Mt Adams, N Face, NW Ridge

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July 15, 2010 at 6:19 pm #573278
russman
Participant
Trip Report: July 10, 2010
Ski descent, Mt Adams Northwest Ridge, North Face
It all started with Adam Roberts calling me last week saying “hey man, wanna do something roudy this weekend?” With a tentative response I said “uhh, SURE!”
The objective: Climb the North Ridge seen left center, summit, top out the West Peak, and drop the line directly right of center. North side of Mt Adams, seen from Randle, Wa.

And a full truckbed:

A few years ago I began to encounter a recurring problem. You see, I’m a passionate alpine climber, but I am also a diehard snowboarder. Generally speaking the snowboard industry is pretty much funded by an abundance of overhype and gangster baggy pants. This means that for those of us who call ourselves splitboard mountaineers, the lack of communication between climbing companies and the snowboard world has forced us to be a bit more creative. Because of a relative lack of snowboard wankers who enjoy slogging, the vast majority of my outings are with those who consider themselves truly hardcore and dedicated: skiers. I guess this is okay…
Adams Glacier Icefall:

The good news is that within the past 10 years the discipline of splitboarding has undergone fantastic evolution with the beginning of Spark R&D (.com) and the mainstreaming of rider-built splitboards. Despite these great advances, a few of us are still wanting more. Namely soft-boot binding stiffness and responsiveness, touring edging performance, and as light weight and sexy as possible. I mean, skiers get Dynafits, and splitboarders need something as revolutionary!
Enter Karakoram (.com): “Innovate, Ride, Explore”. What else could be sicker than designing and engineering your very own splitboard interface, only to take it to its physical limits in the most demanding and beautiful places on Planet Earth? That’s right, NOTHING is sicker than that. At least in my biased opinion.
So when Adam called me wanting to get “roudy on Mount Adams”, it seemed like a great chance to try and destroy some prototype bindings (thanks Bryce and Tyler). The plan was to climb the North Ridge, summit and traverse to the West Peak, then descend the North Face of the Northwest Ridge. I believe it was first completed by the Hummels in the late 90’s, although there is a rumor that the late Doug Combs skied the line in the mid 90’s and never told anybody. The Hummels: http://cascadeclassics.org/MountAdams/North/Spring03/NFNWR/NFNWR_Spring03.htm
As the weekend began to take shape, I got a voice message from Liz Daley. It essentially said “I’m needing some knar right now”. Okay, so she’s coming too; and her buddy Reed Pervis, who had recently skied the Fuhrer Finger on Rainier. A team of 4 seemed pretty solid!
Slogging began late Friday evening (around 6:30pm). We made tree line around 8:45 and decided to set up base camp before total darkness ensued.

A nightmare several nights before about falling over 500 foot cliffs into a crevasse and dying a cold lonely death had me a wee bit on edge. This injected a twinge of nervous restlessness all week long, and had me awake by 3:45 in the morning. After melting snow for 30 minutes I made the decision that this party needed to start. That Liz Daley chick was bivied out under the stars looking rather cozy, and so I chucked and ice ball at her. With an exceptionally cute sounding and high pitched “YAAAALP!” she woke the other two wankers as well. I thought to myself “geeze, that worked great! Just get Liz to squeak and everybody is up!”
At 5:00am it was official, we were slogging again.

We gained the North Ridge Proper around 7:00am. Lava Headwall seen on left.

Adams Icefall

The line: pictures from this angle do not do it justice..

Despite the usual Adam Roberts complaint of “having a headache and feeling like shit” he still managed to look pretty darn sexy. Just look that that chest!

The Lava Headwall: who in their deranged mind would want to ski this thing? Oh yes, the Hummels… Those silly tele skiers and near death antics… (http://cascadeclassics.org/MountAdams/North/Spring02/LavaHeadwall/LavaHeadwall,Spring02.htm)

I believe we took 4 breaks total on the way up and were crossing the summit ice cap by (I think) around 11. The Adams Glacier Headwall and icefall were looking rather phenomenal.
Lower ½ of Lava Headwall:

The NW Ridge, and Adams Glacier:

The summit was a nice break.

