At the trail head...Nice and clean.This was kind of a first for me. A colleague of mine at ENTEK that I run with during lunchtime signaled an interest in climbing a volcano. He is a Russian immigrant and had never been up one of our volcanoes here in the Northwest. After some discussion and consideration, I volunteered to lead a climb up Adams for him. In the weeks prior to our climb, he asked if his 20 year old daughter, Sonya, could join us. She is a recent graduate of OSU with a degree in Civil engineering. She also had no mountaineering experience, but as she is also a runner and in good physical shape, I agreed to the addition. So I became a mountain guide for the 3-Day weekend. The three of us left from Lebanon at 6am on Friday 9/25 and arrived at the trail head around 11:30am after buying our climbing permits at the Mount Adams Ranger Station.
Mount Adams from near the junction of the "Round' The Mountain" Trail. The false summit is just visable as a thin strip of snow near "the top."The weather was dry and warm with temperatures in the 60s. Our goal for the first day was to climb to the "Lunch Counter" at 9,500 feet and camp for the night. The Lunch Counter is a large "flat" area with good bivy spots and glacial melt for water. This allows some time to acclimate to the altitude and rest prior to climbing the more challenging portion.
Pavel Coming up the Crescent Glacier
The view from our bivy site at 9,500 on the Lunch Counter. Pavel and Sonya's tent with Mt Hood on the horizon.We arrived about 5pm and set-up our camp. There was a good rushing stream of glacial melt coming down close to our camp. I boiled water, cooked our meals and prepared water and gear for the summit day while Pavel and Sonya rested and took-in the surrounding beauty.
Home, sweet home for the guide!At sundown we took to our sleeping bags as the temperature dropped. It was a breezy night and I enjoyed the brilliant stars of the Milky Way while watching the slow progress of satellites and the streak of shooting stars from my bag. The sound of the rushing stream of melted glacial water disappeared around 10pm as the upper reaches of the mountain froze solid and stopped the flow of water like turning off a spigot.
Sonya strapping-on crampons for the first time.I woke Pavel and Sonya at 5am for the summit push. We ate a quick snack and headed up to the thin ice fields coming down from Pikers Peak (The false summit at 11,500 feet). At the ice fields I demonstrated crampon use and self-arrest in the event of a fall. I warned them of the potential hazards from of all the "sharps" on their feet and on the ice axe. I drove this point home by cutting the palm of my left hand through my gloves with adze of my ice axe while demonstrating self-arrest on hard ice (Some guide huh?). It bled pretty good, but was only superficial and I bandaged myself up quickly while they practiced the technique without cutting themselves.
Once everybody was 'comfortable' with the techniques, we began the climb up the ice fields. During the ascent, Pavel had trouble with the crampons I lent him as they did not properly conform to his borrowed boots. This lead to a tense moment on the ice when I eventually had to strap one of my crampons onto his boot in order for him to traverse to the adjacent scree until we could rectify the problem. We all had to switch around crampons until everyone had a set that properly fit.
Pavel taking a brief rest during the ascent up the ice field at around 10,500 feet.We reached Pikers Peak just before noon. We took a brief break before climbing to the true summit another 700 feet above.
Shaking hands with Sonya as she reaches the summit.At the summit there is an old fire tower that was built in (1921?) but only used for 3 years before the adolescent USFS realized the total impracticality of the project. The skeleton of the building is still there. It is remarkable that it was attempted at all, and I wonder if the taxpayers in the early 20's were happy about that!
Sonya and Pavel lean into the wind at the summit. That's Rainier on the horizon.The wind at the summit was probably in the range of 65MPH. It was fairly warm however and we had a nice view of Mt Rainier to the north.
On descent with the Mazama glacier behind me.
Sonya and Pavel on descent.The descent went without incident. We came down by way of the scree fields and stayed off the ice. It was a relief to me when we finally got down to the Lunch Counter. I'm not sure I am cut-out to be a guide. I spent most of the time worrying about a potential fall, how long it was taking us to ascend, and how the descent would go. Once we were above the Lunch Counter, I knew that rescue would be very difficult and that it was my responsibility to keep them safe. I was happy to see our bivy spot at the Lunch Counter again! For safety's sake we stayed on another night at the Lunch Counter before going back down to the car.
I enjoyed watching the Milky Way slowly rotating across the sky and counted a dozen shooting stars before falling asleep.
