TR: Mt. Adams - July 18-19

[GoldMember]

Well, my first attempt at a trip report.....(okay, settle the nerves, breathe)...

First, as background, I first joined this forum after seeing iskibc's Pyramid Peak TR. I was amazed! This got me to looking at all the TR's here and I've been way impressed and became inspired to do something myself. The real deal kicked in when Squirrel99 put up his Adams TR about a month or so ago (maybe longer, it's all still kind of a blur). I've never done any climbing before and was looking for something that wasn't technically difficult yet a pretty good challenge. Squirrel's TR seemed to be the answer. I want to give him a HUGE shout-out for all the help and inspiration he provided me on this adventure. Without his advice and encouragement, I'm not so sure we would've done this. THANKS SQUIRREL!!!

This is my year to turn 50, which I did on July 11th, so I wanted to do something to mark my birthday that would be memorable for me and challenging both mentally and physically. I don't have a lot of pictures to post up and, unfortunately, no skiing pictures but I'll post some up just because it's summer, there's snow, and you can get the idea of the trip. We climbed the south route, up Suksdorf Ridge to Piker's Peak, through the saddle and up to the summit. We then down-climbed to the center SW Chute and skied it. We didn't shoot pictures because we were shooting video for a cable TV show that will air in '07-'08. Nobody thought to take out their cameras while we were skiing! (I know, I know.....rookie TR error).

Anyway, here's some of the shots I've got. I may add some more as I get them from some of the others on the trip:

We have target acquisition.


Nearing camp at 9,000'


Nice flat spot for the tent. No wind, real nice camping weather.


Commence the death march. This is going up Suksdorf toward Piker's Peak.


Last pitch toward the summit. The summit was suncupped pretty badly so we left our skis at the entrance to the SW Chutes. Should've left the packs too.


Me at the summit. My first peakbagging! (no, no, not teabagging....)


Group shot on top of the old watchtower/mining shack.


This was a great experience for me and my buddies. 9 of us summited and skied down. The snow's starting to get a little runneled and suncupped out so there's not much time left to ski, especially since it's going to be in the 100's this weekend, but we hit it perfectly! The corn in the chutes was perfect. Big lesson though; our packs with skis and boots (full alpine gear....big mistake) weighed close to 60 pounds. Still, for a first time effort, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'll post some more pics if I get some from the other guys with some skiing.

Also, thanks to the Rossi boys who came along and to Mountain Gear in Spokane and High Peak for the climbing and camping gear. Great stuff!

That is all

[The Dad]

Rock on!

[freaks~in~creeks]

dude way to bring the stoke!!!
that is a great , heartfelt tr
without a doubt. you have the backcountry bug!!!
keep ripping, and break out your camera a little more while making turns!!

[Mofro261]

Thanks for the pics.

That snow on Suksdorf looks amzingly cupped since just one week ago.

[GoldMember]

Thanks for the pics.

That snow on Suksdorf looks amzingly cupped since just one week ago.

It was. The summit was essentially unskiable so we didn't bother taking the sticks to the top. Toward the bottom of the chutes was getting cupped and runneled badly too. There have been quite a few rocks leaving a bunch of good sized tracks as well.

[Squirrel99]

Now those are SUN CUPS!


great write up; cool experience. glad many of the TR's on this board inspired you to take your game higher

[BushwackerinPA]

awesome stuff...... those suncups are really really deep.

Good first TR.

[bcrider]

Sweet TR goldmember!

Looking forward to more!

[Bodhi]

Some Suncup hell in there...

peace,
D.

[springsproject]

even without any action shots this is a cool TR. those first 2 shots are money

[FrankZappa]

Well, my first attempt at a trip report.....(okay, settle the nerves, breathe)...

That wasn't so bad now was it?

This is my year to turn 50, which I did on July 11th, so I wanted to do something to mark my birthday that would be memorable for me and challenging both mentally and physically.

Right on! Another old guy.



Beautiful!

Nice job... we expect L-O-T-S more. - in order to keep your post to TR ratio in check.

[LeeLau]

Hell of a first TR- nice job!

