Mt Adams: South Climb

It felt like spring, but the snowpack is far from it around Mt Adams right now. A melt-freeze crust exists on most aspects below 7000 ft that broke down by late morning. Unfortunately, this crust caps dry snow, so travel became quite sticky and sloppy by the afternoon. Above 7000 ft, surfaces are drier, but also much more wind-affected. 

We found fast and firm travel, and generally found safe avalanche conditions during the early morning hours. Daytime warming gave way to wet avalanche concerns on steeper, sun-exposed aspects by early afternoon. 

Wet snow instabilities developed during the late morning to early afternoon hours across various solar aspects.

While it may feel like spring, the snowpack is far from it. Here's the breakdown:

Between 4,000-7,000 ft, a 3-5 cm thick, sometimes breakable, sometimes supportable, melt-freeze crust existed. This crust broke down by late morning and capped roughly 30 cm of dry snow over the late March AR crust. This late March AR crust was boot supportable and was roughly 10-15 cm thick. These elevations became quite sticky and sloppy on our exit between 2-3 pm.  Boot penetrations easily exceeded our boottops when we stepped out of our splits. It was around these elevations that we observed a few small, natural, wet loose avalanches along the Crescent Glacier Ridge (SE aspects) during the early PM hours. 

Between elevations of 7000-10,500 ft, snow surfaces became significantly more aspect-dependent. In general, dry snow surfaces existed but were heavily wind-affected and often times capped with a very thin sun crust on steeper solars. Leeward slopes held stiff, pencil-hard, unreactive slabs of drifted snow. More wind-sheltered depressions held softer surfaces and better travel. 

Access:  As of today (4/5), you can drive just shy of 3700 ft, just above the Wicky Creek Horse Camp. There are a few dry sections of the road we had to navigate with sleds. Snow became continues as we crested into the burn just above 4000 ft. Snow depths increased with elevation. At the South Climb TH @ 5500 ft, I measured depths of 275-300 cm. Check out the photos for more details.