Mt Adams 9-16-21

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sgyoung
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Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by sgyoung » September 17th, 2021, 6:24 pm

I hiked Mt Adams using the usual south summit route. For a walk-up summit, it was pretty challenging. This was partly due to the snow-free conditions on the mountain making for slow going on the way up and an annoyingly slippery decent. I don't know if I'd jump at the chance to do this again without a decent snow pack.

I drove to the trailhead from Seattle the night prior, arriving at about 1:30am. Slept in the back of my Jeep until waking up around 5ish and having breakfast and coffee. It was a cold night, easily reaching freezing temperatures at the trailhead. It was also very quite, with only handful of other cars parked in the lot. Amazingly, I saw 5 people all day on the mountain and had the summit entirely to myself for a little while. My overall time on the mountain was almost exactly 12 hours, of which 7.25 were spent on accent. I started the day a bit tired and slow and then definitely felt the altitude above 11k feet, which caused me to really drag.

Just below the lunch counter I made a route finding mistake on the decent that could have caused me trouble, but I was thankfully able to consult GPS to see that I'd deviated well west of the normal route. Not sure how I pulled off, but it was a bit sketchy and I ended up somewhat cliffed out. Ultimately, I had to backtrack a bit which caused added maybe an extra mile and 150 additional feet of gain on to the hike. Of course that doesn't sound like too much, but after an already tough slog up it was a bit frustrating.

With the weather coming in this weekend I expect conditions will rapidly shift on the mountain, but as of 9/16 there was only one unavoidable patch of ice in the saddle between Piker's and the true summit. I used crampons here and appreciated them. I had an ice axe and used it mostly to assist navigating the endless loose scree and sand on the way down.
Attachments
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Rainier
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St Helens
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Hood and Jefferson
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The ice between summit and Pikers
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Melted out summit
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Summit shed
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Looking at the summit from Pikers (with zoom)
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Looking at the summit from Pikers (without zoom)
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Adams in the morning

johnspeth
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by johnspeth » September 18th, 2021, 7:11 am

I'm surprised to see the summit snow free. I was there about 20 years ago in mid-September and just the top of the building was poking through the snow. Has the summit melted out in past years? Is this yet another sign of climate warming?

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Chip Down
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by Chip Down » September 18th, 2021, 10:34 am

Getting off-route on the descent is hard to imagine. I once ascended a different route, arriving at summit after sunset, and descended to LC in dark with no troubles. Don't worry, I'm not calling you an idiot or anything. We all make silly mistakes. I'm just surprised one could lose the route there.
johnspeth wrote:
September 18th, 2021, 7:11 am
I'm surprised to see the summit snow free.
Okay, so it's not just me. But wasn't it snow free when the cabin was built? Unless they had to chip* and shovel to get to bare dirt.

* see what I did there?

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sgyoung
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by sgyoung » September 18th, 2021, 1:35 pm

Chip Down wrote:
September 18th, 2021, 10:34 am
Getting off-route on the descent is hard to imagine. I once ascended a different route, arriving at summit after sunset, and descended to LC in dark with no troubles. Don't worry, I'm not calling you an idiot or anything. We all make silly mistakes. I'm just surprised one could lose the route there.
My error was below the lunch counter, actually. Indeed, missing the LC seems almost impossible but somehow after that I drifted to my right (i.e., west). Initially I was still running across various campsites before ending up in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't too dramatic but I did feel dumb and annoyed with myself.
johnspeth wrote:
September 18th, 2021, 7:11 am
I'm surprised to see the summit snow free. I was there about 20 years ago in mid-September and just the top of the building was poking through the snow. Has the summit melted out in past years? Is this yet another sign of climate warming?
Chip raises a good point about constructing the shed implying a completely melted out summit. Saying that, yeah this seems like a historically bad year for mountain snowpack. It's a real testament to an insanely hot summer because last winter's snowpack was solid but melted away rapidly.

I am super curious about the construction of that shed. I googled a little bit but didn't have any luck learning details. I'll keep searching but if anyone here as info please feel free to share.

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Chip Down
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by Chip Down » September 18th, 2021, 5:55 pm

Oops, my mistake, you did originally say you were below LC when you got off route. That's easier to understand.

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drm
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by drm » September 19th, 2021, 6:44 am

Apparently they dug out the summit for the construction. From page 43 of "Ever Wild - A Lifetime on Mt Adams" by Darryl Lloyd:
Actual construction began in early summer of 1920, with Jones and Schmid doing most of the work. Other men helped for brief periods. Photos by Jones show a partially framed building surrounded by deep snow. Cables attached to buried rocks anchored the corners of the building.
(my emphasis)

Art Jones had carried ninety pound loads to the summit from near the Crescent Glacier at 7400'.

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sgyoung
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Re: Mt Adams 9-16-21

Post by sgyoung » September 19th, 2021, 10:54 am

Thanks, drm. This is great info and now I have a new book to read as well.

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