Adams, SW Chutes 7/3/06

[Dave_Schuldt]

Beck, Mike and I drove over on Sunday. There were cars parked a ways down the road but we got there late enough so we were able to find a good spot. Packed up and headed up and set up camp on a bare ridge with views of Hood and our route. Beck went for a shot ski and Mike went off to take pictures leaving me at camp to read. Had an OK nights sleep, woke up at first light then decided to wait an hour or so. We got moving at 7. The trip up was easy with good skinning all the way to the top. It was HOT and then some clouds came along to cool things down. We didn’t go to the summit because the clouds seemed to be getting thicker. There was some dude in shorts trying to put on an avi beacon, he left his friends about 500 feet below and was going for the summit. He claimed he was SAR from Idaho and then said he’d never skied on rondo gear and asked us for advice. Said he was a good area skier so I hope he did ok. We watched another party go down the chutes without a problem so we got ready and dropped in. It hadn’t froze up for a few nights so we missed the perfect corn by a week or so. The top half was sloppy and kinda lame but thing got better lower down. The next party started a loose wet avalanche in the chute next to ours and it ran like water making a really cool sound. The slide was about 10 feet wide and running right where we wanted to go so we walked down a 100 feet or so of rocks. We then skied below it and watched the other party make their way down. We then had a nice ski all the way down to 50 feet above the trail. The hike back to camp was hot but we found a nice stream to cool our heads off. Got back to camp about 5. We sat around relaxed, made dinner, melted snow and read. As we got ready for sleep we watched a cool lightning show off to south. About midnight the lightning woke me up because it was now much closer. Being up that high meant we could see all the cloud to cloud action, it was quite a show. The thunder was getting louder so we quickly tossed stuff into a garbage bag and closed up our bivy sacks. The rain started and it poured on and off till about 2. As the rain ended the wind picked up. Beck had a tarp which he had to take down and move to a more sheltered spot. Mike got a bit of water and I got a bit damp. Woke up to clear blue skies and great visibility. Went for short ski in the morning and packed up and headed out around noon. Talked to a ranger who told the usual stories of people climbing in jeans and tee shirts. Beck found an old pair of light weight steel crampons. Almost no traffic on the way back. We ran into a backup on 512 north of Puyalup so we took back roads into Kent. All in all a great trip and looking forward to next year! Almost forgot the most impotant thing, the was still cold when we got back to the car.

Check back for pics.

Edited July 8, 2006 by Dave_Schuldt

[Dave_Schuldt]

Lift line

Summit dogs

 

Dropping into the Chutes

[Dave_Schuldt]

Round the Mountain Trail

 

Hood from camp

 

St Helens.

 

Adams go up the slope in the sun, come down the chutes on the left.