Date: Saturday/Sunday, June 3-4, 2023
Elevation: 12,276 ft/3,742 m
Leader: Scott Phillips
Assistants: Cathy Lazarus, Sue Nelson
Climbers: Kaitlin Sommerfeld, Patrick Riley, Greg Adelman, Tony Sprauer, Beth Bauer, Lawrence Beckner, Elise Willey, Thomas Dodson, Mike McHugh
Link to pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oUsMS48bgRyQx6TS6
This climb was postponed due to weather conditions for two weeks. I had several people drop off because of the date change among other reasons but managed to get a full team of twelve on the climb in the end.
The road to the Cold Springs TH was blocked by a snow berm about 1.2 miles short and the parking was very interesting, to say the least. Creativity and skills help secure a parking spot so that you’re out of the way of others. It was a zoo.
So, we started at 10:45am at about the 5,100 ft elevation and made good progress on the otherwise clear road past the berm. The goal was to get to the 8,500 ft and anything past that was a bonus. We took our time on the trail following the boot path of others. At one point I lost the boot path and we found ourselves descending a loose scree/dinner plate slope back to the actual trail where the boot path was found again.
On the way up we saw a few skiers on their way down. The snow was well consolidated and we didn’t do very much post holing except near boulder field edges and some trees.
We made it to 9,000 ft at 6pm where we made camp, rehydrated and refueled in preparation for an early start the next morning.
The moon was out in full glory and you could see the entire mountain lite up all night. Headlamps were optional. By the time we hit the trail at 5am we could see the entire route to the top of Pikers Peak.
We were making good time out of the gate doing about 1,000 ft per hour for the first two and a half hours. Pikers Peak was a good rest spot before proceeding to the rest of the mountain.
We reached the summit around 9:15am and was met with cold winds but stellar views of the surrounding mountains. Congratulations and a summit photo later we were on our way down. About halfway down the upper mountain we met up with Mike Pennington’s team of four in a one day push. They were still heading up the mountain. We rested at Pikers Peak once again and then started down the steepest part of the climb. We looked down the main slope of the mountain above the Lunch Counter and saw at least a hundred people making their way up. Many of them were skiers. Luckily, the snow had softened enough to get a good 2,000 ft of glissading in before Mikes group caught up with us again.
Back at camp were rested and packed our gear for the hike down the mountain. Along the way we were passed by many skiers on the well established boot path. No getting lost on this mountain.
When we got back to the parking area, there was a truck stuck with each of it’s bumpers resting on each side of the road. Looks like he unsuccessfully tried to turn around and was now being pulled out by another vehicle with a tow strap. Bummer!
Congratulations to the team and especially to the seven that had never summited Mt Adams: Kaitlin, Greg, Patrick, Tony, Beth, Lawrence and Elise.
Submitted by Scott Phillips