On the way to the West Peak: Legs started feeling it here…

That Liz Daley is so hot right now!

Adam Roberts on the West Peak:

How do you say 45-50 degrees with a scary as hell rollover?

The snow was “near perfect”. If you weren’t careful with your sluff, it would build into a ball under your board/skis and make you slip. Also, a firm icy layer underneath made it bumpy in places and added a twinge of seriousness to each turn. Overall however, the corn was a perfect combo of firmness that wouldn’t slide big, but still soft enough to edge well.
Despite good snow, the fall line was HUGE… Both Adam and I described feelings of vertigo:

The thing about riding steep, big lines, is that each tiny motion of your body takes on the utmost significance. I found the prototype Karakoram Bindings to deliver a very high degree of responsiveness and support, and in all honestly am not sure I would have felt comfortable riding this line with my Spark Fuses. They just don’t offer the same degree of fine board control.
About halfway down I found myself thinking “I need to make it off of this think so I can go kiss my mom and girlfriend again.” To say the least I was practicing a very high degree of caution with each turn.
Steepness:

The crux and exit of the route were the most fun for me. I could see myself living once again, and so my movements became looser.
Reed seemed to be the most comfortable and skied the most normally out of all of us. Adam and I on the other hand seemed to be scared shitless and did significantly more side slippage..

The exit is very interesting traverse underneath cliffs, followed by a quick point over a crevasse bridge. Once back on the Adams Glacier it becomes pretty straightforward, but you still need to be conscious of 100 foot glacial cracks.

Sometime in the previous days a huge icefall came down….

Once off the mountain the line reveals itself in entirety, however, photos rarely do justice to the steepness and exposure, or to the emotional toll of accomplishment.

We were back at camp by 5:00pm, and skiing out by 6:00pm. We had plans of swimming and drunken stupidness, but coming across a hiker with a fractured ankle delayed us to well after dark. All in all, 16 hours of continuous movement had us feeling pretty psyched on life.
The next day was spent swallowing ice cream and napping at Adam’s house. Before heading back to Seattle I managed to get a “cooldown” tour up to camp muir. Laying out full-speed turns on mellow slopes felt amazing. No longer was the fear of death looming in my brain. Stats for the weekend were 12,600 feet of elevation gain, with nearly exactly 12,000 feet of snowboard descent. Not too bad!
It always amazes me how much BIGGER, and more MASSIVE Mt Rainier is than everything else… There simply is no mountain in the lower 48 that rivals its mass or degree of glaciation:

Nisqually Ice Cliff:

Next project??

