Mt Adams Summit Climb (August 2012)

After successfully reaching the summit of Mt St Helens, I was ready to tackle a bigger and steeper mountain.  The next weekend, I ventured on a 2 day climb up Mt Adams (12,276 ft).  Adding gear for an overnight trip substantially increases the size and weight of your pack.  Climbing a snow and glacier covered mountain adds gear in the form of crampons, ice axe, snow shovel, and the cold weather clothing.  On top of all the extra gear, I decided to lug my splitboard (a snowboard that splits in half to make a set of cross country skis for the trip up) which, with my bulky snowboard boots, added 18 lbs.  My pack was tipping the scales at 55lbs, and I would learn later that I need to trim this down significantly for future trips.

my pack for the 2 day climb

view of Mt Adams on my drive to the trailhead

as I drove closer to the mountain, it loomed with an air of magnitude

The start of the climb was an old logging road, which is normally easy, but the Pacific NW was experiencing our only heat wave of the summer, so the temperature was climbing close to 100 degrees.  I drank 5 liters of water during 7 hours of climbing! 

Mt Hood on the horizon

around the next corner, I had Mt St Helens on the horizon

Finally the trail turned from dirt to snow around 6700 ft, so I was able to try out my new splitboard.  I donned the skins (directional fabric glued to the bottom of the skis) and proceeded to cross country ski up the mountain. 

Unfortunately, my quest to find better snow (instead of sticking to the normal route), led me astray and into some very difficult terrain.  The next few hours would be the most difficult and scary part of my climb.  The afternoon sun was making the snow very unstable and slushy, rendering the skins near useless.  I had several close calls where I began sliding backwards back down the mountain, but was able to self arrest. 

The section below may not look steep in the picture because the right to left gradient is difficult to see in the shadow, but trust me, it was not easy.  Climbing can very quickly become a mental game that can put you at wits end in a hurry, however it is of the utmost importance to stay in full mental control.  After several failed attempts to climb the steep snow slope (and plenty of practice with self arrest using my ice axe), I eventually decided that I must turn back and go out and around this section.  It was a setback to my route and overall time, but I had already wasted several hours on this section.  I had to get moving because the sun was setting in a few hours and I needed to get higher up the mountain before setting up camp.

I had originally planned to camp at 9000 ft, but only made it to 8200 ft by sundown, after my debacle with the steep portion described earlier.  I was at a nice rocky area, and I was not too keen on clearing the next glacier in the dark, nor did I want to have to setup camp in the dark.  The altitude was adding to my difficulties, so I figured it was a good time to break for the night. 

setting up camp at 8200ft

using my camp stove to melt snow for tomorrow's drinking water

I had to force myself to eat dinner.  I knew I had burned a lot of calories and needed the energy, but the altitude was making me nauseated.  Despite my utter exhaustion and desire to sleep, I decided I must dig out my camera for some night shots (besides, that's half the reason I do this stuff anyways!).  I'm not sure sure if it was the delirium induced by my current exhaustion, or the fact that I have never seen anything so bright at night, but the moonrise over the side of the mountain proved to be the absolutely most astonishing thing I have ever seen.  If you have read earlier installments of this blog, you will know that I have been around the world, and I've seen and done some amazing things, but, trust me, this one takes the cake!  I turned around and saw the brightest sliver of light peering over the edge of the mountain.  My first thought (seriously) was that someone was climbing over there and had an enormous halogen spot light.  I literally asked myself, "what the hell IS that?"  I was dumbfounded as it budded into a sphere and rose into the sky.  I could not possibly believe that it was the moon.  It was so bright that I had to make several adjustments on my camera such that it did not oversaturate the image.  Soon, my campsite was abask in moonlight enough to read by.  OK, now my afternoon struggle seemed justified. 

moonrise over the side of Mt Adams a few days after a full moon 

(and we would also be treated to a blue moon later in August)

As per our previously agreed upon plan, I met up with a two of my coworkers, Mike and Dan, before dawn of day 2.  They are even crazier than I and decided to start in the night, go without sleep, and do the entire climb in one day!  There are advantages to a one day climb of Mt Adams, namely the lesser amount of gear and more climbing during the cool night hours.  However, I knew I did not have the stamina to keep up on a one day climb with those guys (for reference, Dan is training to run the Portland Marathon at 6:05 min/mile avg pace!!).   Besides, I had never camped on a mountain before and Emily was out of town for the weekend for school in SF, so the opportunity was smacking me in the face. 

Surprisingly, we were able to get good cell service on the mountain, so our rendezvous at 4:45AM in the dark went without a hitch.  I left my tent, snowboard, and the majority of my gear at the campsite and only packed the essentials for the summit climb.  We donned headlamps and crampons and continued the climb.  There were some very steep sections ahead, and it was imperative to conquer them in the early morning hours, before the sun had a chance to soften the snow too much.  This was my first experience with crampons, and I was quite impressed how well they grabbed the ice and how steep of a glacier grade could be climbed.  I soon lost Mike and Dan around 10,000 ft as I struggled to maintain their aggressive pace up the mountain....oh well, it was reassuring to see familiar faces when you have been out on a mountain alone for a day.  Also, based on my rough first day, I might have been tempted to pack up and descend without reaching the summit, but I didn't want to skip out on our planned climb together.  

...taking a quick break for photos at the false summit at 11,500 ft...the true summit lies behind me after 1/4 mile and another 800 ft of climbing...I was utterly exhausted, but no way in hell am I stopping now with the end in sight!

(an aside for my non-climbing friends:  a "false summit" is when the mountain is so steep that, as you climb, it appears you are reaching the top....however, when you get to the top of that section, the view opens up to show that there is indeed more to go to get to the true summit of the mountain)

the 1/4 mile hike preceding the final climb to the summit

the summit was much larger and flatter than had I imagined (those tiny tiny black specs in the middle on the horizon are other climbers)

Finally at the summit of Mt Adams!

12,276 ft

(Mt Ranier in background)

The descent was aided by the snow, allowing glissading (sliding down chutes while seated, using ice axe as a brake) and snowboarding, such that my weary legs did not have to take near as many steps and I got down the mountain much much much faster than I went up.  :)  

glissading down a well worn chute

I stopped back at my campsite to pickup the rest of my gear and made a quick descent back to the truck.  

Mt Adams was my first overnight climb, and I could already feel the allure of conquering more mountains building like the anticipation of a fisherman drawing his nets, hoping to catch something bigger each time...