Splitboarding & Skiing Mount Adams — South Climb Route (May 2024)

Sarah and Eric climb Mount Adams, Washington on May 11, 2024 via the South Climb Route. Sarah rode the splitboard, Eric skied.

We got about an hour of sleep. Our alarms went off around midnight. We had oatmeal, some bread, a candy bar, and drove an hour to the Morrison Creek Campground from Trout Lake. 15 minutes into our climb I stopped to adjust my boots. We looked up and saw a big light show from the significant Aurora Borealis event that day. We hadn't even known to expect it, so it felt like a very good omen for the day. We had climbed Mount St. Helens two days before and were feeling it on this 8k climb. Our moods brightened as we moved upwards and loosened up our legs. Our original plan was to ski down the SW Chutes, but due to super warm conditions and some avalanche danger on steeper terrain, we opted to ski down the way we came. The ride was variable to say the least — crusty and cold up top, perfect corn during the middle third — and a gloppy wet mess down low to the road. Overall a beautiful, massive mountain worthy of being Washington's #2 peak.

GPS had the day at around 17-18mi (our watches' & phones' tracking were different, but both in this range) and around 8000 ft of gain.