Three Amigos Climb Mt. Adams

The summit approach to Mt. Adams

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
- Sir Edmund Hillary (1919 – 2008)

This is an excerpt from a climbing adventure to Mt. Adams in Washington State as chronicled in my recent photo book, “Three Amigos explore Hood River and Mt. Adams.” A few weeks ago, I met up with John Brady and Thomas Wittmer in Hood River, Oregon. The three of us had converged for an adventure trip. I knew John from around town and had biked with him a few times. Thomas is a friend of John’s from way back and lives in Switzerland.

Sometimes there is nothing like an adventure trip or climbing to bring people together.

Saturday, September 20th, 2008.

We managed to find a camp spot on the access road to the trail head. Turns out it was an open range corral spot. It was a bit loaded with animal dung. All in all, though, it was a nice place to camp as long as you were careful where you put your stuff.

The plan was to get up early and make the next day’s camp above “lunch rocks”, or as close to the summit as possible. We were attempting a sunrise summit for the next morning.

John making lunch

John made a quick lunch on the trail using the Jet boiler. I had decided to leave my stove behind as the weight of the camera gear alone was about 30 pounds. It was on the cooler side, and rain threatened to fall at any time.

After our late breakfast we continued on up to lunch rocks. We crossed our first snow field and needed to resupply our water. This could have been our last spot for water – we needed everything to be topped off. Thomas used his three stage water purifier.

Rounding the corner

You could smell the sulfur in the air. By now, we were in thick mist. The cloud bank had settled down on us. Lunch rocks offers many rock walled camp sites to keep out of the weather. All of the other climbers had decided to make camp.

We headed up the rocky scree fields despite the weather and the possible lack of adequate shelter. We were prepared for camping in a fairly exposed area and felt we could make camp from what we could find.

We soon needed to put on crampons and make what would be the toughest climb of the trip. Two steps forward, one sliding step back. The scree slope was very steep and loose. When we finally settled on a place to camp, we physically had to hack a spot out of the ground.

Thomas finds a nook

Thomas found a modest indent in the rocks that was fairly sheltered. The wind was up to about 30-40 mph. Snow was falling, and the light was failing us.

We used the ice axes to hack out a spot and build up a bit of a wall using the available rocks. The spot was almost big enough to lay down in. It was not quite out of the wind, but it was the best we could’ve hoped for.

Making space

John and I had tarps that we set up to keep us out the wind. The race was on to get camp ready before the light failed and we started to freeze.

John coming into "camp"

Lunch rocks was about 1,000 feet below us.

Sunset at 10,800 ft

Our camp was at 10,800 feet. It was 20°F with the winds gusting from 30-40 mph. It was raining down on lunch rocks. During the night, the snow and rain coated the rocks with ice.

With views like the one on the above, the cold, wet and wind just added to the scene. Our bivy spot was not even three feet wide. John attempted to keep the tarp from slapping him in face with a hiking pole. I had to sleep sitting up. However, it was probably the best night of the whole trip.

Morning glory

“It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.”

- Unknown

Day 4. Sunday September 21st, 2008.

The conditions were a bit harsh to make the “sunrise summit” attempt. Still, we were able to witness a beautiful sunrise while above the main cloud layer.

We headed out from camp leaving most of the gear behind. I carried only the camera gear. Thomas and John brought up my water supply.

We decided to make the attempt without crampons, bringing them just in case. We reached the false summit in about half an hour .

On the false summit we were exposed to even higher winds. The peak was mostly clear and it looked like we’d be well rewarded for camping so high. There wasn’t much movement down at lunch rocks. It seemed as if the other parties were opting for a late start, or no start at all.

Heading out

John and Thomas enjoying the fruits of their labor

The false summit

No balaclava

The false summit. The clouds whipped by above and below us. We were uniquely positioned smack dab in the middle of the cloud layers.

I had forgotten my balaclava, so I used my camp towel and set of goggles to hold it in place.

I worked with gloves on, as the wind froze my hands without them. I had to rotate the camera battery about every four-five shots as it died from the cold.

I found it very difficult to operate the camera shutter with the gloves on.

John and Thomas at the summit - time for me to get to work

I found John and Thomas hiding from the wind using the old shelter. The shelter is nothing but broken boards held together by a block of ice in the center. The wind on the summit was a steady 50 mph. It was 21°F without the wind chill. With the wind chill it was -3°F. Mt. Rainier was just visible in the distance. Could we ski the cloud layer?

The light was spectacular. It was cold, windy with more cold. The ground was frozen. The loose rocks that we had to contend with yesterday were a thing of the past.

The three amigos on the summit of Mt. Adams on Sunday, September 21st, 2008 at 9:38 AM, Mt. Rainier in the distance. The water and Gatorade were frozen in the bottles. I managed to take a 360° panoramic shot, hoping I captured the moment. It was time to go.

The three amigos on the summit

After getting back down to camp, we packed up the remaining gear and headed on down to lunch rocks and out. A few other parties were just starting to come up, but for the most part we were the only ones out there.

The down climb turned out to be the hardest part. Isn’t it always? Oh, to have young knees again.

Three Amigos explore Hood River and Mt. Adams by Ed Dean

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