AlpineK Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Mike Adamson a couple of his friends and I skied the SW chutes on Adams on Saturday. We left Tacoma at about 1 PM and drove down to the south side of the mountain. There were only a couple patches of snow at the end of the road, so we hiked our skis up a mile or so. We camped near timberline ate dinner and watched the sun set. As soon as it got totally light we headed up the dog slog. I got up to the false summit a while after 9 AM and hung out with the masses. Mike showed up pretty soon thereafter, but we ended up napping for a while till the other 2 showed up. One of Mike's friends T was kind of tired, so we had to do a little brow beating to get him to summit. The summit was crouded, but waiting on the false summit allowed the snow up top to get soft. Skiing back to the false summit was alright, which is about as good as I think it ever gets, but the main event started below the false summit. The SW chutes drop off to the west of the main S side route. The slope is pretty dam cool. It stays at a fairly constant 35 degree angle and drops about 3000'. The snow in the chute was smooth and soft but not too slushy. We skied the gully till it opened out and then traversed out high. The hike out was kind of a pain; I'm not sure if we went the best way, but eventually we got back to camp drank a beer and then headed back to the car. All and all a fun trip! I don't ever have to summit Adams with skis again, but I could ski the chutes a few more times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pruneboy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Oh yeah...........the traverse back to Cold Springs from the Southwest Chute. You are not alone in turning it into a cluster! The bottom line is that descending to 6000-6100 feet and finding the Around the Mountain trail is the easiest. If you are too high, the ridges you have to cross are bigger. If you are too low, then you're in the trees and there are lots of boulders, rocks, logs and bush wacking. Of course, finding the AMT is the key. I've made the same mistake of trying to traverse out high and I've also dropped too low. The last half dozen times I've found the AMT and it certainly makes it easier. The conditions on Adams have been great this year! It's one of the best runs there is! Good times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cletus Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 went to Adams with Gapertimmy and Jon Sat/Sun. Beautimous. Incidentally, if ya know where to go, and there is enough snow, traversing high is waaaaaay easier than going all the way down to the AMT. We dropped out the notch at the bottom of the bowl below the SW chutes, hiked back up and around to the east maybe 250 ft vertical at most, and then could ski all the way back to the South Climb route and our gear. Either way, what a great descent, huh? I've actually never bothered to hit the true summit - I always stop at Piker's and go skiing... oops. Timmay and Jon both got some freakin killer pics, so I assume you'll all be seeing some soon... -c- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 skied "da chutes" saturday like everybody else. looked for fellow cc gapers but i don't know what most of you phuckers look like anyway. probably a good thing. we did a low descending traverse hooking up with the 'round the mountain' trail just before it intersects the climb trail and i'd have to say it worked pretty well as we were able to keep our skis on for all but a couple hundred yards and never had to hike uphill. pictures at 11. p.s. if you've ever been really curious about driving down from seattle via Elbe and Rt. 23 or 25 don't bother, the highway is still faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 great sunset, great climb, great hordes of crazed mazamas with O2 canisters (I shit you not), and great company. The trip went like this: Cletus at Camp, stoakage Why Cletus was stoaked: SW Chutes Sunset Sunrise Shadow of Mt. Adams, St Helens on the right Cletus, once again, surveying the booty, i mean bounty gaper-t and sw chutez One last shot Thanks again to cleuts and jon, a great time was had by all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 sorry couldn't resist saying stuff also, i'm a cheastbeater, EXCELLENT trip, and I agree that the traverse we took back was great. By staying up high, and hiking up a bit we saw a HUGE fox, this thing was monster, some cool terrain, and got to ride all the way back to our camp at ~6500 just as it started to drizzle a little bit. Perfect timing, great day, and we even snuck past the dude that was checking VOlcano permits, so we didn't have to pay any ca$h. Ahhh sweeet victory over the FS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 sweet. RIP IT UP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeadam Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Did I mention that my legs felt like lead after climbing back up and over to below the lunch counter? As much chest pounding that goes on at this site I can't believe we were all within about 50 yards of one another and had no idea who any of us were. And I've even met at least 3 of you. Ben Manfredi and Jason Hummel were on the summit too and I never saw them either. Maybe it's