Mount Adams South Climb — Saturday, Jun. 20, 2015

South Cascades > Mount Adams Area

This climb has been on our bucket list for a long time and we were not disappointed. The road just past Morrison Cr Campground is really narrow and rough so take it slow. We arrived on Friday after a 5 hr drive from Seattle and hiked the first 2 miles in to camp overnight just past Morrison Creek which took us less than an hour to get to. The first 2.5 miles or so is pretty dry and dusty and the creek is the last place to get running water. This worked out perfectly, was much warmer than Lunch Counter and we didn't have to lug our heavy packs up there either. We left camp about 4am and hiked up to Lunch Counter, made it there in an hour and stopped for breakfast and coffee. It was freezing so make sure to bring extra layers, gloves and a hat. From there it's a slow steady climb climb all the way to Pikers Peak. Make sure you bring lots of water and food too, the altitude can get to you so make sure to eat and have some salt sticks or good packs. It was cold and difficult to melt snow in the altitude with the camp stove so I wouldn't rely on that for water. The most difficult part of the hike comes after beginning the ascent to Pikers Peak, it's a steep climb and you absolutely need crampons at this point, until then it's not super necessary. Getting past the false summit almost feels more gratifying than the summit b/c the climb is so steep. After that you get a break to walk across the snow field to the final 850ft climb to the summit. Once you get to the top Mt. Rainier pops out and you get a great view of the entire region. It was very windy and cold at the top so we didn't spend too much time there. It was icy on the way up but the snow started softening as we made our way back down. This helped with glissading and the shoots were awesome. We were able to glissade almost the entire way which made the descent much easier. We stopped halfway for lunch and to shed some layers as it was getting much warmer and sunnier. We made it back to camp, packed up and headed to the car. Overall it took about 6:30 to summit and 4:00 from summit to the car.