[Cary Driskell]

This post is from a trip I did September 8, 2012. I am posting it now because I finally set up a Flickr account for the purpose of posting with pictures. I asked several people for advice about climbing an actual mountain with actual snow before going, and I am grateful for those who gave advice. It was a great trip, followed by a big-ass forest fire. I climbed with a couple of friends from Spokane Valley, Steve, Kelly, and a couple of friends of Kelly's. There were five of us originally planned, but we picked up a solo Friday night. Three were pretty-to-very experienced. On the way in from Bingen to Trout Lake, we passed an active forest fire burning along the road for the first four miles. It made for a lot of smoke around Bingen. There were probably 30-35 cars in the parking lot by Friday night. About half had people camped at Cold Springs, the rest were presumably somewhere around Lunch Counter at around 9,000 feet. Steve and I got up there on Friday early afternoon to Cold Springs campground, about 5,600 feet on the south side of Mt. Adams. Everybody else came around 9:30 p.m. The drive from Spokane Valley took right around five hours.

Steve at Cold Springs campground September 7, 2012

We woke at 4:00 a.m., downed some nice instant coffee made by a famous company based in Seattle, and got on the trail by 4:45. Yes, it was dark. We all had a small to medium day pack of one kind or another. I borrowed my 14 year-old son's junior backpack, which worked great for a day pack. I had more crap than I needed, but that is just me, especially when I am going into something I haven't done before. I probably had about 22 lbs, including water, food, an extra layer of clothes, camera, crampons and ice ax. We climbed in the dark for about an hour and a half before the trail was very light. Everybody else used headlamps, but I elected to go without, relying on the light they provided. Even in late summer, there was quite a bit of snow, but it was quite packed and hard, making for sure climbing with crampons. When we took off in the morning, the experienced guys took trekking poles, which I have always considered a nuisance and gear for old guys. I should have put 1 (not old) plus 1 (experienced snow climbers) together sooner. Let's just say that I would have preferred to have trekking poles, particularly on the ascent. We put the crampons on about here:

Well-worn glissade track through big sun cups on Mt. Adams - September 2012

I had heard one of the highlights of the trip would be the glissade down at the end. More on that later, but this is near the end of the line, about where we originally put the crampons on for the ascent. As I said, the sun-cupping was pretty pronounced. If you have not seen big cups, here is what it looks like:

Making the ascent above Lunch Counter on Mt. Adams - September 2012

Nearing Piker's Peak amongst big sun cups on Mt. Adams - September 2012

We had a good snack at Lunch Counter at around 10:00 a.m.. The downside for me was that stopping for lunch meant the muscles right above my knees, inside, cramped up. This happened two or three times after stopping, and I was having a few doubts as to whether I would hit the summit. Fortunately, the cramping resolved after climbing a few minutes. I made sure to drink as much water as I could at each stop. There were a lot of rock shelters built for tenting around Lunch Counter:

Rock shelters at Lunch Counter, Mt. Adams - September 2012

We approached Piker's Peak at about noon, stayed about 10 minutes, and continued up:

Looking back and down at Piker's Peak on Mt. Adams - September 2012

The last stretch to the summit was pretty damn difficult, at least for me. My legs were beat, what with not having trekking poles. Consciously leaving them at the truck was dumb. All the snow was off the trail at the peak, and we were left to climb the fine volcanic gravel. Two steps up, one slide one back. We hit the summit before 1:00, and got some nice shots. Here is one of Kelly, Steve and I with Ranier in the background.

At the top on Mt. Adams (12,304) - September 2012

We had sustained winds at about 30 mph, which made for a cool stay at the top. We definitely needed wind gear. As we sat at the top, we could see some clouds moving our way. We had a debate as to whether we should stay Saturday night at Cold Springs, or be crazy and drive home after getting to the parking lot. I was sleeping in my Tundra, so didn't really care if it rained. Steve was tenting. It was pretty much a coin flip, and we decided to go because Kelly and his friends were going home. We made it down much faster than we went up. We glissaded down from Pikers to well below Lunch Counter, probably at least 3,000 feet. I was not comfortable using my ice ax as a brake, mostly because I didn't like the idea of having that point at my back. I lashed my ax on to my pack, sat on my butt, and used my feet as brakes and shock absorbers. If my legs weren't tired before that, they were after. One unnamed member our party tried to glissade with his crampons on. He probably won't do that again. No permanent harm done, but was probably uncomfortable for a couple of days. We got down to the parking lot at 4:44 and 42 seconds, making the round trip in under 12 hours, barely. Yes, we had to gently run the last couple hundred yards to make it, but it was nice to break that symbolic barrier. As we were breaking camp, it rained on us, which confirmed our decision to go. Steve and I stopped at Solstice in Bingen for dinner. Fantastic food. We headed for home, getting in right at midnight. It was not a pleasant drive after that day's work. Steve drove from Bingen to the far side of the Tri-Cities while a caught a short nap, then I drove the rest of the way. We did not hear until Monday that the clouds we decided to avoid dropped lightening near Cold Springs, starting the Cold Springs fire right at midnight, just as we got home. Had we stayed, I understand we would have been evacuated off the mountain around 4:00 a.m., without gear or vehicles, which were not subject to retrieval until the following Sunday. We had noticed that there was a lot of dead-standing timber when we got there. I am anxious to see what it looks like this summer, I am sure nothing like it did. Steve and Kelly want to climb Ranier next. I told them I am done climbing mountains. I don't climb mountains. I climbed one, why do I need to climb more? I am apparently now committed to climb Mt. Baker in May with Steve, and another guy from work who is a very experienced climber. But I am not climbing Ranier. I am not a climber. I hope the pictures show up.

[Bedivere]

Good job! For not being a mountain climber, looks like you did okay. I'd definitely recommend going earlier season when the snow isn't so badly suncupped. makes the glissade down much more enjoyable.

[tom roy]

Nice tr welll written and good photos. I am learning to post on this site to its bit different than I'm used to Fun hike the south spur at least i like it.