Mount Adams: Foiled Again

"Be prepared and know your limits," read this monument at the trailhead.

One view of the Washington state's largest mountain

It wasn't supposed to turn out this way, but when I lifted my backpack at the Cold Springs Campground, it seemed unusually heavy, and I pulled out my scale. Where did the extra weight come from -- the weight that would exhaust me and cause me to once again fail to summit Adams? Or is it old age, and the effect of prostate cancer treatments two years ago that sapped my strength? Have I not recovered, still?
(See Roger's Comments at the end of this post.)

Trailhead to our camp

By my calculation, Roger and I would climb only 1,000 feet over 2.2 miles, barely a start on a 12-mile round trip, before exhaustion turned us back. I'm still trying to get my mind around it. The map to the right shows the tongue of the Crescent Glacier next to the lime green line at the top, and to the right, South Butte. We were below and between those two points. I think we were camped at the intersection of the yellow and blue lines. If that's the case, we were at about 6,600 feet, 1,000 feet higher than the Cold Springs Campground. We slogged our way to that point with the intention of starting the next day to reach the "Lunch Counter," the place where would leave our tent and gear for the final ascent to the top.

One interesting point about our campsite. It appeared to be right on the main trail to the top. On three occasions during the night, when I got up to pee (cold and altitude can cause you to urinate more) two groups and then a single individual were passing by under a full moon and wearing headlamps, getting an early start toward the summit.

Four years ago we had made the intersection of South Climb routes 1 and 2, where the yellow and green lines merge, before we realized we were too exhausted to continue. That was at least 7,400 feet. I had considered the possibility that once again we would fail, but the degree of our failure has gotten my attention and is leading to considering how and whether I could have been successful, particularly because we encountered some individuals who were descending with 30-pound packs.

Some lessons learned:

• A cigarette lighter I took along failed to fire, possibly a result of elevation.
• Matches which I unwrapped on Saturday night were reluctant to spark Sunday morning when we melted water. That was a wake up call.
• Although I didn't expect mosquitoes at altitude, they were present when we approached our camp site, probably lurking in the trees and tracking us as we passed. I will always take insect repellent from now on.
• My method for fresh water works well: Chop out a sitting area in a snow bank, and to uncover snow that is free of needles. Melt and filter. One fuel can delivered all the heat we needed for meltwater. Then we boiled the melted and filtered water for use in instant meals, which were quite good.
• A 50-gallon drum liner can hold my backpack and other items outside the tent, making more room in the tent.
• Dehydration comes easily. When I got up to urinate at night I risked charlie horses when I tried to pull my boots on. I drank more water to counteract them. Roger also had cramps as well, and for much of the night he was cold, which surprised me. He is a diabetic, so that may have factored in.
• My fingers tingled painfully for a while, an outcome of using Dioxin, an altitude sickness preventative.
• My mummy bag was sufficient and I could peel off clothing and still stay warm.
• Communication between us became difficult as we became more exhausted.
• That target that comes with the poop bag the rangers give to you can be hard to hit. (In the morning I carved out a shelf on a snowbank where I could sit and melt water. It occurred to me later that I could have carved a potty, laid paper in the bottom of it, and hit the target effortlessly, with only a slight chilling discomfort. The idea came to me a bit too late.)
• I should have done a few more hikes and had a more strenuous overnighter on Mount Rainier to really test me ability to handle the Mount Adams climb.

The dirt road to Cold Springs Campground can be narrow, with enormous potholes near the end.

There was no forest by the road -- only lots of trees dead from fires.

Me, at a crossroads of two trails, with my ice axe, "Ol' Betsy".

Finally! A patch of snow, meaning the trail would become softer on the feet.

The phone's wide-angle lens makes the moon only a tiny dot overlooking our camp site.

We drove to the mountain on Saturday, June 15, and headed out on a plan to go half way to the "Lunch Counter" before we set up camp. On Sunday we would get to the lunch counter and rest for the final ascent. From our camp onward, it would be mostly snow to the top. We had the faith which escaped Saint Peter that we could walk on water all the way to the promised land.

On Sunday morning, a telephoto lens made Oregon's Mount Hood look much closer than it was.

 I was startled by this enormous cricket, which brought back memories of 2015.

BAD OMEN: As we were packing Sunday morning, I was sweating from the morning sun, due to additional overnight clothing I hadn't shed. As I went looking for a pair of gloves, I was startled as a large cricket, pictured above, crawled out to face me. It was as thick as a finger. The last time I saw one of these was the morning we agree to abandon our last Mount Adams attempt, in 2015. In less than 15 minutes of hiking on Sunday, I accepted that I was too tired to push on. My fatigue had made me an accident waiting to happen. Roger took it graciously, and conceded that he was tired as well.

The slog down hill was uncomfortable. The hard, sometimes rocky path, was hard on the feet and we were both exhausted. We stopped several times to rest. At the trailhead, there was this monument to greet us:

A tired Ol' Betsy leans against a granite monument to Mike McCasun.

The monument is situated at the trailhead and celebrates Mike McCasun, who rescued many people on Mount Adams. The last line exhorts hikers to be prepared and know their limits. It was a fitting footnote to our (last?) hike on Mount Adams.

Statistics for the hike:
Distance: 2.2 miles
Conditions: Sunny, warm
Load: 40+ pounds 
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 181.6 miles 
Elevation Gain: 57,928 feet, completing my fourth Rainier.
Next Goal: 70,000 feet, my Fifth Rainier. 12,072 feet to go.

Roger's comments via e-mail:

I took the coordinates of where I think we were:

46.1548, -121.4863

I copied and pasted that into Google Earth Pro (which is free, just download and install it). I was then able to use the PATH command and draw the path from Cold Springs to where we were (above). It came to just about exactly 2 miles (following the road), gaining 1,500'. That puts us about half way to the Lunch Counter, which was another 2 miles from where we were, but gaining 2,500'. We did the easy half :). From where we were to the lunch counter was very long and very steep.  So an extra 1000 feet crammed into the next two miles :). 

And then the two miles from the Lunch Counter would go up 2,900' so the summit.

So distance wise to the summit, we did 1/3rd of it, 2 miles out of 6.

So elevation wise to the summit, we did a bit under 1/4th, 1,500' out of 6,740'.

I think basically, elevation is what matters in terms of effort. So we climbed up about 1/4th of the way to the summit. In 2-1/2 hours. Not actually too bad. In two or three days, we could have made it. Maybe if we had 20lb packs :).