Where's the Mt. Adams TRs??

Check the map for Morrison Creek. If snow makes the distance to the TH too far, Morrison is direct and one can ski a lot of it. I have gone from Morrison Cr about 1/2 of my trips. Following Morrison Cr. takes me right up to my favorite campsite if I want to camp in the Timberline area. In recent years, I prefer a day trip to avoid the overnight backpack.

So far I have done 17 ski tours of the south side of Adams in May, June, and July. I think maybe 15 had substantial good skiing, about 1/2 really good skiing. This includes a few tours on Karhu XCD and leather, two sets of heavier tele gear, then more than 1/2 on randonnee gear. The worst weather was on my first ascent in the 80's when a thunder cell came over just above Piker's, and another time the winds were horrendous, although the corn was good.

Other area attractions are worthwhile also. There is the Gorge, some Museums in the Gorge (I like The Dalles and Stevenson Museums), and Mt. Hood, and some rivers. We skied and kayaked one time. One can usually do some lift runs or ski touring on Mt. Hood. Once or twice after driving to Trout Lake I learned of undesirable conditions on Adams and just went to Hood and etc. as mentioned.

Why aren't there more reports of Adams lately? 'cause the backcountry skiers that live in the metropolitan areas closest to Mt Adams--Portland and Hood River--are few in number and are either A) busy lately, or lazy. Someone from Seattle will need to make the drive soon (note: the drive from Seattle to Adams is twice that of Portland to Adams) and show us how it is done. Seriously. I’m probably going to get in trouble for writing this (and regret doing so tommorow), but I find it frustrating (sometimes) how few backcountry skiers there are in Portland. The lack of Adams reports here is a manifestation of that. It doesn’t make sense to me how (anecdotally) disproportionate greater in number the skiers from Seattle are on Adams than from Portland. Last year when we skied the SW Chutes on a weekday in June, there wasn’t a party we met from Portland. I sincerely enjoy meeting all of you Seattle folk, but where the heck is everyone from green, uber outdoorsy Portland? We are so much closer to Adams than Seattle...

My next free date is June 17th. Any Portlanders are welcome to PM me to coordinate a Portland siege of the volcano.

PS: The road is only out 3.5 miles. We Portlanders--fit from the extra walking we get between public transit stations--should be able to do that in our sleep.

According to the USFS website, the South Climb Rd. is open to "near Gotchen Cr. Trail #40" as of June 1. That is around a mile from Morrison Cr. TH. No problem, I have skied from there. It would add little to a trip with an overnight backpack and camp near Timberline. A day trip is reasonable from there as well.

If conditions and weather look acceptable, Ludwig and I may go there next week.

where the heck is everyone from green, uber outdoorsy Portland? We are so much closer to Adams than Seattle...

Hood, maybe?

OK, that's it. I'm moving down, and bringing all my ski friends from the Seattle area with me.

From FS
8040 South Climb
Gravel - One Lane 06/13/2006: Open to Morrison Creek Campground, then closed by snow.
go or get ready !