Thanks Adam, Liz, and Reed for killer companionship! And thanks Bryce and Tyler, for the opportunity to pound on the bindings!
July 15, 2010 at 8:33 pm #627977
buell
Participant
Sweet! Thanks for that TR. :clap:
July 16, 2010 at 1:40 am #627978
ale_capone
Participant
RAD!!!!
Congrats on the awesome line. Well written report too.
Funny. I got an email on asking if I wanted to to get out that weekend and NFNWR was one of 3 options. Would have been weird having so many people there at once. Not regretably, we ended up going with option 4. Epic weekend all around and its the middle of freakin july.
July 16, 2010 at 1:50 am #627979
UTAH
Participant
Nice TR Russman.
The good news is that within the past 10 years the discipline of splitboarding has undergone fantastic evolution with the beginning of Spark R&D (.com) and the mainstreaming of rider-built splitboards. Despite these great advances, a few of us are still wanting more. Namely soft-boot binding stiffness and responsiveness, touring edging performance, and as light weight and sexy as possible. I mean, skiers get Dynafits, and splitboarders need something as revolutionary!
Hey Russ without sugar coating anything, since based on the way you gracefully took your verbal beatdown when you posted your first post on this site I know you can take it. The “evolution” of splitboarding began when a guy name Brett Kobernik came up with this idea that is now splitboarding and a small ski company in UTAH, Voile out of all the large ski/snowboard industries minus the money had the balls to invest in the idea. Since that day this sport/art has evolved due in LARGE part to guys who have been shredding the BC putting sick lines down for far longer than 10 years. In fact you coud say the evolution of splitboarding starting with God creating the mountains and then guys like Muir, Hillary and others who had the vision to explore them. I’m not sure where got that magic number of 10 anyways. A little over 10 years ago I bought my first DIY splitty from a local snowboard legend Brandon Ruff instead of my annual season pass. That board/binding set up is still my go to set-up for every variation of llne to this day. My point you give too much credit to people who have yet to earn it and give too much credit to gear when it’s really all about the rider.
Enter Karakoram (.com): “Innovate, Ride, Explore”. What else could be sicker than designing and engineering your very own splitboard interface, only to take it to its physical limits in the most demanding and beautiful places on Planet Earth? That’s right, NOTHING is sicker than that. At least in my biased opinion.
When I read your posts it seems I often supposed to be led to believe that Jeremy Jones started splitboarding and Karakorem is our saving grace. It’s a little offensive and I don’t think you do those companies any favors. Let them earn their respect when they put out a product that get’s it’s due testing, is affordable, and a solid product. 10 years ago Voile had 3 types of boards a swallow, the mtn gun and the mojo. Each designed for different styles of riding. Unfortunately this sport wasn’t quite peaking and now there down to one. At the same time Prior was coming into the game. Furthermore when Brett came out with his initial model of splitboard he was also riding a modded mtneering boot hence the plate binding that now allows us to access the mountains with more snowboard mountaineering type objectives.
Anyways I could go on and on. My point it’s nice some new guys found splitting and it’s changed their lives for the better, that’s what its’ all about. It’s nice they want to start some new products, awesome. However don’t diss the innovators like Will, Voile and others by comparing them with products that have yet to hit the market, that’s pretty insulting and I don’t even ride Sparks or a Voile. Your line probably wasn’t first hit in the 90’s probably done way before that by guys on old gear who didn’t bother bragging about. If Wasnington anything like Utah theres probably a thick history to your backcountry culture. Get to know it and throw some love to those guys as well…cough cough Craig, etc.
Take care.
July 16, 2010 at 3:30 am #627980
prestonf
Participant
That’s a proud line Russ. Good job. And don’t beat yourself up about a little side-slipping here and there. You gotta live in the moment and do what feels right to YOU at the time and get down in one piece.
I like your enthusiasm, and it’s nice to see you guys with tools and harnesses, especially since you didn’t climb it first.
But UTAH makes some good points. No reason to knock others, and I’m sure you’re beginning to realize that for every one of us that posts stuff on the interwebs, there are 50 that don’t. All those lines in your pictures of Rainier were shredded on snowboards a long time ago (lots of the climbing rangers over the years have been snowboarders). So while your buddies’ bindings look pretty nifty, they certainly aren’t necessary to get down gnarly stuff. (Now if somebody would make a proper BOOT, then we’d be getting somewhere…)
