TR:Mt Adams climb, SW Chutes with my 10yr old

[Mofro261]

Mt Adams SW Chutes, 06/27/09
Mofro and Christopher, age 10
~7000ft of climbing, ~6K ski off the Summit.
Possible youngest descent of SW chutes?

A few years ago when he was 7, I took my son to climb and ski Mt. Adams but we turned around at 10K still a few thousand feet from the top. [ame=http://www.tetongravity.com/FORUMS/showthread.php?t=56889]2006 TR[/ame]

The plan was to return the next summer and get it again, but my nasty habit of needing ACL repair in May 2007 and AGAIN in May 2008 kept us away. I finally kicked the rehab habit this year again and we were set to go down and get it again on Fathers Day a week ago but the weather wouldn’t cooperate. Finally on Saturday along with a throng of skiers and hikers, Little C. bagged his first volcano ski descent.

Adams coming into view on Friday


We pulled into the lot at the Cold Springs campground a little after 4pm and it was already nearly packed with cars.The plan was to hike up to the snow line and camp to give us a better shot at making the top the next day.

Christopher loaded down for the climb




We climbed up from the lot at 5600ft to around 6500ft and a spot with a nice view of the SW chutes


After teaching the little guy to play Texas Hold Em(he cleaned me out of MM's by catching a straight on the river to beat my 3 aces), we caught a beautiful sunset and racked out for the night




Neither one of us slept very well, probably nervous about the next day and I was just entering the good deep sleep when the alarm went off at 5:15. We started off skinning just before 6am.


The snow was firm and soon we switched to booting



The mixed skin/switch to booting had us going a little slower than I’d hoped, but just passed 8000ft the snow softened and the pitch moderated and we made up some time skinning up to the Lunch counter.


After a good break we skinned about a quarter of the way up to the False Summit before switching back to booting along with the masses. Booting was much faster and we rallied up to the False Summit at 1000K/hr, arriving just before noon.


Little C. coming up on the crux of the False Summit, ~11,600ft


False Summit with Mt Hood in the distance


Looking up to the true summit and the final ~1000ft of climbing


We started out skinning again toward the summit but after a short ways the altitude and the toll of 5K climbing got to the little guy, so we stopped just before the last steep and C. had a 20min nap


50 steps, rest. 40 steps, rest. Finally, just before 1:30PM we hit the top



Christopher taking in the summit euphoria at 12,276ft


Ranier to the north


Celebratory summit beers, Mirror Pond for me, MUG for C.



Con’t

[Mofro261]

We hung out on top for almost an hour, re-fueled, I bumped into old ski buddies and got caught up, then it was time to ski. Unfortunately this was where I somehow messed up the white balance on the camera and all of the photos came out grainy / overexposed.

The ski was fantastic. Smooth ripened corn skiers left off the summit, and Christopher let them run.



We dropped into the SW chutes, which average 40° for ~3000ft.

Christopher said it was like skiing International, only twice as long and no moguls. I actually asked him to slow it down a little.




Mt St. Helens


Killing it


Looking back up the center chute line


The line down the SW chutes puts you out a couple of miles from the South climb trail, and we needed to get back to 6500ft to break camp and then hike to the car. We started traversing left around 7K and I was hoping we’d be able to come out above our camp. We rounded the ridge and scrambled down through a cliff band and we could see our camp- still 2 ridges over. We needed to either climb ~600ft to get above the next cliff band or descend and pick up the trail and walk over and back up to camp. We opted for the latter, and we skied patches down to the ~6200ft and then with a short walk down we hit the trail. Too bad the approach shoes were still at our campsite.

The trail was mostly clear of snow and it was a long 1.5-2 mile walk back to the South climb trail for a very tired 10yr old, hiking in Alpine ski boots.


We made it back to camp just after 5 PM and 11 hrs of climb and ski.


I packed everything up and we skied the final snow patches back down to ~6200ft and then hiked out the trail back to the car, where the beer and root beer was ice cold in the cooler.

Mofro and Mofro Jr parting Summit Shot



Even though it was a week late, still the best Father’s Day present I’ve ever had.

[elevens]

very impressive for a little guy and he looks like a little ripper...great pics.

[MTslackcountry]

That is badass! What a little ripper.

[prestonf]

Awesome, I bet that he'll remember that for the rest of his life. What an accomplishment!

[GeezerSteve]

Great work, Christopher!

[PNWbrit]

What a Sweet TR.

That's one hell a of a slog for a 10 year old.

Congrrats to you both G & Little C.

[BigDaddy]

Awesome and inspiring... mini-mofro can rip and I'd say he's being raised right!

I love the father/son celebratory beers, too. Well earned!

[skier666]

Best pic to sum up the day?

[ski_rick]

Awesome!

[Platinum Pete]

Little Sky Sjue in the making! Hell yeah!

[The Dad]

Sheer unadulterated awesomeness. Kid has nice form on the descents too.

[oftpiste]

Nice job. I gotta take my groms on that trip. They were sessioning a jump at Chinook pass that day. Good work for the 10 year old!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

This is one heck of a great TR. So cool.

Great job.

[gpcharles]

I loved every single thing about this.... you're son is CORE & rips! absolutely awesome.

[sar13]

So damn cool.

[Theodore]

Best dad evar.

[cw]

kids got style. nice!

[Goatski]

the smaller you are, the bigger it is in comparison. awesome effort!

[MadPatSki]

Awesome TR.

Christopher is killing it.

Congrats on you both.

[jon turner]

That is awesome! Way to get after it.

[Ski to Be]

We were right behind you guys when it came to the spot to climb the ridge. We skied about 200 feet below you

[Daywalker]

That... is... AWESOME!

[buell]

Wow! Very impressive!

[bean]

that is so friggin awesome