I love Mt. Adams! 7000 feet of vertical from the parking lot, able to skin the entire way from the snowline to the summit and no rope required. Perfect for the weekend mountaineer such as myself.
We had been watching the weather all of June for a good window and it finally came. Aaron and I drove down Friday night to find a crowded campsite at the South Rim trailhead. A few beers and asleep by 12:30, then up at 5 to get started. No need to start early, as we wanted the snow to be soft for the ski down. Tim, Robert, Aaron and I made the summit by 2pm on a nearly windless day with about 80 other people on the same route. The fun really started when we took off from the summit to ski the Avalanche Glacier. Aaron had been eyeing that line for a while and talked us in to it. After a short drop to the saddle between the summit and the north face, we went skiers left and dropped into the glacier. The next 3000 feet was perfect corn down to the bottom of that glacier. Great scenery with the amphitheater as a backdrop and only two other people within site the entire way down. Then a quick traverse over to the bottom of the SW chutes, walk down to the Around the Mountain trail and we were back at the car by 5:30. Ian and crew had arrived at the site after us and started at 4:30 am (why, we could not determine), and we never did see them the entire weekend.