Anyway, since you seem to be begging 😉 for history lessons, this is a pretty cool series:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/powder-and-rails-season-2–2/noah-salasnek-1of-2
Early snowboarding ‘gansters’ where, of course, mostly rad skates. That’s just the history of the industry, and probably why ‘style’ is considered more important than function sometimes. Nothing wrong with that. But I wear form-fitting Arcteryx 😉 .
Anyway, watch the whole series if you have time.
Good job on the NFNWR.
July 16, 2010 at 3:53 am #627981
Ecobrad
Participant
Nice line.
July 16, 2010 at 4:49 am #627984
BGnight
Participant
Dude, love the line. Nice work.
As for that other line…where is that? You gonna hit it this year?……call me if so…..seriously
Why u guys giving him crap for being stoked on his new gear? I’ve never ridden those binding and I’m stoked on ’em. We’ve all been bitching about how we want a new, revolutionary interface to come out and now you’re all giving a guy crap about not being true to his roots just cuz he likes his gear. Whatever.
He’s not bashing anyone. He’s stoked on his bro’s invention. Those bindings (along w/ touring bracket and clips) are way better than anything on the market and I’ve only seen them I M O.
The Craig Kelly mystery air WAS a sick board. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna get pissed if someone suggests there’s something better I should be riding.
It’s a wake up call for the other Co’s who want to survive in this industry. Step up or die. There’s a new kid on the block.
GOOD FOR ALL OF US :bananas:
July 16, 2010 at 7:25 am #627982
jbaysurfer
Participant
:drool:
Summertime deliciousness!
…and a hot girl on….approach skis :scratch: meh..works for me!
I wanna do that other line too!….but I’m booked until the 31st/1st weekend…August riding anyone?
July 16, 2010 at 3:52 pm #627983
ale_capone
Participant
I am not a fan, but I decided to put my annimousity for Russ away and give him the atta boy on this. That’s a pretty big deal that a lot of guys only dream of. I know how he’s gotta be feeling pretty alive right now. Just ask JimJar what could go wrong on this…(damn, this was a while back)
http://freshiez.net/2004/adams_6_20_04/
some rainier chronology from Mr. Skoog…
http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/chronology/mt-rainier.html
I am most likely climbing/riding Liberty Ridge, starting on the 22 or 23. Any one crazy enough is welcome to come along.
July 16, 2010 at 6:00 pm #627985
russman
Participant
@UTAH wrote:
A little over 10 years ago I bought my first DIY splitty from a local snowboard legend Brandon Ruff instead of my annual season pass. That board/binding set up is still my go to set-up for every variation of llne to this day.
That’s great. Good for you!
@UTAH wrote:
My point you give too much credit to people who have yet to earn it and give too much credit to gear when it’s really all about the rider.
Okay, sure, of course there are amazing riders out there who get knarl stuff done on old, tired gear. Also, good for them!
@UTAH wrote:
When I read your posts it seems I often supposed to be led to believe that Jeremy Jones started splitboarding and Karakorem is our saving grace. It’s a little offensive and I don’t think you do those companies any favors. Let them earn their respect when they put out a product that get’s it’s due testing, is affordable, and a solid product.
Where on Earth do you get this stuff? Dude, its all about innovation and evolution. Have you spent much time with super dialed ski mountaineers? Their gear kicks the shit out of our gear! I don’t know about you, but when I’m looking up at a 7000 foot climb it would be nice to have a splitboard setup that weighed less than 16 friggen pounds!
@UTAH wrote:
10 years ago Voile had 3 types of boards a swallow, the mtn gun and the mojo. Each designed for different styles of riding. Unfortunately this sport wasn’t quite peaking and now there down to one. At the same time Prior was coming into the game. Furthermore when Brett came out with his initial model of splitboard he was also riding a modded mtneering boot hence the plate binding that now allows us to access the mountains with more snowboard mountaineering type objectives.
That’s great, too. Really, extremely relevant information!
@UTAH wrote:
Anyways I could go on and on…… However don’t diss the innovators like Will, Voile and others by comparing them with products that have yet to hit the market, that’s pretty insulting and I don’t even ride Sparks or a Voile.
Diss?? Really? Where did I do that? Geeze man, that’s nuts. Will Ritter is probably the single raddest company owner I’ve ever met! What he’s done for the sport is truly remarkable!
