hefeweizen Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 (edited) Trip: Mt. Adams - Adams Glacier Date: 7/7/2007 Trip Report: Chris (winter) and I went up to attempt to climb and ski the Adams Glacier. We were not successful in our quest, however based on all the activity about route conditions up there I figured I'd post this to give people some info. We left the Killen Creek TH at 12:30am, planning on a one day trip. The approach is snow free, you could choose to get on a snowfield at about 6500 feet, but we took moraines up to around 7000, where we got on the snowfield leading to the toe of the glacier. We roped up and got on the glacier at about 4am. Th first half of the route is in relatively good climbing shape. There are lots of crevasses, but there are reasonable bridges over most of them. Really good climbing up to around 10,500 with lots of crevasse crossings, and some steeper sections up to about 55 degrees (it's not that steep for very long in any one section). At 10,500 we started weaving through some seracs, and could never really get a good view of the path ahead. Then we came to the Wall of Widespread Chaos. From one side of the glacier to the other, a jumbled mess of huge tottering towers and blocks. We could see no possibility of end-running it, and given that it was already 11am (we had spent a little time weaving our way through some spice a little lower) and I could hear the beast creaking and moaning already, we did not want to chance finding a route through. There might be a way through there without climbing vertical ice, but not one that we could see. It did look like above that you could probably get around the final serac section. Oh well, you never know unless you go, and now we know. Go in April or May . The lower section's bridges will probably not last much longer, and there was much evidence of recent calving and rock fall. I know, we should've ollied the seracs, skinned switch up the final snowfield, and reached back like some pimps and slapped the ho, but it's good for the soul to get rejected once in a while. Gear Notes: We brought 3 pickets and 3 ice screws and placed them all. Approach Notes: Do the hike up in the dark, it's surreal. Looks doable Chris in a cool place. Looking down from about 10k. Time to turn around. Turns will be had by god! Edited July 9, 2007 by hefeweizen Quote
Ptown_Climber1 Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Look forward to seeing those pics.....good effort on the climb and trip report. From a distance Adams Glacier looked pretty gnarly...sounds like it was up close as well. Quote
Winter Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Hey Dan, nice shots. Good times. The north side is beautiful this time of year, but things are melting out really fast over there. Quote
letsroll Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) Jlag and I attemped this route on sunday. One snow bridge you guys crossed was gone. Two others would be gone by today. Thanks for the boot tracks. They were mostly gone but at least we had something to follow. Go freaky a couple of times when a couple places we were on settled. Jlag got the same turn around spot he was standing on settled. We decided not to push it any further and the fun down climb started. Adams Glacier is DONE for the year. Can't wait to do this route next year when it is in!!!! What a great route, spicy goodness Edited July 9, 2007 by letsroll Quote
jlag Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Sounds right on. I basically went to the exact spot where the "wall" is in your photo. When i got up on one of the blocks to peer left, i felt a slight earthquake underneath me. Not just the block, but pretty much everything underneath me. I felt it a few times lower on the route as well. Even though we couldn't pull the summit i thought the route was killer, super spicey, traversing over wide open crevasses, tiny little snowbridges and then downclimbing the whole thing again. The bivy at the toe of the glacier was stunning. JL Quote
hefeweizen Posted July 9, 2007 Author Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) Sounds right on. I basically went to the exact spot where the "wall" is in your photo. When i got up on one of the blocks to peer left, i felt a slight earthquake underneath me. Not just the block, but pretty much everything underneath me. I felt it a few times lower on the route as well. JL Yeah, when I was at that spot I did not like how it felt. That bitch was moaning like a Bangkok whore. We should all go back for redemtion next spring Edited July 10, 2007 by hefeweizen Quote
letsroll Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 Consider it a play date sickie baa :moondance: Quote
RogerJ Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 Count me in. I promise not to be flying to WI to help ailing parents next year! (Did I just jinx myself?) -r Quote
Winter Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 Hopefully next time we'll get more than 20 turns for the reward of carrying all that crap on our backs for 12 hours. Quote
Winter Posted July 10, 2007 Posted July 10, 2007 well all turns are good turns no? beats walkin that's fer sure. Quote
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