Mt. Adams Solo

Ascent

A few days after Mt. Jefferson I headed up to Mt. Adams to try and get in a quick lap up the mountain. I wasn't expecting miracles as I felt drained from the Jefferson trip. I thought I was OK until I found myself out of breath mowing the lawn, with a gas mower, not even a push mower for an excuse.

Last year I got to the summit too early for optimal glissading conditions, so this year I left at 5am to try and hit the freeze and slush time just right. I wore light mountaineering boots and aluminum crampons instead of trail runners, hoping I could get in better glissades with boots and a faster overall time.
On the summit it was still unfortunately cloudy and hazy, so only Mt. Rainier poked its head above the clouds to be seen.

Descent

I hiked back down a few hundred feet below Piker Peak before taking off the crampons and getting into glissade mode. The snow softened up enough by this time to provide fast (and not too scary) glissades down the mountain. I was back at the car at just under 7 hours.

Thoughts

My time up last year was 4:15, with a roundtrip time of just under 8 hours including an hour on summit. This year it was 3:45 up with a roundtrip of 6:50 including half hour on summit. I think with proper rest a time of just over 3 hours to summit is doable.

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Panoramic Photos

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