Adams Glacier ?

[Ron_R]

Considering doing the Adams Glacier route in a couple of weeks. Wonder if anyone has been up it recently or knows the shape it is in?

[Terry_McClain]

Ron,

we went up Wed. the 13th. for a one day climb of it or NW ridge (depending on snow/conditions). There was atleast a foot of new snow that really slowed us down so we went for the NW ridge. The Adams looks like it is in really good shape. stay to the right down low and there is a smooth ramp leading up. Towards the top it looks like you can skirt a schrund left or right, with right looking better. All in all I think the route should be prime in 1-2 weeks. Good Luck!

[Alpine_Tom]

Adams Glacier trip report

I did this climb with Alex Krawarik, June 30-July 1.

Conditions are just about perfect, but will probably be deteriorating soon.

A lot of people have been doing this route; a woman we ran into at the camp said that about eight climbers were on it on Saturday, including a couple of climbers we saw topping out around 2:00 PM. We only saw one other party of two on Sunday.

We got to the Killen Creek trailhead around 11:00, and arrived at High Camp in about 2.5 hrs. The trail was snowfree until after the PC trail, and even then snow was only in patches. There is a huge number of campsites scattered around; probably a hundred people could be camped around there without impacting each other much (unless you’re like that bunch that was there hollering and shouting until midnight.)

Interestingly, we ran into John Burroughs, the president of Cascade Designs, on Sunday, and he said that the Divide Creek trail starts higher and is a bit shorter access to the High Camp. The map appears to bear this out; I don’t know why everyone directs climbers to the Killen Creek trail.

We left camp around 4:30 AM Sunday (Canada Day!) and were at the base of the climb in about an hour. The approach is pretty obvious, and there were boot tracks to follow, but there are a number of open crevasses on the approach; it might have the most objective danger on the climb.

The glacier itself was in very good shape, very hard snow, icy towards the top. It’s a fairly constant 30-35 degree angle most of the way. It was easy to get around the obstacles on the way up. At the top are a couple of big crevasses, including a very impressive bergschrund with a 15’ thick snow bridge, but once that goes, the finish is going to be a challenge. Also, towards the top things are pretty icy, since it gets the afternoon sun there.

Thanks to whoever those guys were who were on the route so late on Saturday; they left nice deep steps in the upper part of the route, which made things much easier for us.

We topped out in around 6 hours; since it was my first time on Adams, I insisted on slogging the last half-mile or so to the true summit.

Equipment notes: I wore my leathers and hinged crampons, which are totally unsuitable for this sort of route. In fact, I managed to get one crampon twisted sideways on my boot while sidestepping on the hard surface, something I’ve never had happen before. Alex had no problems at all with his plastic boots and aluminum crampons.

We roped up, but didn’t set any pro. We just used ice axes; a second tool might have been convenient if you’re a worrier like me.

We descended the North Ridge, which is in (comparatively) good shape. A number of parties had climbed it this weekend, including one group we met near the summit who’d come in to do the Lava Glacier headwall, but decided it was in bad shape (it looked pretty bad.) The N. Ridge seemed pretty twisty and crumbly, with plenty of exposure, where a slip on a loose bit of rock (and there's a LOT of loose rock!) could send you on a really long ride down onto the Lava Glacier. The route didn’t look very appealing to me, but Alex thought it might be worth doing, and there were sure a lot of people on it. Start VERY early, when everything is still frozen in place.

There are several campsites near the bottom of the N. Ridge, it’d be worthwhile camping there to save some time. We descended with one party of three who’d camped at the bottom of the ridge, and they made the summit in 3 1/2 hours.

[This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 07-02-2001).]