Mount Adams is a burly, flat topped volcano that’s been dormant for nearly 1,000 years. Driving up the dirt road to the trail head, we knew we were in for a healthy climb. Pitching a tent literally between cars, the entire trailhead was lights out around nightfall knowing that a 3:30am wake up would come early. Starting from around 5,500 feet, we were looking at ~7,000 feet of climbing and 12.5 miles round trip with the intention of skiing the Southwest Chutes.

Volcano weekend started as we landed in Portland, OR, talked the rental car company into a free upgrade to a mini-van and drove 50 miles northeast to Mount St. Helens. Helens is an active volcano that is most well-known for the deadliest volcanic eruption in US history.

Four years running, we’ve completely indulged in the manufactured challenge of running, biking and skiing in one weekend. This quickly escalated to doing all three activities in one day, coming to be known as the “The Run-Bike-Ski Challenge” (RBS for short). Check out the progression from 2015 - 2018!

We’d been staring at Peak One all winter, patiently waiting to ski it. With a rather a-typical spring, getting up high in the backcountry had been touch-and-go through April. Finally after a late season storm, May 5th was our moment.