We finally had our last Nepal meeting on August 31st where the idea of doing some high altitude training was thrown around. Mt Rainier was known to have plenty of snow by the end of August so it was immediately out of the picture. Then MT. Adams was mentioned. I honestly wasnt planning 'summiting' (I think i just made up that verb) any real mountains during this training season. In the back of my head I knew this was a bad idea but what the heck... why not? Might as well prove to yourself that you are in good shape for the real high altitudes of Nepal... famous last thoughts.
Not all the members of the trip were having it with this idea: MT Adams summit sits at 12,281 ft and the South Spur trail promised a one way route to the summit which could of possibly be done in one day!! Awesome... nothing better than answering to someone to the question 'What did you do today?'... 'I ate breakfast, summit a mountain, took a nap'
Things started to get more and more cloudy as the list of items needed to trip came out: crampons, gators, ice axes... Probably more of the things that I have never use before. By then some of the team members were already out. I left that meeting thinking this trip was never gonna happen but two weeks later I became the victim of my random spurs of spontaneity (the same kind as the one who made me go to Nepal after all) and end up on a car heading to Oregon on Friday afternoon... I thought I could trust this random event but as you continue to read maybe the whole thing should of stay as an idea.
September 9th - 2011
Took the day off to head to pack for this trip that was probably set up on the last 3 days.
The plan was to head to REI, rent crampons and ice axes and hopefully be on the road by 3 pm. That of course did not happen and we were on the highway by 4:30pm. In order to avoid rush hour, we decided to take the I-90 route which crosses through Yakima to get to the White Salmon area. Got some nice dinner at a dinner in Ellensburg (same diner that received me in Washington back in 2006) and headed towards Yakima at around 7ish. After many stops, getting lost, getting the parking passes and driving in the forest around MT Adams (which sucks to
drive at around midnight) we got to the campsite at around 1255 am. Didnt get to sleep until probably 130AM which was probably the second thing we did on this trip besides getting there too late. The plan in order to make it to the summit in one day is to wake up and leave the campsite at around 530AM... This of course didnt happen
September 10th, 2011
Woke up at around 6:00AM and we were ready to leave by 630AM. I was feeling pretty good with the lack of sleep. We were going up at a good rhythm until we hit the snow at around 8,000 ft. Campsite was around 5,000 ft so by now we were at around only 3,000 ft elevation gain and around 3.5 hours into the hike. At around 11ish, I had to give up and stop for lunch and a break. It was 3 of us who decided to make it to Adams. I was with one of them and the other continued the hike while I took the break. Maybe its time to get into the details of what we were carrying: I was carrying 3 bottles of water, the camelback, one down jacket, an extra
shirt, a quick dry towel, a bag of trail mix, 3 granola bars, a lighter, the ice ax and crampons. I am not exactly sure of what the rest of the group was carrying but probably more than me plus snowboards... terrible idea.
At around 11:30 we started the final climb to the false summit from Lunch Counter. This is around 2,000 ft of VERY steep snow. In a clear day you get spectacular views of Mt St Helens and Mt Hood but the wild fire around the Yakima Valley was making the views very hazy to non existent. I am not sure if I was getting altitude sickness or not at this point but I was having some crazy thoughts and was quickly giving up as every step started to feel heavier and heavier. By now we were at around 10,500 ft but the climb to the false summit was getting worse as you continue. At some point I had to stop, sit down and take a couple of breaths. I think I experienced everything is this part of the mountain from paranoia to vertigo. Paranoia because I kept looking down and kept seeing a lot of people still on the way up to Lunch Counter but never saw anyone trying their way to the summit which I couldnt understand at the moment (people was most likely spending the night in the mountain to start the final climb in the morning).
It wasnt until around 2:30 when I was able to reach the top of the false summit. I had to start counting my steps in order to make it to the last 500 ft. Once in the false summit, I decided to stop my journey and wait for the others to return from the summit. Once in the false summit, there is a 800 ft drop and then a 1500 ft very steep climb to the final summit. I roamed around the false summit and relaxed under the sunny skies but started to get worried as the last group of hikers was coming back at around 5:00 pm and my party was still trying to come down. It is important to mention that the summit of Mt. Adams had no snow and it was pretty much just ice. At around 5:30 pm, we reunited again to start the descent. I had to glisade down from the false summit but I am not kidding when I say that portion of the trail is VERY steep... it took many bloody fists and soaked pants but I was able to get down at around 6:00 pm. The rest of the group was trying to get down by snowboarding but they were extremely tired for the now 12 hr hike. I got to rest a bit while in the false summit so I was trying to descent rapidly.
By now, the sun is coming down and the trail is hard to find in the area covered by snow and then followed by loose volcanic rock. I went ahead of the group in an effort to find the trail. I am not quite sure of what happened but I think my fear of being in the mountain at dark didnt make me realize that I was going down faster than what I should. I myself got lost for around 20 minutes right around the part where the snow stops but I was able to find some hikers in their way out who pointed me to the trail. At that point, I tried looking up to find the rest of myh group but it was too late. The sunset was happening and I had to decide between waiting on them or start the descent by myself. Im not sure which part of this hike is worse: the volcanic rock portion or the snow portion. Everything looks the same around the volcanic rock and I was noticing that a lot on the way up earlier. After waiting for a bit, it was now 7:30pm and I started the descent. I decided to stop by a creek and flash my light until 8:00 pm but no one showed up but the last group coming down the mountain before us which happened to get lost on their way down... I guess the flashing of the light did help. I then followed this last group all the way down to the trailhead which I reach by 9:30 pm.
Once in the campsite, my water bottle (which I lost somewhere on the way down glissading) was at the trailhead which made me believe that maybe the rest of my group made it down before me but that was not the case. At around 11:00 pm then I knew they were probably not going to show up as it was pretty windy and it was then 6 hrs after we start descending. It was a long full moon night where I could hardly get any sleep but my plan was to wake up early next day and trek to where I thought I lost my friends.
September 11th, 2011
I kept waking up all night hearing voices and thinking that the rest of the group was back but it was all my imagination. I even kept flashing my light to strangers that arrived that morning to climb the mountain... they were probably thinking WTH is that light for...
After a 6:30 am departure and notifying every hiker that morning of the situation, I had no success finding the rest of my group.
Long story short: http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2011/09/12/search-on-for-pasco-man-on-mount-adams
The group was finally reunited at around 3 pm. If i have to learn any lessons from this trip is that I have no business using crampons or ice axes and that you may want to consider spending the night in the mountain if you are not an avid hiker and want to make it to the top without problems. Also, consider leaving your snowboard at the false summit... you DO NOT want to carry that weight to the top.
This whole hike felt surreal... maybe because I could only take like one picture on my phone. Maybe this all happened in my head... yeah right I wish.
Mt Adams South Spur: 5/5 --> not a begginers hike. You may want to consider doing it in 2 days but if you do it in one then make sure you depart before 6 AM, and time yourself to be at the false summit at around noon. Also, if you try this hike earlier in 2012 you may find a free snowboard and boots up there courtesy of one of my friends...
View of the false summit
View of the real summit from false summit
My altimeter still shows my max altitude so far... 11,234 ft at the false summit. Cant wait to beat the record on Nepal!
