[TR] Mt Adams - South Spur climb, SW chutes ski 6/10/2012

[JasonG]

Trip: Mt Adams - South Spur climb, SW chutes ski

 

Date: 6/10/2012

 

Trip Report:

It is a long drive to the south side of Mt. Adams, if you live in the Skagit valley....but luckily there is a cheery ranger in Trout Lake to welcome you to the matchbox of WA (you have to see the interpretive display). This past weekend I went along with my two good luck weather charms, Kit and Charlotte, to ski the SW chutes on Mt. Adams. We arrived in the matchbox on Saturday afternoon to rain and low clouds obscuring the mountain. We delayed leaving the ranger station for some time, having fun chatting with another Skagit team that happened to be down for the same objective. Eventually we drove up towards the TH and were stopped by snow about 3 miles downhill, ~4600'. It was raining, so we stayed in the car for a half hour or more and watched as Team Tarheel shouldered their loads and set off into the rain and wind.

 

Finally the rain slowed and we headed off and up. The wind, however, did not show signs of letting up so we only went up to about 6100' before we found a sheltered spot to pitch the tent for the night. As forecasted, the winds died during the night and the clouds cleared revealing a spectacular Sunday morning. We were up and away about 0600, heading up the standard South Spur and encountering a few other parties along the way. Ski crampons came in very handy on the way up, but we still ended up booting the last several hundred feet to Piker's peak. Regular crampons came in handy on this section as there was a good deal of bubbly blue rimey ice. We topped out on Piker's and dropped our skis and booted over to the summit (Team Tarheel was busying setting a bootpack, and the ski conditions didn't look that great from the summit to Piker's). I think we arrived around noon?

 

We retraced our steps back to our skis and readied for the SW chutes. The top was very icy, but below it softened, though it was still quite wind affected. The lower we got the better the conditions, though we were a bit early in the year for corn. But, even with less than stellar ski conditions, what a run! Thirty five plus degrees for 3000+ vertical feet, I don't think I've skied anything quite like it. We skied down and left until about 6200' whereby we skinned back up and traversed back over to the ridge and our camp. A quick ski and boot down the road (several bare patches are showing) and we rolled back to the car about 1730. Burgers and beer in Hood River rounded out the weekend, and we made the long trek back to the Skagit, arriving about 0030.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

ski crampons, and we found boot crampons helpful.

 

Approach Notes:

3 mile of road skiing.

[Holk]

Nicely done!

 

... I don't think I've skied anything quite like it.

 

Have you ridden the West Face Gully on Shasta before?

[spionin]

nice, way to brave the extra approach, too! looks like there aren't too many people out!

i made this image from a gps track a few years ago, i think it shows nicely how much of the mountain you actually cover (so you guys did that in a day PLUS 6 more miles of the road you had to travel - nice work, no question)

 

Edited June 18, 2012 by spionin

[JasonG]

No Holk, Shasta is on the list for sure!

 

Thanks for the GPS track graphic, that's really cool. You're right, the masses have yet to descent on Adams, though the ski conditions aren't quite ripe yet (as we found out).