Mount Adams Climber's Log

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jdspainhour

jdspainhour - Jul 5, 2024 11:08 pm Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2024

Spainhour Summer Summit Challenge: 12 Yr-old Summits Adams  Sucess!

Took my 12 year-old son, Kezek, up on Monday, July 1. We camped at the top section of Lunch Counter. We had nearly perfect weather—some major wind at campsite through the night (and of course at the summit).

We lucked out on our water source — Morrison creek is completely under snow and ice — but we had a good glacier drip at our campsite and I was able to dig a hole, dam it up, and pump-filter it.

We left for the summit from Lunch Counter at 5:30a. That was about perfect timing—possibly even a little later would’ve allowed for softer snow / less raw ass in the long glissading chutes!—but the snow was firm the whole way up the summit, so it was worth the tradeoff.

Crampons / axe are pretty necessary. We just wore spikes after Lunch Counter until we were out of the snow.

All in all, a great trip!

wildfiredjade

wildfiredjade - Jun 10, 2024 6:00 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 2024

Quite the beast in a storm   Sucess!

Climbed on 6/1/2024. Weather forecast was looking a bit dicey starting out -- decided to go for it since only in from out of state for a limited time period. Upper mountain was whiteout conditions with winds of 25-45 mph. Summitted in single day since weather was worsening. Spent a sleepless, loud night in the wind at 9,300ft before descending at 4:30am the next morning once sun was out. Beast of a mountain in a storm! I had an unforgettable experience.

lgoodson - Jun 2, 2024 1:19 pm Date Climbed: May 30, 2024

Mount Adams South Spur/Lunch Counter Camping  Sucess!

We summited Adams early Friday morning after camping at Lunch Counter overnight on Thursday May 30th, 2024.

The week leading up to the attempt was cold and consistent, windy 25-30mph and dying down with some dusting of new snow. Maybe the second or third round of early season corn cycle. With a break in the wind and clear skies, high cloud ceiling, and around freezing at mid to high elevations, we saw a two day window to make a go at it before another storm system moved in. Temps 15-20*F at the top, 20-30*F at 9000 feet, 40s at 6000 feet; little wind 5-10 mph; all sun.

Checked the Forest Service report describing a 1 mile snowy hike in to the trail head, but just two days after its posting the snow is mostly melted out. Some cars were getting stuck but by now I think the road is clear. I recommend a car with decent clearance for the forest road speed bumps. Camp spots might still be snowy at Cold Springs. Outhouses are open.

We packed up and put our skins on and started Thursday afternoon around 2PM in 8-12*C (45-55*F) temps. First mile or so from the campground has thinning but enough snow, some trees down to climb over. Afternoon slush was a little hard going but still manageable. We met a forest ranger who checked our permits- be sure to have them loaded on your phone or printed! They do check!

Got to Lunch Counter just after 6PM, with enough time to find a campsite and plenty of space mid week. About 4-5 parties camped at the top all in all.

Started up Friday morning at 7AM and the ice rime up to Pikers Peak made skinning really tough. We changed to boots and crampons and put the skis on our packs. One or two people valiantly got further up with skis on but it was challenging to traverse, and most everyone with skis transitioned to crampons. At moments I would have liked to have an ice ax instead of ski poles but it was fine.

Summited around 10AM after a slog to the top, boot packing the whole way because of how steep and crusty the snow was. The views were incredible, seeing out to Three Sisters down south and Baker up north.

(Unfortunately, my partner's ski popped off just over the edge of Piker's Peak and went CAREENING down the chute right of SW Chutes toward avalanche glacier in seconds. If anyone happens to go that way and finds a single ski with an orange skin on, shivering and afraid, we'd love to have it home again. We went chasing after it but it was long gone. We hope it makes a happy life for a squirrel family out there or gets retrieved by a hero.)

After sacrificing a ski to the weather gods, we booted and glissaded down to Lunch Counter. By 10AM it was already pretty slushy, and I did not envy the 20-30 folks starting up.

We descended the skinning route (booting and single ski suffering), erring just a little east of the Gaia track for the winter route, and found ourselves in 20-25 degree slopes with one deep crack in the wet loose that spooked us. We traversed over to the trail on Gaia to more consistent snow, but there were still more terrain traps opening up at the end of the day. Happily back to the car a little sun burnt and tired by 3PM.

All in all:
Ascent Campground to Lunch Counter by Winter Route: 4.5 hours skinning with heavy packs in afternoon slush
Lunch Counter to Summit: 3 hours skinning/boot packing

Descent Summit to Lunch Counter: ~1 hour booting and glissading
Lunch Counter to campground: ~2.5-3 hours booting/glissading

Happy climbing!

Decon

Decon - Mar 20, 2024 11:24 am Date Climbed: Sep 23, 2007

meeting friends  Sucess!

had an amazing trip, weather was great, and met some wonderful new friends. Had an inversion move in before dinner and it was amazing. First Solo Climb

Wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrow - Mar 19, 2024 9:39 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2021

South Spur Route  Sucess!

Spontaneous hike up Mount Adams with cool dude I met on Mount Baker earlier that week.

Snowslogger

Snowslogger - Oct 17, 2023 9:39 am Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2017

AT Ski Ascent/Descent with Michael  Sucess!

Skied in part way and camped on the snow, where we were visited by a Cascade red fox. Skied up the next day - quite a slog. Somewhat icy down to Piker's Peak (the false summit), with nice snow below that. That seemed to be the logical skier turnaround.

punchline

punchline - Sep 17, 2023 6:06 am Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2023

Route Normal  Sucess!