Wouldn’t we all be doing our sport a huge injustice by just sitting on our butts doing nothing to push the evolution of the equipment? So many times has a company become comfortable and held back the evolution of a sport just because they can. Sure, our gear is sitting on the shoulders of that which came first, but isn’t that the POINT? To get better and better?
@UTAH wrote:
Your line probably wasn’t first hit in the 90’s probably done way before that by guys on old gear who didn’t bother bragging about.
Actually, maybe you should chat with the Hummel twins.. As far as we know, they DOCUMENTED the first descent. Along with their first descents of the Lava Headwall, Adams Icefall, and recently the Klickitat Headwall. Before you begin dishing shit, check some facts BRAH.
This trip really belongs to Adam. The view from his folk’s place looks directly on the Northwest Ridge. He’s dreamed of this descent for over 15 years. I will say this: Liz Daley might be the first female descent, ski or snowboard. And that is VERY cool… However we’re not sure..
Also, where did I say “my line”. And bragging? Really? Glaciers do not care about egos.. They’re thousands of years old man.. But you probably know that…
@UTAH wrote:
If Wasnington anything like Utah theres probably a thick history to your backcountry culture. Get to know it and throw some love to those guys as well…cough cough Craig, etc.
Washington is very much UNLIKE Utah, dude. We don’t carry handguns in our daypacks!
July 16, 2010 at 6:04 pm #627986
russman
Participant
@prestonf wrote:
Now if somebody would make a proper BOOT, then we’d be getting somewhere…)
I agree! We’re working on it 😉
July 16, 2010 at 6:25 pm #627987
96avs01
Participant
@russman wrote:
Have you spent much time with super dialed ski mountaineers? Their gear kicks the shit out of our gear! I don’t know about you, but when I’m looking up at a 7000 foot climb it would be nice to have a splitboard setup that weighed less than 16 friggen pounds!
Hellyeah, completely agree
165 Venture Divide/Spark Frankenburners/La Sportiva Spantiks
163W Jones Solution/Phantom Alphas/Dynafit TLT5s
162 Furberg
Chris
July 16, 2010 at 7:00 pm #627988
ale_capone
Participant
Actually, the NFNWR was a Ben Manfredi and Charlie Berg production.
Here is a really good article on steep decents from lowell, and even some mention of when of some of the bigger lines where Snowboarded.
http://www.mountaineers.org/nwmj/04/041_Steeps.html
July 16, 2010 at 8:05 pm #627989
UTAH
Participant
Wow, that’s the internet for ya. I hope my initial post did not come off as condescending and dickish as yours. If it did I apologize, sometimes it’s hard to interpret ones tone.
Where on Earth do you get this stuff?
Personally I feel your posts which are most definitely full of excitement and passion write off products that have earned a lot of resepect among the splitboard community. Products that have been evolving for years are tested and found to be legit and paved the road that got us to where we are now.
Dude, its all about innovation and evolution
I agree that point must have got lost in translation as well. My arguement was your comment that a evolution has taken place in the last 10 years by riders like you I assume. I was just trying to make the point the evolution began long ago and was motivated by just as much passion and desire to improve. We’ve come a long way and in the process created a subculture that is incredibly unique. Throw some love to some of those pioneers as well.
Have you spent much time with super dialed ski mountaineers? Their gear kicks the shit out of our gear! I don’t know about you, but when I’m looking up at a 7000 foot climb it would be nice to have a splitboard setup that weighed less than 16 friggen pounds!
I’m not really like you and BG, I focus less on my gear and more on my riding, fitness, and snow knowledge and I definetly don’t compare myself to skiers. Shit your fitness level and mtneerin/touring skills are going to play a bigger role in conquering that 7000 ft climb than the board on your feet or back and when you get the top your riding skills are going to play a bigger role than the board your riding. By the way my DIY splitty/mtn plate/ set up does way less than 16lbs I’m sure.
That’s great, too. Really, extremely relevant information!
Can’t believe you didn’t get this one. My point is “everyone” complains about not enough selection of board to meet varying styles. 10 years ago Voile was doing that. It wasn’t a trend then as it is now. Companies work by supply and demand. I’m sure Voile was taking hits from their split products at some point but were making huge efforts to give us what we want. Just wasn’t peaking at that time, given todays market it would be more realistic. I’ve talked shit on Voile in the past but always made sure to give them credit when credit is due.
