Perfect day

Reviewed By: Milt on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 @ 06:51:10 PM

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Climbed this mountain Aug 2-3 with a guide that I hired (didn't want to take any chances). The road to the South ridge trailhead is pretty awful, so don't bring your sports car. It seems that snow was blocking the road right up until very late July, so if you don't want to hoof it an extra mile or two, I suggest climbing it in Aug. After driving through hundreds of acres of dead trees (bark beetle?) we finally hit the trailhead. The first mile or two is dusty dirty before getting into snow. After that, it's becomes a snow hike through the woods and around the lava rocks. Didn't need cramp-ons to the Lunch Counter, just lots of kick-stepping to the campsite. At the campsite, the weather was perfect with temps in the 40's. We left the tent at 6am to tackle the "ski slope", the steep rise to the false summit. It was one step after another for 3 hours. The only creepy part was the section before the top of the false summit. It's pretty steep and I never looked up to avoid getting discombobulated. I just followed the guide's footsteps. 

After cresting the false summit, it flattens out to a nice level surface before dipping into a huge snow covered valley. The true summit rises up from this valley and is another hour of climbing away. Once you arrive at the top, Mt.Rainier pops into view. The old cabin at the top was still buried in snow and the weather was perfect. Temps seemed to be in the 30's with constant low wind blowing by. The views were amazing with such clear weather. The way down is pretty interesting. The guide gave me some pointers on how to slide down on my a$$. I slid down rather quickly from the summit into the valley. Once I got the hang of it, it was time to try out the drop from the false summit back to the tent. What took almost 3 hours climbing up to the false summit, only took less than 20 minutes sliding back down. It would have been the greatest fun on earth, but my climbing harness was giving me a wedgie from hell. We packed up camp and headed down. There were several more areas to slide down, but they were not steep enough to move me forward quickly enough. The last 1/2 mile back to the car was the worst. I had burnt myself out at that point. Well, better here than at the top of the mountain. Climber count was about two dozen on the way up, 6 people on top (10am) and ran into about a dozen on the way down.

Strange to think that this mountain is the second highest in the state, but gets so little respect from the government agencies. There is no visitor's center, no paved road to check out close-up views of the mountain and little to no maintance of roads and trails other than chainsawing fallen trees out of the way. If you want to climb a big Washington mountain without the dangers of avalanches, rockfall, crevasses and get the same views as Rainier, Adams might be the mountain for you.

Long walk on a steep hill

Reviewed By: Jeff Richtmyre on Friday, August 20, 2010 @ 04:50:12 PM

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Review: Done this a couple times. Last in July of '09. South climb is non-technical, but challenging enough. 6 1/2 hours up, starting at dawn, 3 1/2 down. Great glissade from false summit--2000 vertical feet in a few minutes to lunch counter. Definitely worth the effort, at least once!

Mt Adams

Reviewed By: Rene' on Friday, July 17, 2009 @ 07:22:08 AM

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I loved it! Although the first time I went I was not in very good physical shape and it proved to be very hard, the wole experience was extremly spiritual for me and the view is phenomenal! A must do for anyone even if you only go part way.

Too much for me!

Reviewed By: Harold on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 @ 10:50:18 PM

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On the Labor Day weekend got half way up the final slope to the false summit and turned around.  Issues - first time on crampons, 64 years old, tried to do the hike in one day, underestimated the difficulty of the final slope to the false summit.  Fixes - train better, make it a 2 day hike, don't believe the guide books that say the hike is 5.6 miles (it's longer than that) and finally, remember how frustrating it feels turning around in perfect weather with the false summit right in your face.  Will be back next year.

