While out on travel here at Everett WA, a friend (who lives in the area) and i decided it would be fun to hike/climb Mt Adams. Adams is the second tallest volcano in WA here in the cascades. She sits ~12,200 feet. Our hike started at 0200 after a rough couple of hours sleeping in the car. We were on the trail by 0230 and with headlamps leading the way manged to lose an hour going up the wrong valley costing us about an hour and and extra 500 ft of elevation, which is important. Did i mention the hike is only 6 miles to the summit, sounds easy right....well in that 6 miles we gain almost 7000 vert
ical feet, yeah camp was at 5500 feet. Anyhow being on mt Adams as the sun rose and would gradually change the views of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens from a dark shape to a light pink to bright white was defiantly a sight to see. We had one near vertical wall of snow and ice to climb but lucky for us the trail is popular so footholds were already dug into the ice. The real test of mind over matter was the climb to the false summit. This was a torturous 2000 feet of elevation, that was very steep and seemed to never end. I made to the false summit about 30 minutes after my climbing partner (who went on up to the summit). Having had to rent plastic boots i didn't have the best fitting footgear and with every step it seemed like someone was hitting me in the shins with a hammer. Because of that and some clouds moving in plus 
i was getting low on water, energy and motivation i did not climb the remaining 800 feet to the summit. I know everyone is proud that i can make smart decisions even while having a case of summit fever. But the absolute best part of this climb was the glissading (basically sledding on your but). There are some great chutes left behind from other climbers so you can get a whole lot speed coming down. What took us 2.5 hours to climb took only a couple of minutes to descend. Overall great trip. The last picture is the long climb to the false summit which we glissaded down.
ical feet, yeah camp was at 5500 feet. Anyhow being on mt Adams as the sun rose and would gradually change the views of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens from a dark shape to a light pink to bright white was defiantly a sight to see. We had one near vertical wall of snow and ice to climb but lucky for us the trail is popular so footholds were already dug into the ice. The real test of mind over matter was the climb to the false summit. This was a torturous 2000 feet of elevation, that was very steep and seemed to never end. I made to the false summit about 30 minutes after my climbing partner (who went on up to the summit). Having had to rent plastic boots i didn't have the best fitting footgear and with every step it seemed like someone was hitting me in the shins with a hammer. Because of that and some clouds moving in plus 
i was getting low on water, energy and motivation i did not climb the remaining 800 feet to the summit. I know everyone is proud that i can make smart decisions even while having a case of summit fever. But the absolute best part of this climb was the glissading (basically sledding on your but). There are some great chutes left behind from other climbers so you can get a whole lot speed coming down. What took us 2.5 hours to climb took only a couple of minutes to descend. Overall great trip. The last picture is the long climb to the false summit which we glissaded down.
1 comment:
What breathtaking views!!! Congrats on making it as far as you did. Hope to see you next week.
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