because Tim T. kept directing our attention to some red headed girl he fell in love with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 How drivable is the Cold Springs road? Better/Worse than Cloud Cap? i.e do you need high clearance? Or would an adventurous 2wd make it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 we we're up on sunday, but might have seen some coming down late saturday as we were hiking in. the road is so much better than it was the last time i was up there a few years ago. the shittiest part of the road is to morrison creek, its just washboarded, no big deal, just annoying, the road to cold springs if fine and vehics of all types were up there, what a freaking mob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 gapertimmy said: we we're up on sunday, but might have seen some coming down late saturday as we were hiking in. the road is so much better than it was the last time i was up there a few years ago. the shittiest part of the road is to morrison creek, its just washboarded, no big deal, just annoying, the road to cold springs if fine and vehics of all types were up there, what a freaking mob. Thanks much! I've seen the road to Morrison - but when I was there in May, Cold Springs was under 2+' of snow. Should be able to make it just fine in the antiSUV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 the pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I've ridden up to Cold Springs in a Cadillac. You should have seen the bug-eyes on all those people in 4x4 pickups and Subaru outbacks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 mattp said: I've ridden up to Cold Springs in a Cadillac. You should have seen the bug-eyes on all those people in 4x4 pickups and Subaru outbacks! I usually pull up in a Mercedes (including the wind rivers). As long as I stay off the shoulders, I'm fine.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Timmay, sweet pics! those sunset ones are awesome. you serious that those tools had O2 canisters on Adams? WTF for!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 thanks josh, it was one of those personal o2 canisters you see in the rei catalogs. homegirl was feelin the tude and needed a pick me up, it went something like this: GIRL1 already at pikers: "Good Job TIRED TINA, how do you feel" tina gasping for dear life "We're not at the top yet!!!?!!?!?!" grrl1 "almost, do you need some oxygen?" I glance at cletus in awe, and so hope they are joking... yet tina "yeah that woudl be great" grrl1 pulls out the inhaler, and hands it over while saying "don't use all of it, we still have to go to the summit" i knew it was time to exit stage, SW at that point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegetablebelay Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Carry oxygen with you to higher elevations--this complete kit supplies you with up to 12 minutes of on-demand oxygen! Each cylinder supplies up to 8 to 12 minutes of supplemental oxygen Control valve regulator is trigger activated, allowing you to self administer breaths Each kit includes a regulating valve, nasal mask and 2 cylinders of aviation breathable oxygen Additional cylinders can be purchased separately Aviation use only--not intended for medical use http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=9842841&parent_category_rn=4500545 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 REI NOW SELLS OXYGEN!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodchester Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 REI NOW SELLS OXYGEN!? Yes, but only for aviation use!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Stefan said: REI NOW SELLS OXYGEN!? Obviously "the market" demands it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin_B Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 gregm said: p.s. if you've ever been really curious about driving down from seattle via Elbe and Rt. 23 or 25 don't bother, the highway is still faster. How long did it take you other way? We took 23 this past weekend and it took 4 hours from Trout Lake to Seattle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 It was nice to get some turns in although I suffered like mad. I haven't been up to Adams in years and I was blown away by how many people were there. And $15 a person!!! I saw a obvious newbie group in the parking lot and they were still taking their price tags off. On a sad note we saw some kayaker dude getting CPR off the side of the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpentalcorey Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Great photos! For more solitude, check out the N side. Except on the summit, we never saw more than a couple people at any given time. Sometimes I can enjoy the social circus atmosphere at places like the S side, but the ratio of people on the S to the N was probably 40 to 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbb Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 jon said: Speeding and.......... Don't you mean "Littering and... Littering and..." ? Nice pics, meow that looks like a sweet descent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 look who's laughing meow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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