Washington is very much UNLIKE Utah, dude. We don’t carry handguns in our daypacks!
Our BC culture is truly unique, it’s big too, full of eccentrics and crazies. We have unique ways of doing things here. The line you put up will gain you just as much respect as the line you put down. Lines are art and we respect them, it’s how you gain respect around here. Our split culture is unique as well. Guys in surf shorts and long underwear split skiing figure 8’s with their skier buddies. It’s been around for a while. Anyways sorry if you took my post as insulting it meant to be just different perspective, although I was taking sides a little bit. Take Care.
July 16, 2010 at 10:11 pm #627990
BGnight
Participant
@UTAH wrote:
I’m not really like you and BG, I focus less on my gear and more on my riding, fitness, and snow knowledge and I definetly don’t compare myself to skiers.
lol, epic :thumpsup:
July 16, 2010 at 10:36 pm #627991
buell
Participant
@UTAH wrote:
Wow, that’s the internet for ya. I hope my initial post did not come off as condescending and dickish as yours. If it did I apologize, sometimes it’s hard to interpret ones tone.
Your initial post came off as very condescending and dickish. Russman posted a great and very respect worthy TR and you went after him for things he said about different splitboard equipment manufacturers because it differs from how you see things. Each rider will have their preferences, get over it.
The response you got from him was well deserved.
Buell
July 16, 2010 at 10:46 pm #627992
jbaysurfer
Participant
Utah, let the dude be stoked on his gear, I’m stoked on my MojoRX and Fuses too. It was a great TR, the rest is kinda distracting.
July 17, 2010 at 3:10 am #627993
UTAH
Participant
Sorry for the thread drift guys, no off topic discussion can take away from that absolutely sick, beautiful line with the passionate story to match. I guess I deserve every bit of it. I got look at how I post things maybe take a step back when I’m not as passionate about disagreeing with what I read.
Your initial post came off as very condescending and dickish. Russman posted a great and very respect worthy TR and you went after him for things he said about different splitboard equipment manufacturers because it differs from how you see things. Each rider will have their preferences, get over it.
Used to be you were ready to back up you wrote down and you could have a good, constructive discussion. I remember way back on the coulior forum we would debate the most petty things, they got heated but everyone stayed civil and they typically ended with something that helped innovate and evolve splitboarding. I was just trying to give a different perspective sorry if it came off wrong or distracted anyone from that sick line. Maybe splitboard.com is no longer the place to debate views.
The good news is that within the past 10 years the discipline of splitboarding has undergone fantastic evolution with the beginning of Spark R&D (.com) and the mainstreaming of rider-built splitboards. Despite these great advances, a few of us are still wanting more. Namely soft-boot binding stiffness and responsiveness, touring edging performance, and as light weight and sexy as possible. I mean, skiers get Dynafits, and splitboarders need something as revolutionary!
Followed by…
Enter Karakoram (.com): “Innovate, Ride, Explore
Last thing just because I’m feeling mis-understood, and feel bad my post did not create the constructive discussion I was hoping it would and feel bad taking away from the amazing TR. ” Enter Karakoram.com” but let’s not write off like this post slightly/strongly suggest those products that are currently on the market helping everyone but me but I still love them and our inspired by their sacrifices, take care everyone. Oh yeah and don’t forget the evolution that came before the sparks, I think it was Voile, Prior. Never Summer, local legends splitting their own, I think Winterstick was in the game, etc. Looking forward to the post on the next objective, holy shit that looks sick.
July 17, 2010 at 3:28 am #627994
rughty
Participant
Great TR Russman!!! As for the rest of the posts… 😆
July 17, 2010 at 6:19 pm #627995
aksltxlt
Participant
Style and conditions are far more important then the equipment your on. I see it all the time, some gaper on a way too big board with a wack stance standing up all straight and stiff. With a snowboard you are strapped in and a person can get down a gnarly line lookin goofy as hell,(that doesnt meen they slayed it) Go Sk8 some tranny and you will learn correct body positioning real fast. Check out Ralston snowskates those guys are droppin Echo Summit on snowskates, they wont even get on a board with bindings. Or buy some expensive setup, if you think that will make you ride better then I have some products to sell you
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