Trip Report

A dry weekend and the last chance to climb Mt. Adams for free prompted six of us to make hasty climbing plans. As it turned out, the weather was hot and the only reason "free" is because the fee station was buried underneath the snow. Now only four, we left Oakridge at 0515 and arrived on the road leading to Cold Springs at 1100. At 1140, we began the 3.5 mile trudge up the road leading to Cold Springs. Seven miles of extra walking has been required since 1997 since heavy snow and blowdowns have blocked access to Cold Springs. Above Cold Springs, we decided to head toward the infamous Lunch Counter for bivouac but intense head coming off the snow along with my heavy pack resulted in a lower base camp.

At 0515 Sunday, we proceeded across Crescent Glacier. Large crevasses lay just south of the Lunch Counter. We proceeded cautiously and continued climbing up a snow stairway to the false summit. Chris was able to cross-country ski much of the way until his point. We passed the "col" and made the final pitch, arriving on top at 1115. As usual, the summit of Adams always seems to be a place of great joy, laughter and camaraderie with fellow climbers. Weather was perfect (of course). We left about an hour later, glissading or skiing our way back to base camp. Then trudged on out, arriving back to out starting point at 1715. Congratulations to Kathy Jensen, her first on Mt. Adams, and to Chris Jensen - his return to the Adams summit after 30 years. Climbers were Kathy & Chris Jensen, and Jan & Rich Anselmo, leaders.