Climbing Mount Adams

 

 

Road View of Mount Adams

I had heard that Mount Adams was a good first ascent for a beginning climber: not very technical with plenty of people on the south approach. (That said, I still recommend going with someone who has made this climb before since the trail is unmarked after the first glacier and you have some approach choices above the false summit.)

At 12, 276 feet (3,742 meters) Mount Adams is a tall stratovolcano in the Cascade Range. Altitude would be a factor, crampons would be required, and using an ice axe for self arrest during a fall would be a required skill, but on the south approach there were no crevasses so roping up would not be needed. Let's go!

 

 

 

 

 

The Plan and The Gear

The idea is to hike up to a base camp, pitch a tent, and hang out at altitude a while to avoid the headaches and nausea of altitude sickness. Then the next day you take a smaller pack to the summit, starting in the wee hours of the morning so you can get there and back while the snow is still icy and safe and your crampons and ice axe are still effective. (By mid morning the sun softens the snow making the climbing more difficult and more dangerous.)

Not shown in the gear photo are the plastic boots and crampons I borrowed from my climbing buddy. To save weight and space in my pack I did all the hiking in the plastic boots and credit my WrightSock double layer running socks (plus sock liner) for keeping my feet blister free and happy for the whole trip.

Some of the gear that worked particularly well were the Black Diamond Raven ice axe, REI Elements bomber hat, JetBoil stove, and Petzl Tikka XP headlamp. My Mountain Hardwear gloves are wonderful at lower altitudes but it wasn't enough to add a glove liner. I should have had warmer gloves and I should have had a balaclava or some face protection when the wind started screaming at 11,000 feet.

Otherwise, with all the climbing exertion, my breathable shell top and pants each had one nylon layer underneath and I stayed warm. I kept fleece layers and a bivvy sack in the summit pack which would have been necessary had we stopped long on the mountain.

 

Getting there

The ranger station at Trout Lake, WA, was very helpful and you need a climbing permit anyway so ask them about conditions while you're there. Forest Service road 8040 to the Cold Springs campground was unpaved but not bad. Get your water before leaving Trout Lake since all they have is compost toilets at Cold Springs despite the misleading name.

 

The South Climb Trail

The South Climb Trail leading up from Cold Springs campground. The second photo shows a nice view of the south approach up to the false summit.

So warm down here... so cold up there...

We also saw some beautiful wild flowers.

 

View of Mount Hood

From the South Climb trail.

 

Cascades Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel

 

View of Mount Saint Helens

From the South Climb trail.

 

Cairn

Marking the trail below the first glacier.

 

Base Camp

We picked one of the places just below the tree line for base camp instead of climbing all the way up to Lunch Counter. Personally, I liked the view and wind shelter better than the exposed rocks of Lunch Counter, but it made for a longer climb on summit day.

 

 

Below Crescent Glacier

We climbed in late July and this was the first snow we hiked in. We didn't need crampons until much later after leaving Lunch Counter. It is light out which is great for photos but shows that we did not start until after dawn, something I do not recommend unless you don't mind mushy snow later. (It turns out that we were lucky, the snow stayed fairly firm as the temperature dropped during our climb.)

 

 

End of the Trees

These scrubby trees and purple wild flowers were breathtaking in the morning light.

 

 

Below Lunch Counter

This snow field near Crescent Glacier was a nice long hike up to Lunch Counter where we met many fellow climbers. Some were climbing up and some were descending from an early morning summit. Lunch Box is up ahead on the right.

 

 

Lunch Counter

These photos show the views of Mount Saint Helens and Mount Hood from Lunch Counter and just above it. Notice the rock wind breaks at the camp sites in Lunch Counter. This is where most people make base camp.

 

 

Life Above The Trees

Some kind of succulent growing above Lunch Box, well above the tree line, nestled in the barren rock.

 

 

Below False Summit

Above Lunch Counter and below the False Summit there is a very long, discouraging climb up a steep snow field that gets quite steep at the end. A helmet is probably a good idea if the last steep section is as rocky as it was for us. A nice break during this part was watching people glissade down the mountain. Our turn would come.

 

 

My View

This was my view for 95% of the time I was climbing Mount Adams. Eventually I was taking three breaths for each step. Whew!

 

 

View from False Summit

After reaching the False Summit we could look up and see the true summit, the bump on the left in the photo. The steep snowfield to the right of the summit was our last and most difficult push to reach the top. At this point I started feeling the altitude, and several climbers decided to descend which was probably a wise move for them considering how they were feeling. One can always return to climb again when you feel better and/or the conditions are better.

 

 

Final Steps

These are the final steps before the summit. The actual summit point is dozens of yards off to the right marked with a geographical marker but it doesn't look as cool as the old forest service shed seen ahead.

 

 

The Summit

Since we were climbing the south approach we didn't get a view of Mount Rainier until we reached the top. It was stunning. Climbers took turns getting photos taken of them on top of the old forest service shed. I was so tired I didn't much care about getting my picture taken but for the sake of my family who puts up with my little adventures I'm glad I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glissading down

For me the best part of the trip was not the summit, it was the glissading. I felt that the mountain was generous and let us reach the top even though we had such a late start. The altitude had been giving me a headache for hours, ever since the false summit, so I was ready to get down. Occasionally I needed to use the ice axe as a brake but for thousands of feet I held the ice axe up like one raises your hands on a roller coaster and slid blissfully down the glissade troughs to lower altitudes.

When we reached our base camp it was getting late so we ate dinner and got some sleep. The wind howled through the night and it was snowing in the morning. Many would-be climbers came down that morning after having not slept due to the wind at Lunch Counter. We climbed down to a sunny day in Trout Lake, thankful that the mountain had been kind to us.

 

 

 

 

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