Mount Adams South Climb — Tuesday, May. 28, 2024

Bottom line: ski’d Adams. Several feet of snow is still at cold creek campground. You have to park about 0.5 mile from the trailhead at this time. Pull off on the side of the road. Snow from trailhead to summit. Obvious skin track.

More info:

Road to trailhead: be prepared to encounter some tall bumps enroute. I was glad to have a truck. I do not know if I could make it up here in a Camry, but try your luck! Hah

Can I ski from the summit? Yes. From summit to trailhead at this time.

Snow conditions? From trailhead to summit, under several feet of snow. At this time there are few natural hazards, some creeks have barely started to open up (saw only 1 the entire way) otherwise it’s a giant snowfield. Expect it to melt out considerably in the coming weeks.

Gear: no rope, no harness. Ski crampons only if you intend to skin the Pikers face (most skiers boot this). We saw only two people skinning the face. Otherwise the other 90% of the trip is on skis.

Route? Suksdorf trail. It’s essentially the Muir snowfield-type grade, minus pikers face and summit push. It starts at the same place as the normal south climb, and intersects with the south climb route at lunch counter, just follows a different, more mellow route. The footsteps in the snow follow this route at this time. It will split away from the normal south climb route at an intersection called “timberline camp”. Just look at gaia/FATMAP and you’ll see these locations I’m talking about.

Time? I’ve done it in one day, two days, and this time we took the whole Memorial Day weekend to make it a fun expedition. I love adams. All three are doable based on your fitness levels. If you want to do it in a day, start around 2-4am at the car, as you’ll ascend approx 7k ft with breaks between. So you’ll Summit around 10-noon and have perfect corn snow coming down. If you’re doing the standard two-day trip: when we went none of the tent sites at lunch counter were melted out yet, so we had to dig shelters for the tents. Bring a shovel. Otherwise, there is a large depression about 1.7k below lunch counter called “south butte” that you can stay in. Depends on winds when you go, but that has more protection.

Water: saw no streams open at this time. Needed to boil. Bring a jetboil or enough to sustain yourself.

Ice axe? Crampons? Absolutely.