 4:30AM. Took a nice left-over cheeseburger break at Pikers Peak too. So I think it is very doable in a day on skis, if you just keep chugging along.

 

That last pic I posted shows the Morrison Creek camping area. That will be the most awkward part on skis, especially as coverage gets more patchy. So just be prepared for some bootpacking at the end. 

 

Hope you find a partner!

[jon]

I was down in Hood River kiting this weekend, but went on a quick snowshoe up to Cold Springs on Saturday because there wasn't supposed to be any wind and wanted to check out the conditions. The road is melted out above Morrison creek for maybe a half mile, then pretty patchy the for the next couple miles. I've never done it but it might be easier to find a more direct route up that avoids the more southern melted out aspects from Morrison Creek. Someone put some really nice turns on the SW chutes while we were hiking up. Talked to a couple skiers on their way down and they said it was pretty good, so now is the time unless you love skiing suncups.