Newb vs. Mountain

Reviewed By: Talon on Monday, July 30, 2007 @ 09:35:35 PM

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Just summitted Mt. Adams this weekend and had a great time..  Definitely recommend this as a two-day hike unless you are really in tip-top shape; even as a two day my legs were starting to get mighty tired by the time we made it back to the car at Cold Springs around 5pm (4 hrs to summit from lunch counter, 1.5 hrs to return, 3.5 hrs down).  Admittedly, only taking up a 20 lb. pack containing water and some necessities would be very nice, but I don't think I'd want to miss out on the experience of watching the sun set near St. Helens nor watching the almost full moon light up the snowfields.  These experiences and the view from the summit on a sunny day definitely made all of the stair climbing I did before-hand worthwhile.

Other notes:  A 50mph wind will make a 50º day near the summit feel much colder!  Be prepared..  Along those lines, I'd consider an ice axe and crampons mandatory (they make life much easier).  Next up, water is your friend; even though it adds a lot of weight, I talked to a lot of people who had headaches and other "altitude" problems that probably could've been solved if they'd been drinking enough.  Finally, even non-athletic wimps like me can make this climb, just make sure to do some endurance and strength training ahead of time.  For me, being able to easily lift my 40 lb. pack and bicycle at a good pace for a couple of hours were good enough to get me there.  Stair climbing with a full pack = the best way to prepare short of climbing a smaller mountain.

In short, properly gear up and get to it; you won't regret it!

Tough Hike!

Reviewed By: Woj on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 @ 09:38:00 PM

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Mt. Adams is a very strenous hike.  It's much tougher than climbing to Camp Muir.  You definitely need to be well prepared for this climb.  We went from 60 degrees to 10 in about ten minutes.  Take two days to do this hike and you'll have a much better experience.

i hate it

Reviewed By: george lighty on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 @ 10:34:46 AM

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i didnt like it and it was very hard

HIgh Reward Climb

Reviewed By: drobertsrn on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 @ 10:03:38 AM

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A lot of folks say this is an easy climb. In terms of something like Rainer, yes, Adams (South Climb) is easy because you don't have to worry about crevasses the whole day. But it definetely is a good work out and gives people a fairly good exposure to the alpine environment. You have to chance to see a little rock fall, play aroound with ice axes, utilize the all important campons, and camp in a snow environment. You also have a chance to decend rapidly via a huge glissade chute - sweet!!!  If you're a first time mountaineer then this is a must climb route.  Just one note PLEASE, PLEASE Utilize the Blue Bag System if staying at the Lunch Counter!! It's a little embarrassing to have to carry you crap back down the mountain but it beats sleeping on crap and smelling it while camping!!!  Do It, it's the right thing to do.  BLUE BAGS are available at the ranger station.

Oh, I've done this climb as a one day and a two day. It's pretty strenous as a one day although you don't have to carry as much. The 2 day is nice because you get a sense for real mountaineering.

Mt Adams

Reviewed By: Dr. Crash on Thursday, June 30, 2005 @ 09:32:20 PM

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Review: The South side of Mt Adams is indeed a non-technical route. It is long but easy, and I have done it, round-trip, in a day without any problems. I climbed it without any need for crampons; a walking ax is nice, and helps when glissading down, but trekking poles would work just as well. The views from the top are gorgeous. One can see Rainier, Mt. St Helens, Mt Hood... If you can't decide whether Mt Baker would be visible or not from there on a clear day, just go hike it ;)

Mt Adams

Reviewed By: cory.oneill on Friday, May 13, 2005 @ 01:01:16 PM

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Review: I've been this peak twice in the last 5 years, and it ranks as one of my favorites (better than Hood!). Do watch out for the wind...I experienced tremendous gusts (50mph+ ?)both times, and watched the temperature drop from 45 to 10 degrees (F) in a matter of minutes, and this in June! Gotta go prepared.

Mt Adams

Reviewed By: Shannon on Sunday, April 3, 2005 @ 11:51:20 AM

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Review: I climbed Mt Adams in 1996. I only made it to the False Summit at 11,700ft, but would love to climb again and to the top this time. I love this mountain! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we could see almost every volcano in the chain except Baker and Shasta. I climbed Mt St Helens the next weekend and moved to Texas after that. Not many mountains to climb there.