[Tri-Ungulate]

Thanks for the pics.

That snow on Suksdorf looks amzingly cupped since just one week ago.

True dat. Even huger difference from the 2nd, when I was up there - the summit shack was still buried then.

Thanks for the TR GoldMember, very nice job on your 50th.

[bklyn]

Well go on with yo bad self!
You might want to ensure your patent application is approved before posting pictures on the net of your hydration system.

[GoldMember]

You might want to ensure your patent application is approved before posting pictures on the net of your hydration system.

Improvisation is the mother of invention....

[Pow4Brains]

Nice work guys! Great to still be makin' turns eh?

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Nice work, GM! Full alpine gear, eh? I'm in that boat too, maybe I should just suck it up and do something like that anyway.

[iskibc]

Some good photos in there. Thanks!

[flatNshallow]

This is my year to turn 50, which I did on July 11th, so I wanted to do something to mark my birthday that would be memorable for me and challenging both mentally and physically.

FKNA! GM - THANKS! I'm nearing 50 myself... well, not THAT near, but dude, this is fucking cool. TGR has changed my game as well - mind you I 've miles to go to get close to duplicating your effort - but the fact remains that this place has forever changed how I view skiiing AND life. I've often wondered if I have the sack to pull off something like this, thanks to your TR I've realized that its not a matter of wondering - its a matter of DOING.

Winter's a long ways away. And my games not BC ready yet. But it will be. And when I post I my first true TR, you will get props. Thanks forever for this...

[Trackhead]

I'm partial to this pic.

[GoldMember]

Nice work, GM! Full alpine gear, eh? I'm in that boat too, maybe I should just suck it up and do something like that anyway.

We were waaaaay too heavy. My pack was pushing 60 lbs. with full load. Next time, AT gear for sure. We had a couple Rossi guys with us so, like I told them, I thought I'd be faithful to the brand. Like I also told them, next time would be different. One note; Rossignol is bringing out a new 'B3' called the Respect, meant for alpine touring/telemark. Same shape but no metal and mountable for tele or alpine. One of the guys was on them and they looked like a great alternative. If I had gone the AT route, it would've cut my weight by 10-15 lbs. That would've been nice.

[GoldMember]

FKNA! GM - THANKS! I'm nearing 50 myself... well, not THAT near, but dude, this is fucking cool. TGR has changed my game as well - mind you I 've miles to go to get close to duplicating your effort - but the fact remains that this place has forever changed how I view skiiing AND life. I've often wondered if I have the sack to pull off something like this, thanks to your TR I've realized that its not a matter of wondering - its a matter of DOING.

Winter's a long ways away. And my games not BC ready yet. But it will be. And when I post I my first true TR, you will get props. Thanks forever for this...

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I wondered too if I had the sack but thought, why not? There's people all over getting out and getting it done, as witnessed at this forum. I thought, if they can do some of the stuff they're doing, I can so this. The trick for me wasn't the conditioning for the climb (although it's 5 days later and I'm still recovering), it was to have a climb that wasn't overly technical since I've never done any climbing. Adams was a great choice because you don't need a lot of skill to climb it. I used crampons but could've gone without. No rope work is required either so it's a good hard climb physically without being especially dangerous. The ski down is awesome at a consistent steep slope (35-40 degrees) for about 3,500' without a lot of real dangerous exposure. We actually skied around 4,500' total before we ran out of snow. The only issue for me was skiing with all the added weight from the pack and the leverage it put on me skiing. It took some adjusting.

Go for it, man! It was one of those experiences I'll have with me forever and was a great experience to share with my friends. Definitely a great challenge and interesting thing to do. Plus, I got to ski in July!!

[GoldMember]

Some good photos in there. Thanks!

No, thanks to you! What got me looking at this site and following the trips was your Pyramid Peak TR. As I noted before, that was mind-opening and awesome. If your stuff hadn't captured my imagination, the Adams trip wouldn't have ever come off. Thanks again for all your stoke!

[GoldMember]

I've added some video from our Mt. Adams trip on July 18-19. Check out our snowboarder jumping the crevasse; pretty good shot. It's on the first post and here too: