12 Hours of Elevation on Mount Adams

Date of Hike: 6/9/18

Valley Way / Scar / Airline / Gulfside / Valley Way / Watson Path / Scar / Airline / Gulfside / Valley Way / Scar / Airline / Valley Way / Scar / Airline / Upper Bruin / Valley Way / Gulfside / Airline / Gulfside / Walley Way / Scar / Airline / Upper Bruin / Valley Way / Gulfside / Airline / Lowe’s Path / Airline / Gulfside / Airline Cutoff
Total Miles: 34.33 (18,873 feet elevation gained) AMC White Mountain Guide Online

Trip Report:
- For the third straight year I joined about a dozen other crazy trail runners to do "hill repeats" on Mount Adams between 6AM and 6PM.  The weather was near perfect for the twelve hour adventure, albeit very windy at times heading up Adams summit cone (35MPH gusts), which ended up feeling very refreshing later in the day.
- As you can see from the trails listed above, I did not take the most exciting route up to Mount Adams, skipping the trails in King Ravine.  I stayed in Snyder Ravine and Durand Ridge for the duration of my run.  The reasoning for this was to stay off the steeper trails and attempt to achieve a goal of 17K elevation gained, which I'm very happy to report that I gained just under 19K over 34 miles.
- I kept a solid pace throughout the whole day, never having to do anything over a moderately aggressive pace.  For my ascents I stayed away from the steep eroded section of the Airline Trail, mile 1.5 to 2.5, by using Valley Way to Scar to Airline, which although longer has easier grades and better footing.  As for the descents back to Appalachia, I used the Valley Way except for one time where I added a quick elevation gain in the middle via the Scar followed by dropping down to Appalachia on Airline.
- I spent one of my moderated ascents (dropping down half way and heading back up) with Ben, Greg, and Tim.  It was a pleasure to catch up with Ben and Tim, and nice to meet Greg who would go on to give 20K elevation gain a run for the day, an amazing performance!
- Also out on the trails today were my friends Todd and Bob, who were a little more adventurous as they both dropped down into the Great Gulf at one point or another during the day.
- As for me I felt strong all day, making sure to hydrate and fuel consistently.  Water and Gatorade for hydration, I'm not a huge fan of Gatorade but I had these mini bottle which came in handy.  For fuel I used shot blocks and gels when moving, and had solid foods when stopped, trail mix, crackers, cookies, m&m's, candy bars.  I also had a PB&J sandwich and iced coffee in my Jeep at one of my breaks at Appalachia.
- On my last summit of Adams I made surprisingly good time and arrived at the top at 5PM, with an hour to spare I decided to "pad" my elevation gain stats by doing two quick out and backs to Thunderstorm Junction, before descending back to Madison Spring Hut where I did a short side trip over the Airline Cutoff to Durand Ridge to take one last picture for the day before heading back to the hut stopping my GPS watch at 5:55PM.
- After relaxing for a few minutes I shuffled my way down to Appalachia where I relaxed and talked about the day and trail running with Todd, Tim, and Cole before heading home to play with Sarge and eat a tremendous amount of food!

Elevation over distance profile, click here for Strava data

 View from Durand Ridge (Airline) looking at Mount Adams

Looking down at Star Lake and Mount Madison from the summit of Mount Adams. 7:40AM

Clouds briefly obscuring the summit of Mount Jefferson  

Madison Spring Hut 

Airline below treeline 

Mount Jefferson and Washington as seen from Mount Adams 

Heading to Thunderstorm Junction 

Mount Adams summit mass as seen from Thunderstorm Junction

 
Heading up to the Summit of Mount Adams, it really is just a jumbled mess of odd shaped boulders of all sizes

5:30PM from the summit of Adams 

Madison Spring Hut and Mount Madison from the Gulfside Trail 

Ariline Cutoff / Airline junction at 5:50PM

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