"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
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rasmust - Jun 21, 2002 10:18 am
Route Climbed: Adams Glacier Date Climbed: 15 July 1968Four of us camped on the flats just below Adams Glacier, then got an early start. The route is very direct, with some moves to the far right and left to circumvent long crevasses. With good visibility the route finding was easy and enjoyable. Descent via the North Ridge back to camp.
scot'teryx - Jun 3, 2002 12:01 pm
Route Climbed: South Slog Date Climbed: June 2, 20025 mile approach just to hit the Cold Springs trailhead.
Made camp at 8000 feet and headed out the next morning at 5am. Made the summit at 12 noon. I myself experienced some altitude sickness, but made the summit nonetheless. Made a full skidescent from the summit, even thought the top down to Pikers peak was horrid wind blown ice. Once down at Pikers the skiing down to the lunch counter was incredible! Back down at camp I slowly bounced back from the altitude sickness, especially since the skiing took much more effort than glissading. Skiing down back to the car took much effort with a 55lb pack, and the road down to mile 7 of the road was messed up. That road (90405000) barely loses any elvation at all, and with a bad wax job I was hating it. After all was said and done, I still made it back 45 minutes before even our fastest hiker, and 1hr 15 minutes before the slowest. 22 miles total round trip.
EasyPeaks - Apr 16, 2002 6:17 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: July 1994Wow! this is a popular mountain! I climbed this in July of 94 as one of 3 summits required to graduate from the Mountaineers scramble course. The S. Spur route reminds me alot of the terrain on the Muir Snowfield. This is my only major volcano summit to date, since I have yet to acquire glacier travel training.
mntnrmichael - Apr 8, 2002 10:34 pm
Route Climbed: Standard South Route Date Climbed: JulyA wonderful climb, great for getting in shape.
CCorbin - Apr 4, 2002 5:27 am
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: July 12 1997Summited south spur route
darinchadwick - Mar 29, 2002 5:02 am
Route Climbed: South side Date Climbed: August 94First decent sized hill I climbed. Used rented ice axe, boots, and crampons. Wore a raincoat and levi's.
Honkeydong - Feb 12, 2002 5:20 pm
Route Climbed: south spur Date Climbed: 7/7/01?I took the family for a 4th of July camping trip to Cold Springs CG (love that road!!), where I met my partner Len on the 6th. We slept at Lunchcounter that night and summited next am around 8:30. Weather was perfect: cloudless and windless. Snow was icy on the way up, and wild for glissading coming down. I counted 79 specks (climbers) from the lunchcounter on the south slope up to Piker's above. This was 9:30am . Later, about noon, we witnessed a dramatic chopper rescue at c.7800ft. when an unfortunate climber tried glissading down an icy chute instead of descending the standard rock ridge. He slid out of control into some rocks at the runout. Near where he fell, there was one sketchy section coming off the ridge where meltwater had caused a moat to form. Pics aren't great, but I posted them anyway.
rpc - Feb 12, 2002 3:16 pm
Route Climbed: South Side Date Climbed: 9/16/01Long (for us) day hike. Crampons/ice ax very strongly recommended. Snow/ice melted away in places revealing holes with rushing streams underneath - falling in would be bad. Next time will do this earlier in the season. Good - clear and pretty much windless - weather all the way up.
markman - Feb 1, 2002 5:57 pm
Route Climbed: south slog Date Climbed: 8/97Nice walk up a huge pile of rubble.Fun slide down.
RStokes - Dec 21, 2001 5:30 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: July 25, 2000Made the solo trip during the week to avoid any potential crowds. Left the Lunch Counter at 6am and summitted at 8:30am. Sunny with mild winds up high. Great views of Rainier, St. Helens, Hood and Jefferson. No objective hazards on the South Spur route.
dshoe - Dec 20, 2001 5:11 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: 07-15-01Did the South Spur route over the course of two days. Parked at Cold Springs, then climbed to about halfway up the ridge, between the Lunch Counter and Piker's Peak (false summit). Bivied overnight at this position, then awoke early the next morning for the rest of the climb. Summited around 9:30 AM, then headed back to Cold Springs. Lot of climbers on the mountain that weekend; looked like most of them made the summit as well. Weather was fantastic! Just as the route description states, the glissade between Piker's and the Lunch Counter is AWESOME!!!
