“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” –Ed Viesturs

Click here to go to the photo album for this day

 As is often the case at high altitude, sleep was hard to come by. We probably got around 2 hrs of good sleep(except for Smit, who apparently got a full night’s rest!). After waking up to another gorgeous morning(unfortunately sunrise was at 4:15 AM, so we didn’t get to see it), I joined the lead group with our leader Greg & headed for the summit.  The snowfield up to the summit was very reminiscent of the Muir Snowfield on Rainier. All the way up, we had spectacular views of the Cascades, and of Mount Hood in the distance.

We met up with Shannon & her group part of the way up the mountain, at which point Greg & a few others decided to turn back to check on the status of those who had stayed at camp. It looks like a few of the guys hung back & hadn’t attempted the summit, presumably due to exhaustion from the previous day.

Apparently switchbacks are not in the Adams dictionary. As you can see from the photos, the slope was steep – all the way up to the false summit. However, we were moving at a much slower pace than yesterday, making the ascent manageable, though by no means easy. It was steep enough to glissade down, which meant that falling could mean sliding down & losing ground. My ice axe definitely made me feel more secure here.

That said, the heavy traffic up the mountain had created deep postholes in the mountainside, so slipping wasn’t likely. At the false summit(what looks like the peak from below, but is about 1000 ft lower), we had a few more people turn back, leaving only Amy, Mel, Shannon & myself. It amazes me that despite being the smallest guy on a team of super buff men, I was the only guy to summit! Congrats to the other summiters – the 360 degree view from the top was just rewards for the effort. As soon as we broke the summit Mount Rainier appeared out of nowhere, being previously hidden by Adams.

After spending a few minutes on the summit, we began our glissade down the mountain. The others went ahead while I made some holes in my garbage bags to act as a glissade pad, which actually worked out quite well, if you don’t mind looking like you’re wearing a giant diaper! Glissading is a fancy word for sliding down a mountain on your butt. Though my larger pack acted as a brake & prevented me from gaining much speed, it was still an absolute blast & a new experience for me. I’d say it ties in fun factor with the Osunabashiri(Great Sand Run) of Mount Fuji. Maneuvering through the glissade chutes while sliding down the mountain was an absolute blast. It felt kind of like what a bobsled might feel like! I hiked back after the end of the glissade run and after some difficulty, managed to locate the camp.

It turned out that most of the crew had already packed up & left down the mountain, leaving only Mel, Shannon, Smit & Lindsey at the camp. Thankfully, they’d left their tents up, making the camp easier to find. After packing up my own tent, we headed down the mountain, which proved to be far more difficult than I thought it’d be. Since I’d poorly packed my bag in a rush to get down, it was very lopsided, causing some of the scree & steep descent to become difficult to navigate. A huge thanks to Shannon for leading us down. There’s no trail above the treeline, so her prior experience allowed us to safely descend the slope, and to find us a shortcut that saved 90 minutes from our descent!

Even with the shortcut, it seemed like an eternity before we made it back to the car, exhausted. Except for Smit, who seemed to be bounding with energy. I invited him to sprint to the summit & meet us at the car, but he declined for some reason. Strange.

Once on the road, we decided to have dinner at a sports bar at Hood River. As I’ve come to expect from Oregon, the food was amazing. Our immense appetites probably had something to do with that. Smit ordered a burger “double everything”.  Literally, everything was doubled! It was an epic burger. Most of the crew dozed off as I drove the final hour back to Portland, where we parted ways. Adams was an amazing climb, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a challenge!

My next climb is Rainier(again) in July, with the International Mountain Guides. Until next time, Rock On!