Distance: 15.3 mi.
Elevation Gain: 8000 ft.
Jim and I had discussed trying to climb Adams via the Adams Glacier, but there is a fine balance of when the road becomes passable to when the glacier is in good shape. We waited until the first report that the road was open and made the decision to go for it. The drive is almost 4 hours so we decided to take our time getting down there on Saturday morning and hiking part way in to camp for the evening. We even stoped at the Mt. Adams Cafe in Randle on the way.
We finally arrived at the Killen Creek trailhead around 1:30, without incident. There was still some snow near the road and we were hiking on it very shortly after setting out, so it seemed we had timed things well. It was a beautiful summer day and not overly hot. We took our time generally following the trail, mostly on snow. We eventually crossed the PCT, which we didn’t notice and made our way to an area that is marked as High Camp on the USGS map at just over 6900′ at around 4 pm. We managed to find a nice dry campsite here that gave a a great view of the glacier to try to scope a route for the following day.
We enjoyed camp and retired early to prepare for an early alpine start at about 2:30 am. We started in the dark but made pretty easy travel over the snow. We roped up at the first sign we were actually on a glacier and could see headlamps ahead of us from another party. We never actually encountered them but their footsteps were occasionally useful in the dark. As we approached the steepening glacier at around 9000′ we finally got some daylight, which was perfectly timed for any of the potential navigation difficulties.
There was a first major crevasse that we passed on the right below some rocky headwalls we didn’t want to linger below. We then traversed back left to near the center of the glacier. From there we were able to zig zag our way up up the center of the glacier without too much trouble the rest of the way to the summit plateau.
Throughout our ascent some clouds had started forming over the summit. It was very calm on our way up the glacier but it was suddenly really windy on the top as we trudged up the never ending flat plateau into the clouds. I told Jim to head left and right a few times to try to reach the summit. We eventually stopped on what my GPS said was the top without seeing anyone else and without much of a view at about 9 am. It was cold up here so we didn’t take long and eventually headed back to the north.
As we slowly descended we left the cloud and had perfect views back out toward Rainier. We just headed due north until the slope started to drop more and the north cleaver became clear. Travel was easy at first but eventually we were just scrambling down what at times seemed like loose piles of baseballs. None of it was very difficult, class 3, but I did manage to fall on my butt once or twice due to the loose rocks and managed to cut my hand open a little on some sharp volcanic rocks.
At about 8800′ the north cleaver opens back up into a nice snowfield with low angle plunge stepping right down to lake 7505. It wasn’t much farther to our camp (12:45) where we took a good break for lunch and to pack up. We left camp about an hour later and were back at the car by 3:30 with plenty of time for the long drive. Definitely one of my most memorable volcano trips. Some of the best solitude for one the big ones and everything went about as well as it could have.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Full Sail IPA
Gear Used:
- Backpacking tent
- Gaiters
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Harness
- Helmet
- Mountaineering boots
- Overnight pack
- Pickets
- Prusiks
- Rope
- Sleeping pad
- Steel crampons
- Steel ice axe
- Steel ice tool
- Summer sleeping bag
- Stove
- Trekking poles
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