Charlie - Nov 10, 2001 11:18 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: 07/28/01It was a beautiful day. At about 10,500 or so I left the snow and climbed the rest of the way to the false summit via the rock ridge on the left (west) of the South Spur. This was much safer since I did not bring my crampons. In late season crampons are definitely recommended. Not only do they make the climb safer but they would also make the climb much faster.
The biggest treat of the day was the decent. We made it from the false summit to the lunch counter in 15 minutes and glissaded the entire way, 2000 feet. It was a ton of fun.
Elwood - Oct 31, 2001 4:43 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: June, 1997This was a fun climb, with no crevasses to worry about. We camped near Lunch Counter, which left us with a short morning to the summit, & then a fair hike out. That year there was a high snow fall, which ment we had to melt snow, but that was a small price to pay for great snow conditions! I highly recommend this route to anyone who is new to mountaineering, & would like to see what it's like to climb a mountain, without too many dangers! Still cuation needs to be advised for weather, avalanche conditions, & altitude related illnesses. Have fun & enjoy!
Bronco - Oct 30, 2001 3:27 pm
Route Climbed: SouthSide Date Climbed: Sept. 17, 2000Wife and I climbed leaving cold springs campground at 5:00 am and summiting by 1:00pm and back to coldsprings by 6:00 that evening. Very fun glissading!
D Smith - Oct 19, 2001 9:51 am
Route Climbed: South Climb Date Climbed: July 2000Drove down from Seattle after work, got to the mountain at 11 PM, and started up just before midnight. Snow prevented us from driving all the way to the trailhead, so we had to park 3 miles down the road and walk.
At the trailhead we put skis on and skinned up to the Lunch Counter. Napped for a couple hours before heading to the summit, where we were greeted with 50+ mph winds.
The ski down was pretty good...crust on top, slush near the bottom, and a little slice of heaven in between.
mradventure - Oct 18, 2001 8:56 pm
Route Climbed: South climb Date Climbed: July 20-21, 2001First experience mountaineering proved to be a lesson learned.
Left trailhead on 20th with clouds that turned into 3 inches of rain.4:30pm reached 8100 ft.set up camp soaking wet with some dry clothes in packs. After the relentless rain stopped, we could have dinner and get some peaceful rest.
Started about 6 am for the summit. Windy white out conditions allowed us to reach the false summit. Very cold & windy, assumed it was the top until seeing through the clouds the real summit which was also covered with clouds.Piker's Peak was enough. One mistake made, not enough water. Had to boil snow. After eating power bars and trail mix for energy, we made our way down. Gilssading was a thrill. Hit the highway after all the rocks and cruised back to the trailhead. Much harder than expected. Suffering was worth it.
Two months later on Aug.25, 2001, my bro and I made our 2nd attempt successful.Just before false summit was very icy. Reached the summit with no wind on a clear blue day. Remembering our mistakes from 1st trip we brought more water.
ben - Oct 5, 2001 2:38 pm
Route Climbed: South Spur Date Climbed: May, 1999Led a group from my college up this route - a great first one in the cascades for beginners who want to try out mountaineering. After one of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen in the mountains, we spent a night below the lunch counter, got an early start, and had a great time climbing to the summit. A fun, not technical (beyond ice axe/crampos) route in the cascades.
Peter Eliassen - Aug 16, 2001 1:00 pm
Route Climbed: South Climb Date Climbed: 6/14/01Great hike and wonderful glissade!
jthiessen - Jul 30, 2001 4:39 pm
Route Climbed: Mazama Glacier Date Climbed: 7/27/2001Took a 6 hour hike to the Sunrise staging area. Left the next morning at 1:30 a.m. The Mazama glacier is to the east of the usual South Summit route. There are a lot of crevasses and rock fall on this route. But the experience was awsome. Summitted at 9:30 and back down to camp by 2:00 p.m.
Mattius Valentine - Jun 25, 2001 4:40 pm
Route Climbed: Standard South Summit Date Climbed: 6-18/19-2001Climbing was great. Started from Cold springs campground(tough rain rutted road to campground). Started late Monday night and camped 300 ft. below Lunch Counter, standard base camp for summiting. Awoke early and proceeded up two 35-45 degree snow slopes that went on and on! Arrived at the south summit (false summit) and proceeded across a 3/4 mile relatively flat snow field traverse to another 45 degree slope. Topped out and scrambled (toiled) and reached the summit. Great views of Rainier, Helens and Jefferson/Hood! Advise early morning starts as snow was slabby by early afternoon. Great Glisading on the way down! Beautiful climb!