MT. ADAMS - Elevation 12,276'

Climb Mt. Adams with us. Oregon Peak Adventures offers climbs on three different routes:

	South Spur - Novice Level
	North Ridge - Intermediate
	Mazama Glacier - Intermediate
	Adams Glacier - Experienced Intermediate

Ensure that you climb Mt. Adams with Guide Service that is permitted for commercial guiding by the US Forest Service. Accepting compensation for guiding people on US Federal lands without a permit is illegal, even if is is conducted under the guise of a club activity. Illegal guiding voids liability insurance coverage and cheats the Forest Service out of the 3% use fees paid by a permitted guide service.

BACKGROUND

Mt. Adams was known as Pah-to or Klickitat to the Coast Salish and Taidnapam (collectively called the Cowlitz) Indians. A popular Indian legend is that Mt. Hood (Wy'east) and Mt. Adams fought over Loowit (Mt. St. Helens). In the resulting battles, the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River Gorge was destroyed.

The first recorded sighting by white people was by Lewis and Clark on April 2, 1806. It is named after President Adams with the name and actual mountain closely associated by 1843. The name was firmly established in 1853 when the Pacific Railroad Expedition charted the mountain as Mt. Adams.

While David Douglas was rumored to have climbed Adams in 1825, the first accepted ascent was in 1854 via the North Ridge. The party probably consisted of three men, A. Aiken, E. Allen, and A. Burge; who were members of a military road work party.

A lookout cabin was built on the summit in 1921 and manned for several years. It is still visible in low snow years. In 1929, a sulfur claim was staked on the summit and a trail constructed. At the height of activity in 1931, some 168 pack trains reached the summit. Climbers could expect hot coffee from the miners. The Glacier Mining Company had active workings until 1937. Traces of the trail still exist.

While not as high as Rainier, this massive volcanic peak has about the same volume with Adams covering about 270 square miles. The last mass building eruptions were in the Pleistocene about 500,000 years ago. The latest eruptions occurred possibly less than 2,000 years ago near South Butte. Adams is covered by ten principal glaciers.