Spent night about 800' below Lunch Counter at well-defined campsite. No running water at this location so had to melt snow. Relatively few people on Holiday weekend although road closures on Hwy 14 due to the Tunnel Fire may have contributed?

dawnclymb

dawnclymb - Jun 22, 2023 4:34 pm Date Climbed: Jun 16, 2023

South Spur Standard Route  Sucess!

I climbed with 13 people split into two groups for permitting purposes. 8 of our 13 climbers made the summit on the second day, due to training and blisters.
The first several miles of this climb are through a burnt forest. A lightning strike in 2012 burned over 40 square miles around the mountain, and while it is growing back nicely, it is still less than lovely. I did really appreciate the massive cairns and log poles used for route finding on this mountain. I also loved the tent shelters at Lunch Counter, wow, serious time and effort went into building them. Each site had a sandy bottom, and ample room for gear and our three man tent. We used running melt off to filter our water. No snowshoes were needed on the hike in or out to LC. We used our crampons for the hike up Piker's Peak to the summit, but the ice axes stayed on our packs. No ropes were needed.

Mack1two - Oct 2, 2022 10:03 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2022

Long day C2C  Sucess!

Solo summit. Rough coming down, got a little side tracked towards the southwest chutes and a hell of a time trying to travers back to the trail. So much lose rock and scree, at that slope it was pretty awful. Took about 3 hours longer than planned. Extremely windy from early morning until afternoon. Did use crampons to trek up snow, as it felt easier than some of lose rock, or at least felt like a brake from it.

Good, tough, long day.

bdreese2

bdreese2 - Aug 7, 2022 6:35 am Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2022

On trashed legs after Rainier  Sucess!

After climbing Rainier with RMI I had most of two days left before my flight home. I was indecisive of what to do with this time, but finally decided my legs were good enough to go up Adams. I went to the Lunch Counter on the 26th, reaching camp after dark, then summited the next morning.

one6180339

one6180339 - Mar 13, 2022 3:25 pm Date Climbed: Jul 25, 2010

perfect conditions  Sucess!

Camped at ~8600' the night before. Left camp at 5:15 and ascended in great conditions. Perfect weather all day. Beautiful summit!

utahjimk

utahjimk - Aug 11, 2021 3:35 pm Date Climbed: Aug 9, 2021

via South Climb trailhead  Sucess!

tented 2 nights at Cold Springs campground. Beautiful weather for day of the climb. This is my consolation prize for an aborted attempt on Mount Rainier on 7 August.

goldbears - Aug 1, 2021 4:08 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2021

Drier than normal conditions  Sucess!

Breezy, cloudy, drizzly conditions up and down - felt really nice considering the recent heatwave! Left Lunch Counter at 4:00am and found all the snow portions up to Pikers Peak still slushy with A LOT more sections of scree than in previous late-July summits. Not too crowded for a Saturday summit, the weather might've turned more than a few away.

Coryroman

Coryroman - Jul 15, 2021 11:50 am Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2021

Perfect time of year!  Sucess!

hot at trailhead, and no snow on trail until just beneath lunch counter. had the place nearly to ourselves sunday night and even had a visit from a big mountain goat! hit the trail again for the summit climb at 5am monday with plenty of natural light - no need for a headlamp - and took exactly four hours to get to the summit. would have been easier at times with crampons, BUT, not worth the weight to carry them and mountaineering boots just for it. microspikes worked just fine. awesome glissade on the way down saved a ton of time. back at lunch counter lots of bugs harassed us until we packed up and left. final dusty slog back to car was longer than expected.

markhadland@gmail.com

markhadland@gmail.com - Jul 12, 2021 1:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2021

c2c summit  Sucess!

c2c summit - up in 7:15, 12 hours RT. Beautiful sunrise.

https://hikingwithhadland.com/2021/07/05/mount-adams-summit-07-04-2021/

Rachid406 - May 16, 2021 9:56 pm Date Climbed: May 15, 2021

SW Chutes Ski  Sucess!

Toured up to the summit then skied down via SW Chutes. A great first ascent for me! First 1000' of skiing were dicey coming off the summit, but I had great corn until 7500' in the chutes!

guerinak

guerinak - May 12, 2021 10:08 pm Date Climbed: Apr 20, 2021

SW Chutes  Sucess!

Epic bluebird spring ski via SW chutes with a nice little hike in to the trailhead making for a long but perfect day with Mike:)

mikekernan

mikekernan - Apr 26, 2021 9:28 am Date Climbed: Apr 20, 2021

Climbed the South Spur and then skied the Southwest Chutes  Sucess!

Climb and ski with G :)

Woodie Hopper

Woodie Hopper - Sep 10, 2020 8:29 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2020

South Climb Trail  Sucess!

Other than a little smoke from area fires, conditions were good. Warm, no wind. Added a couple miles trying to find the “best” trail with so many ways to ascend. Needed the spikes, plenty of ash and loose ragged volcanic rock requires patience! A little over 7 hrs RT.

Jowzynkyn

Jowzynkyn - Jul 13, 2020 6:12 pm Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2020

Mid July Climbing Bonanza  Sucess!

Around 50 people attempted or summitted over the weekend, start at Cold Springs camp at 5AM, 2 hour easy hike to Lunch Counter, 2 hours up moderate slope snow wall to Piker's Peak, decided to class 3 scramble the west boulder talus field . Continued to cross the large saddle and ascend the last ~600 feet with no crampons to the summit at 10AM, cold and windy. First to glissade from peak to Piker's, rough but fun! Car to car round Trip 10 hours, took my time glissading and rested. Beautiful sunny afternoon!

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