mt adams

[aspencir]

some friends and i are hiking the south route this wkend for the first time. any suggestions as to footwear? i have garmont flash xcr's and tecnica cruisers. both fit my crampons, but the tecnica is more of a mountaineering boot.

[dan_forester]

it's a long slog; I'd go with the heavier-duty boot myself.

[Winter]

go with the one that fits better/more comfortable - prolly the xcr is my guess. I don't think you'll need the bulk of the cruiser.

[Bigtree]

I concur with Winter. Besides, as you can see from the attached picture taken Aug 7th, there's hardly any snow to be concerned with for much of the route except for the slog from the Lunch Counter to Pikers Peak.

 

[mountainposer]

Go with the Garmonts. I wore my Montrail Torre GTX boots and they were more than sufficient when we went up on August 6th. Above picture may be a bit deceiving. You'll be climbing through plenty of snow on the way up...

[AOC]

Plenty of snow is right - almost continuous from lunch counter to summit on 8/15:

 

[jfmctlaw]

I went up Mt. Adams with my kids (12/13 yo) on 9/1/06. We had crampons/ice ax/ski poles and used them (our first crampon outing). But I also saw a guy fly by us in the AM who was in just regular hiking boots. He summited. You can get to the top without crampons now. You just climb up the ridge West of LC from Crescent Glacier on up. The trade offs are, crampons climb more efficiently on snow than boots on loose rock (and the rock is loose above LC, but crampons add weight and you lose time on transistioning to them/off them. You also need to unpackage/package your crampons. The Mountain Shop had no point protectors to rent to us. It was a headache dealing with the crampons. They are sharp and will cause damage to your head or other gear. Plus you only use them from LC up. If I was to climb this wknd, I would probably leave them and the ax behind. Trekking poles are sufficient.

 

On a good note, you can still glissade down from Pikers Peak to the top of LC. It took us 2hr 15 mins to get back to our Crescent glacier camp after climbing up 8hrs up that day. I was stunned. Not much glissading in the White Mtns of NH, at least not in the summer time.

[dan_forester]

It was a headache dealing with the crampons. They are sharp and will cause damage to your head or other gear.

 

this conjures up some unpleasant images...hope your head's OK.

[magictailout]

I was up there last weekend, 16th and 17th, and saw a guy summit with tennis shoes and soaked jeans. While I wouldn't recommend similar attire, you can summit without the crampons.

 

Jon

[ericb]

my two cents....a lot of the precip falling in the last week has been with the snow level below 6,000 feet, and the current storm has forecasted snow levels ~ 7,000' so conditions might have changed a bit since early september. If there's new snow, you'll want something waterproof.

[dinomyte]

More idiots on Adams than about any other mountain...."It's a walkup, right?"