Double the Volcano, Double the fun: Skiing Adams and Hood May 26th-28th, 2015
There’s a slight dizzle and a 20% chance of rain both days as we depart the trailhead. There’s no volcano in sight, just trees and rain. We march up the trail with little banter between us except for the occasional talk of bailing. But Chase is headstrong and “turning around” over a little rain isn’t in his lexicon. Snow is encountered just below 6000 feet and instead of continuing up to high camp, we decide to camp below the 6000 foot mark to allow us to have a fire and dry out a bit. We sit around the fire, eating and rehydrating, and just as we are about to go to sleep, the clouds lift and Mount Adams reveals himself to us. Seeing our objective for the first time immediately lifts our spirits and we fall asleep with smiles on our faces.
We awake to clear skies and we start our climb, the snow is firm and will need time to warm up. No need to rush, but with our knowledge of the forecast, we decide to boogey anyways. Up the north ridge we go. Little clouds become big clouds then that cloud in the distance is now the cloud you’re in. The clouds are early by an hour and a half according to NOAA who said 20% chance of precip and thunder after 11 am. It’s not even ten. Carry on. A couple hours pass and the cloud remains, seems more dense, but doesn’t appear to be carrying a charge…. Yet. We decide to eat some food a 1000 feet from the summit. We discuss our situation and maybe look for a way off the north ridge. Chase wants to continue up and then come back down the north ridge. I think we should bail now since we’ve both already been on Adams summit. At least we agree that our original ski objective probably hasn’t gotten the required sun to soften enough for an enjoyable ski. We decide we should find a way onto the lava headwall and ski down to the lave glacier instead of skiing down the not so snow covered north ridge. We’ve also decided to bail on the summit a short distance away. It feels like the right decision and I want to pat myself on the back, but the fact remains that I’ve failed and that deserves no accolades. We slowly work our way down the ridge until we find a way onto the lava headwall. It’s steep and there’s a bergschrund below us, we start to cautiously make our way down. The snow feels great and corn been cooked to perfection. Steep turns in highly carvable snow ensue and the sounds of sluff sliding down a firm bed surface provide the soundtrack. Before I know it, I’m jumping over the bergschrund and speeding down the lava glacier. It’s hard to stop and wait for Chase to join me, but if we don’t start traversing soon it will be a long walk back to camp.
The hike out is pleasant and warm. We both remark on much easier it is to enjoy the hike and the scenery without the rain. I’m not sure why Double Mountain was named what it is, but I have a distinct feeling that it has something to do with the views of Mt Hood and Mt Adams from its home base of Hood River. Either way, Double Mountain’s Hop Lava IPA sure did pair nicely with the day’s descent. After further dehydrating ourselves, we head to my buddy’s house in Hood River for showers and sleep.
Mount Hood beckons us in the faint morning light as we drive south down hwy 35 in the predawn hours. We arrive at timberline to clear skies and are hiking up next to the Magic Mile chairlift by 6 am. By 630, we’ve reached the top of the mile, only to realize we’ve both forgotten our ice axes. Not to be denied another summit, skins are ripped and we race back to the car. Half penalty for idiocy. The rest of the hike goes smoothly and is quite relaxing. As the morning wears on, smiling mountaineers begin to come down the mountain in the morning light after success on Oregon’s highest point. We smile back, happy to not have to hike the long distance off the mountain after our summit. We get higher, try what we think is the pearly gates route, only to encounter blue ice. Blue ice and aluminum crampons don’t mix; it appears the Pearly Gates are closed to sinners not wearing steel spiked sandals. So we take another half hour penalty, retrace our steps and work against the current of down climbing mountaineers up old chute. We have the summit to ourselves, high fives are slapped. We feel like we’re early so we decide to hang out and have a picnic. Picnics are good in high places, but our picnic takes too long and the summit of Hood becomes enclosed with clouds. We get to the top of old chute and try to wait it out.
After about forty five minutes and examinations of the Doppler and webcams at timberline lodge (yea there’s 4g on the summit of hood), we decide to descend. White out conditions exist down to the Crater Rock Hogsback, but then its smooth sailing the rest of the way. Giddy, long turns ensue and before you know you’re clicking out of skis, laughing that the mountain that just took over 4 hours to climb was skied in 15 minutes. It’s a weird feeling getting off mt hood after a successful summit: you expect, almost want, the casual tourist to ask “if you skied up there?” or to look surprised that you have skis, but everyone is there to ski and you’re just another skier amongst the hordes.
Day one:
Sunrise on Rainier
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Going up
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The Lava Headwall of Adams basking in morning light:
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Goats on the North Ridge going up
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Chase looking for a way off the North Ridge and onto the Lava Headwall
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I guess this is going to work out ok…..
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Part of the way down
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So much fun
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The bittersweet look back at the face to reveal a now cloudfree summit…..
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Day two:
Crater Rock
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Self portrait
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Ass portrait
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Future ambitions: the cooper spur
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Waiting at the top of old chute for the clouds to never clear
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“We just out here living that hood life.”
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Looking back at the summit, nice that it stayed in the clouds the rest of the day ;)
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Post Script: Despite the fun descent on Adams, the feeling of failure lingers on even now as we didn’t ski our intended line and failed to summit. Only in hindsight, do I feel like I accomplished anything on Adams on this trip, I even questioned whether this was worthy of posting since it was somewhat a failure. But I learned a good lesson in patience and that sometimes patience pays off.
