Mount Adams 12,280'...... the second highest peak in Washington state and largest active volcano. It was rumored to contain a 4,500 vertical run with a massive chute / face that takes up most of the run, doesn't really change steepness or direction. My friend Becky and I were interested in what the mountain had to offer
Sunset looking at Mount St. Helens.... The access road had just opened to reasonable hiking distance from the actual top of the road but there was still a hike required from 5,700 vertical to the summit of 12,300 or about 6,600 feet. Planning on hiking the mountain in an afternoon and then realizing at about 7,000 feet we were a bit ambitious and we should camp was a good thing to realize. We ditched our day packs skied back to the parking lot (5,700) and grabbed camping supplies then hiked back to 7,000 feet to find a perfect spot.
Mount Hood at sunset ....... sunset came in hot, but it was really cold. Lows in the low 20s on the mountain.
campsite......
Pikers Peak is a false summit of mt adams.... climbing a volcano is fun, its huge so nothing gets any closer when you hike. As you can see this day June 6 we spent with about 4 other people.
Hiking up Pikers..... nothing gets closer when you hike a volcano, but luckily things get farther away
Top...... we got to the top about 6 hours after leaving camp with a 1 hour stop on Pikers hoping the snow would soften a bit before heading to the top. This is looking down a the ramp i skied on the edge of a glacier facing northeast
Summit from Pikers.... back at pikers looking at the summit of mt adams and the ramp I skied to the right
Southwest Chute.... after a short traverse we skied to the top of the chutes, the snow was perfect from the summit, like i mean perfect like it could not have been any better even coming from "the greatest snow on earth" Becky and I exchanged photo ops each making 2 turns for the camera.
Then realizing the reason I came to Mt Adams wasn't for a bike ride or to play teather ball it was to ski so i took from the mountain 4,500 vert of perfect conditions and sent it. 29 turns including 2 for the camera, 36mph top speed, 32 average speed for over 1 mile of descent. At the bottom you are bitch slapped with the reality of the snow, the speed, and the ski run was a thrill beyond words. in some parts of the country this ski run is 12 of your resorts ontop of each other, and this single ski run is bigger vertical drop than every resort in the usa (i think)
Becky Skis..... she is the dot in the upper right middle of the chute
becky in the bottom........
Southwest Chutes shining silver..... virgin corn
skiing out the bottom...... a few hundred feet of mostly flat skiing
big turns......
if you wear your lucky hat, buff, shirt, pants and mittens you will be rewarded.....
hiking up to camp..... about 1,000 vertical to hike back to camp. we stayed 2 more nights and summited again on sunday but elected not to ski sw chutes.
the next day..... we woke up and watched maybe a hundred people hiking mount adams........ we instead skied to the car and went to trout lakes to see the ice caves and big tree and have wood fire pizza then return back up to camp.
mount adams southwest chutes.......
mt adams summit to bottom of southwest chutes gps graph. 30 minutes, a divine 3 minutes of it skiing full speed down southwest chutes.
for the weekend 1,500 + 1,500 + 6,000 + 1,500 + 6000 = a casual 16,500 vert hiked a little less skied, base camp was awesome and mt adams wilderness rules.
