[Mark Griffith]

Seth, Dean and myself headed up to Mt. Adams Friday afternoon. We got a later start than we wanted. The logging road was still not clear of snow and there were several large downed trees, so we humped up the road for 2 miles before even reaching the trailhead. We hiked up the snowfields aiming for Lunch Counter, but running out of daylight at 8000 feet we camped on a ridge overlooking Mt. St. Helens. The next morning we started out at 4:40 am, a beautiful day though a lenticular on the top of Pikers Peak warned of a change in the weather later on. We were joined by a group of 4 at Lunch Counter as we slowly climbed up the ridge to Pikers Peak. What a false summit, you get there and its a ways ways ways to go still. Due to my waiting family in Cannon Beach, we opted to turn around at this point as we were running out of time and we glissaded (hard on the butt to be sure) down and made for the car. Next time I'll start earlier in the day for Lunch Counter and not have such a tight time constraint on the other end.

End of the Day

As far as I made it

Anyone know these guys ? :

Group of 4's Pikers shot, don't recall their names, but perhaps they'll find this shot on Flickr.

Dean taking a breather on the way up to Pikers Peak. A huge cloud blowing in above us.

Lenticular continues to build, you can just see the silhouette of a party at Lunch Counter.

The low light making long shadows, hinting that we are starting to loose the day as we make our way up the snow fields.

Full set on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/niffgurd/sets/72157600302748244/ Cheers mbg

[Magellan]

The early season road walk is not that much fun when you already have 6600'+ to go. You will get her next time.

[bestes]

[summithound]

Nice job nonetheless! At least you got up there and into the elements. All I did on Friday was sit on my a$$ studying for finals. I'm hoping to attempt Adams at some point this summer...

[opened eyes]

Thanks for the report. I love Mt. Adams. Last time I had to turn around where you were, due to time of day. Nice photos.

[yukon222]

Nice selection of pictures. You really captured the steepness of the mountain as it climbs up towards the false summit. And then you finally crest that ridge and the main summit is all the way on the other side of the ice field! Sorry you didn't have time to go all the way. Do it again - it is worth it to make it on top!

mt adams summit approach

[summithound]

Cool! I like the picture of the old lookout. It must've been tough work keeping the snow from piling up around it back when it was still in use. It looks pretty exposed in that shot. I didn't know that the summit melted out so much during the warmer months.