mt adams via mazama glacier

[the_mule]

climbed mt adams via mazama glacier on july 2-3. road was good and clear to cold springs campground, except for the very "bumpy" first 3 miles. took south climb trail 1.5 miles to sign for bird creek meadows. trail was snow covered and difficult to find, but just hiked around and slightly up. i stayed above the huge pumice rock fields and below the moraines to the meadow (snow covered also). there is small notch at the far end of the meadow that leads up to the base of mazama glacier (sunrise camp). i camped on a rocky outcropping with some goats- so keep your gear close. beautiful night and sunrise from here. went up the far right side of the glacier avoiding some crevasses that were opening up. chance of rockfall, especially later in day, so wear a helmet. thought about hiking over to the castle, but had started climbing a little later than planed. i continued climbing up, staying far right to avoid people on the south spur for as long as possible. steepest part was only 25-30 degrees, so ice ax and crampons were fine. decended the south spur so i could do some glacading. took me 5 hours driving from seattle, 3 hours from cold springs to sunrise camp, 4 hours to the summit, and 3 hours back to the parking lot. that was going at a very moderate pace. side note- they were checking for volcano permits when i reached the parking lot, but you don't need a pass from the reservation if you go this route from cold springs.