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Adams access


clleis

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I hope to climb Adams, southside route, with some friends the weekend of June 11. I think the roads to Cold Springs are currently closed and that, looking at snow depth, it will not be melted out to the trailhead by then. For those of you who know the mountain well, based on the current snow depth (54 inches at 5400 ft), how many extra miles hike in do you think I am looking at(or will the FS even open the road by then)?

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probably looking in the range of 2-5 miles, one way. just a guess, nobody can say for sure without driving up there. Sometimes there is just a bend in the road that gets accumulation and shaded and makes it a snowbank you can't drive beyond, even if it is clear after that.

 

 

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5/23/09: 6 miles of road to hike to Cold Sprngs CG

6/20/09: drive to CG, snow at CG

 

There's a LOT more snow this year by all accounts. With the wet weather, I'd guess a couple miles at least - I'm betting 7/4 weekend will be one of the first drive-to Cold Springs snow-free weekends....

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had some questions about Adams in my PM Box, so here is more info for everyone.

 

I walked up the S. Side with my wife, who moves slower than I do. A strong party can improve times, but this will give everyone an idea of conditions.

 

Drove to end of road and got there about 10pm. Started walking up road, found Cold Creek Campground about midnight and set up camp. (Walking distance on road was somewhere beteen 4-5 miles.) Woke up at 4:30 am. Snow was nice and hard, easy walking. Arrived at summit at 12:30 pm. By this time it was getting warm and started to posthole a little, but not bad. From the summit we arrived back at our car at 5:30 pm. We did this all walking, no skis or slow-shoes, nor pant wrecking glisading.

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not directly realted to topic, but i didn't want to start a new thread. is late july/early august to late to ski adams? we had hoped to do it this month, but thought it would be more than a 2 hour walk to cold springs and i'm leaving town until july and am hope it would still be worth to ski, or is it too late in the year and chock full of glissade chutes by then?

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this is probably one of the best years to ski that late, due to the ridiculous snow pack, but as I'm sure you already know, "generally" speaking late July/August is pretty marginal snow conditions (hike lots of dirt to snowline, lots of snow cups, etc). Typically, the glissade chutes can be avoided as the mountain is pretty damn big, so you don't have to ski the exact climber's route.

 

That said, I anticipate 7/4 will be one of the first weekends you can drive to CS campground this year, and thus you may still find some good "tele turns" :) that late. Finally, I'm sure the gurus over at Turns-All-Year would tell you ANY month is a good month to ski in the cascades!! Good luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone go down there this past weekend?

 

Sounds like you still can't get to Cold Springs CG.

 

Wondering how much extra you have to hike and what the parking situation on that last stretch of road is?

 

Thanks.

Edited by sprocket
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what about the north side?

 

North side being a north side. As of yesterday 07/04/11, FR 2329 is mostly under snow, we parked 1 mile away from the intersection with FR5603 and hiked the rest 4 miles to get to the Killen Creek TH and 10 miles one way total to the high lake at 7505'. Snow is well consolidated though thus making cross-country travel a breeze but bring your GPS with as many waypoints as possible - the routefinding on the approach is not obvious.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anybody headed up this weekend? Mind posting current road conditions to Cold Springs and route info? Also, is there a website that also updates road conditions? A few of us (that have never been) are looking at going up Mon/Tues. Thanks.

Edited by tele turnin
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Looks like our trip is getting pushed from mon/tues to later in the week so if anybody is up this weekend and doesn't mind it would be great to hear how it was and if conditions would be good for skiing. also where can i find compass bearings for the south side route in case we need them? thanks again all.

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Yes there is meltwater coming from the snowfields below the Lunch Counter but only when its warm enough. Our source froze up Sunday morning after we had some cool weather move through. The temp dipped below 40 degrees.

 

Currently, there are no glaciers present at Lunch Counter but conditions are sure to change. :poke:

 

 

 

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