Telelust Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Hi All! Looking for a detail report on FR-80 / FR-8040 leading into Cold Springs on Mt Adams. I know that the Forest Service is reporting that the road is close, but does anybody have first hand knowledge of the "truck accessibility" towards Cold Springs. Trying to plan how much hiking in we'll need to do. Thanks for any input... Quote
scot'teryx Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 I know last year I did not believe them in the office that the road was closed so far down in May, but snow was not the problem. It's the blowdowns that occur on the road that shut it down, not the snow. Quote
cj001f Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 When I was there in early May the "truck" road closure i.e. jacked Chevy 4*4 driven by beer swilling 'biler redneck was about .5 miles beyond the Forest Service reported road closure. Quote
Telelust Posted March 23, 2004 Author Posted March 23, 2004 Thanks for the updates. That makes more senses about down trees then the snow level at lower elevations closing the road. Sounds like I may be adding a couple of thousand feet to my climb. Quote
catbirdseat Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 When I went in May 1999 we used Smith Butte Snow Park and went up via Aiken Lava Beds. Quote
Winter Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Take a chain saw and clear it for the rest of us. Quote
cj001f Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 ...and at least several miles to the approach. It's at least 3 miles from Morrison Creek to Cold Springs and I'm sure the road is not even close to Morrsion Creek yet. May it was several miles to Morrison Creek - and there were no blow downs in sight - but driving over 3 feet of slushy, uncolsidated, mostly unpacked snow isn't exactly a picnic. Unless you have a snowmobile. This year I'd guess it to be alot longer. But then, no one listens to me. So go find out and report back. Quote
btowle Posted March 24, 2004 Posted March 24, 2004 We skied in from Snow King snowpark last Friday and camped up near the Round the Mountain Trail below South Butte. Snow King is at about 3200 ft and the ground was 50% covered with a foot of snow. The roads that were packed by snowmobiles or groomers were completely covered from the snowpark. The snowmobile trail from Pineside snowpark still has snow cover from below 3000 feet up to the Aiken Lava flow. Just a short bare spot before you get to the snowpark. So plan on snow from 3000 feet up. At 6000 feet I used a probe in the lava flow and seemed to get around 4' of snow. It is tricky in the flow because of the variability of rock, but that is pretty close I think. Anyway, we weren't in there to climb this time, just did some camping and skiing in the bowls below South Butte. I could do a TR if anyone is interested, but it really doesn't have much to do with climbing. It would have some interesting route information for anyone's future plans to go up the lava flow. Quote
btowle Posted March 24, 2004 Posted March 24, 2004 That's one of the interesting things about this trip. We took a sled. 4 days is kind of our cutoff for a sled and we really debated about taking one up the lava flow. I really hate them too, but from 4 days on, you can live in more comfort. Anyway, I'll post a TR tonight. Quote
North_by_Northwest Posted April 10, 2004 Posted April 10, 2004 Aiken Lava Bed? I heard those lava beds are gay... Quote
scorpio74 Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 skied on adams april 3rd and 4th with two friends. road to cold srpings campground is closed by snow slightly more than 8 miles out. there was a fallen tree blocking it as well, maybe 7 miles out, which will continue to block access even if all of the snow has melted off. we skied in/up on the road, which is patchy in spots, likely to be getting dirtier. bring your rock skis, it will make for a hassle-free slide down. good snow conditions on the mountain; we went up to about 9,500 feet and called it a day. it was very hot and we were low on water. beautiful views of hood & st.helens. corn up higher, getting mushy around 6,000ft. enjoy, if you don't mind the long road approach. we picked it over bushwacking past the lava flow. Quote
ashw_justin Posted May 11, 2004 Posted May 11, 2004 Latest road report: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/recreation/current-conditions/roads.shtml 8040 South Climb Gravel - One Lane 05/04/2004: Closed by snow. Quote
cj001f Posted May 11, 2004 Posted May 11, 2004 Probably more useful is: 80 Mt. Adams Recreation Paved - One Lane 05/04/2004: Open to Wicky Shelter. Quote
Dustin_B Posted May 25, 2004 Posted May 25, 2004 Any one get up to Adams this past weekend? Did you get up to cold creek? Quote
Dustin_B Posted May 26, 2004 Posted May 26, 2004 How far is Crofton Ridge Trailhead from Cold Springs Campground? Link above says FR 8040 is open to Crofton Ridge Trailhead. thanks. Quote
Blake Posted June 8, 2004 Posted June 8, 2004 ~3 miles I might be heading up this weekend, any recent beta? I heard they had some fresh snow over the weekend. Quote
Juan Posted June 9, 2004 Posted June 9, 2004 What about the approach to Adams Glacier Route? Anyone know anything about this? The ranger is not answering the phone . . . Thanks, John Sharp Quote
CascadeClimber Posted June 10, 2004 Posted June 10, 2004 Killen Creek is the standard approach to the Adams Glacier. It sounds like the road is open the TH. -Loren Quote
Juan Posted June 10, 2004 Posted June 10, 2004 Thanks Loren. I did get through to the ranger on a different number, and I also looked through that ski site that was referenced. Sounds like you can get very close to the Killen TH now via the back route. With this weather forecast dimming, I'm thinking that Adams might be a good bet. Or try to get above the weather on Rainier, or perhaps something easy like the Sherpa route on Stuart. N. Cascades looks to be soggy on Sunday. Doesn't it always figure. Hope you are well, John Quote
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