Planning to climb Mt. Adams end of June with my kids–advice?

[David Drake]

The end of this month, I'd like to try climbing Mt. Adams with my daughters–11 & 18 yo. Both are solid hikers. Looking at staying the night at Cold Springs Campground, along with my wife and 3 yo. We'll head out in the morning and climb the South Spur route while my wife and son remain in camp.

I'm not a climber (I've done a little non-techical peak-bagging), but my understanding is this a walk-up route. I have no problem with snow travel. I've looked at the route info here: http://www.summitpost.org/south-spur/155590.

I assume we should be carrying clothes for bad weather, and emergency bivouac gear (sleeping bags/quilts, tarp, stove). Too much/too little? I'm wondering how necessary crampons and ice axe are–we'd like to glissade down, and will carry trekking poles.

The trip will likely be mid-week, and happen on our way home from a few days on the Oregon coast. Obviously, if the weather looks bad, we'd bail.

As I say, any advice from folks who've done this route would be great. My father-in-law climbed Adams as a young boy scout, but that was about 60 years ago.

[Jerry Adams]

I climbed Adams maybe 30 years ago

Probably need crampons and ice axe. 2 quarts of water each. Sun protection. 10 essentials…

Cold Springs is 5600 feet. summit is 12300. That is a real killer for a one day hike.

You could see how far up you could go. Nice area even if you don't summit.

You could do Saint Helens instead. less elevation and less elevation gain. More interesting summit. But, you have to get a permit.

[David Drake]

Thanks, Jerry. I'll keep thinking this through…

[Elliott Wolin]

I too climbed Mt Adams about 30 yrs ago. We took ice axes for the great glissades down, but no crampons. I think it was late summer. We camped near tree-line somewhere.

My advice is to go slow and steady, with breaks, drink lots of food and water, even force yourselves if needed (not drinking enough at altitude is a common problem). My youngest brother and I, he maybe 17 then with little hiking experience, got to the summit with no great difficulty and felt fine. Others followed the "dash-and-gasp" strategy and were beat when they got to the summit. One friend said it was harder than the recent marathon he had run, which astonished me (no possible way I could run a marathon).

[chris Nelson]

I did Adams about 10 year ago. We didn't make it to the top but stayed at Craig Camp and Gray Knob. You can definitively get above the tree line from Craig. We got some really nice views from there! It was a really nice trip

http://www.randolphmountainclub.org/sheltersinfo/grayknob.html

Craig being the bigger camp
http://www.randolphmountainclub.org/sheltersinfo/cragcamp.html

[David Drake]

Thanks for the info, Elliot and Chris. Chris, I think you're talking about a different Mt. Adams. I'm talking about one of the Cascade volcanos, in Washington State. 12K feet and change.

[Jeffs Eleven]

David,

I did it last year (not that the MTN changed in the last 30yrs)

IMO unless your 11y.o. is a beast it might be a little much for a day trip.

I coulda done it, but it wouldn't have been fun. I'm an avid hiker- 15-20 miles is what I shoot for, and I'm 34. I don't really excercise other than hiking, so take it for what its worth.

I DID make hike with 2 nights worth of gear, so my pack was way heavier than a day hiker… but an 11y.o.? makes me wonder…

FWIW- I don't know much about kids- but if I would have done it at 11 I'd have been pi$$ed I think

[David Drake]

Thanks, Barry.

The 11 yo is pretty tough–we recently did 45 miles in three days, with 18 miles on one of those days. 'Course, that wasn't at elevation, and didn't involve a lot of elevation change. And our packs were verging on SUL. I think both kids understand that periods of hard work can be part of having fun, but working hard without the reward of the summit might be tough. And bottom line, if the trip isn't fun for them (at least in retrospect), we should do something else.

A few questions: What time of year did you go? What were road conditions up to Cold Springs campground? Did you ski/board/glissade down, and if so, did that significantly reduce the effort of the round trip? Did you use crampons?

I'm beginning to think that if we do this, hiking up to Lunch Counter or thereabouts the afternoon before may make the summit push a lot better.

Or, as Jerry suggests, going for St. Helens instead.

[Jeffs Eleven]

We went last week of July.

Bare dirt on road- easy. Snow started about 1/2 mile up the trail.

We started later in the morning (and in July) so the snow was softish. We did glissade down- albeit slowly cause the soft snow, but it definitely chopped some time off. We didn't ski, but there were people who were. In the morning the snow was way icier.

Yes, crampons and axe. We probably coulda used poles instead of axe, but only cause the snow was soft. Might as well take an axe. (rent it for $6 at OMC)

I would sleep at lunch counter solely for the fact that its really cool to be up there for a while. … make it a trip- not a hike -IMHO

If the 11yo did 18 miles… and you know how to pack light… you'll probably be OK- I think that time would be the major factor in a one day assault.

doable- but, fun??

IDK/ YMMV

MSH from Lunch Counter

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