Friday, July 20, 1979

Mt Adams – N Face NW Ridge

This is a climb for which my memory has been reduced to only a vague remembrance.  It was a Mountaineers climb but I can’t remember whether it was a “Club” climb (i.e., not associated with a course) or an Intermediate climb (i.e., done as part of the Intermediate climbing course).Climb of SW Face of Adams Glacier  I had graduated from the Intermediate course in 1977 so I know I wasn’t doing it for credit.  I don’t remember the names of the three other climbers in the party.

The climb itself was scenic but not too technical.  The NW Ridge bounds the righthand (SW) side of the Adams Glacier as it tumbles down from the broad summit of Mt Adams. In the photo on the right (taken from our camp before the climb), the NW Ridge is the 1979-07-017xrighthand feature descending from the highpoint (which is not the summit but a subsidiary bump called “The Pinnacle”). 

The route ascends, on a diagonal, the large slope coming off the NW Ridge towards the highpoint.  Some route finding through the lower Adams Glacier is needed to gain the slope, avoiding bergschrunds and rock slopes.  1979-07-026xOnce on the face, the climbing is exposed but not difficult.  We may have done running belays using pickets or flukes where we thought some protection was necessary.  Mostly the route was a long ascending diagonal climb requiring careful foot placement so as to not stumble or snag your crampon on something.

1979-07-018xThe weather was perfect and I even got someone to take a summit photo of me (Mt Rainier in the background).  We descended via the NW Cleaver, a long ridge of loose unpleasant rocks (but it did offer a nice view of the route in the photo above).

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