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adams sw chutes ski trip 8-3-2011

modern in front of the south shoulder of adams - notice the lenticular up there

sorry about the late report, i'm quite a bit behind because of good weather :>) fantastic ski trip! skinned up the south ridge to the summit of mt adams then skied down the sw chutes - 5,000 continuous feet of awesome corn snow. it felt like a groomer had smoothed the slopes out for us. long drive, but worth every minute of it. that's right skiing in august, what a concept. btw skinning up to the summit is a lot quicker and easier than hiking up :>)

modern boiling snow at the bottom of the sw chutes of mt adams

modern said: "Whodathunkit. Corny as Kansas in August., which BTW is a great song to sing as you ski down thousands of feet of near-perfect smooth corn (but I'll spare you the video on that and other fine songs from the musical South Pacific). We left the car at 5:15 and walked about 1 hour before hitting skinable snow. Major cups, and we took our skis off 5 short times for dirt crossings-only a minor annoyance. With ski crampons (why don't more people wear those more?) I was able to easily skin all the way to the top. A brisk wind kept the top slopes a bit too frozen for great turns, but we hit the chute right next to the false summit and it was fabulous-smooth and corned to perfection. Minor runnels on the lower third. We had never skied this before and can see why it is considered a classic. Getting back included ski removal and dirt walking maybe 5 or 6 times and then the long walk on the (mostly) dirt trail back to the junction with the main trail. One can not ski all the way to the trail, sorry, but hey, it's August. Return to cars about 6. Other than some of the dirt and the long drive, this trip was a solid 1 on the Fun Scale, which I read about in a very funny and educational new book just out (full disclosure, I work for the publisher, The Mountaineers). In his book, Climbing Dictionary, the author, Matt Samet defines the Fun Scale apparently developed by some scientist climbers with time on their hands. Check it out. Type 1 Fun: True fun that is actually enjoyable while it is happening (that is key). The author gives examples of 5.8 hand cracks, sport climbing and powder skiing. I would definitely add corn snow sking. Type 2 Fun: Fun only in retrospect, hateful while it is happening. The author mentions working out until you puke and most ice and alpine climbing. Good example yesterday. Skinning up to the false summit for me was type 1, but had I been booting it straight up gasping for air, that is solid type 2. Backcountry skiing probably has more type 1 than alpine climbing does. Type 3 Fun: Not fun at all, even after a lot of retrospection. For me, something like going alpine climbing in the rain, or skiing ice."

stats: 14.07mi 7081' gain ~8:00 car to summit 0:43 summit stay 4:53 summit to car (1:28 skiing chute including lunch stop) brought stove to boil water instead of carrying water modern's t/r on turns-all-year: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=21587.0 references: http://www.metatropo.com/reports/swchutesmtadams.shtml