June 20-23, 2008, South Oregon (Diamond, Crater Lake, Bailey)
6/20/08
OR elsewhere
2499
1
I took advantage of a couple of days off around the weekend and some nice weather to try for summits of some of the South Oregon Volcanoes.
Friday, I climbed Diamond Peak via the Corrigan Lk trailhead. The road was clear of snow almost all the way to the trailhead and melting fast. Snow was spotty in the trees but generally good on north faces of ridges and in some of the gullies. Coverage on all sides of the upper mountain is still great - I skied down the west face, starting with the chute that descends from near the summit and found conditions to be good at noon.
We camped at Newberry Crater on Saturday - Paulina Peak appears pretty spotty, although it looks like someone could still make a go of the NE face if they didn't mind a scree entrance from the top (I didn't try it).
Sunday, I intended to try for Mt Scott from the SE side. The road up that way is clear but swarms of hungry mosquitoes forced my girlfriend and I to reconsider camping there, and we drove out and headed for Crater Lake NP instead. The east crater rim drive is still closed so Mt. Scott was out, but I made some fun turns down to the lower road from Lao Peak, and there is full coverage on the short slopes of the other north-facing rim peaks including Hillman Peak and the Watchman.
Monday, I climbed Mt. Bailey from Diamond Lake. Mosquitoes were intense on the bushwhack up to the east ridge, but once on the upper ridge, it was fine with continuous snow for skinning underfoot. I skied down around 10:30, dropping in to the East Bowl via the entrance on skiers left from the summit for some great turns on corn snow, and then out through the old avalanche path, which is heavily suncupped but allows skiing to within about a 1/4 mile of the road along Diamond Lk with some creative linking of snow patches.
All in all, a fun trip and still lots of snow to be sampled in Southern OR!
Friday, I climbed Diamond Peak via the Corrigan Lk trailhead. The road was clear of snow almost all the way to the trailhead and melting fast. Snow was spotty in the trees but generally good on north faces of ridges and in some of the gullies. Coverage on all sides of the upper mountain is still great - I skied down the west face, starting with the chute that descends from near the summit and found conditions to be good at noon.
We camped at Newberry Crater on Saturday - Paulina Peak appears pretty spotty, although it looks like someone could still make a go of the NE face if they didn't mind a scree entrance from the top (I didn't try it).
Sunday, I intended to try for Mt Scott from the SE side. The road up that way is clear but swarms of hungry mosquitoes forced my girlfriend and I to reconsider camping there, and we drove out and headed for Crater Lake NP instead. The east crater rim drive is still closed so Mt. Scott was out, but I made some fun turns down to the lower road from Lao Peak, and there is full coverage on the short slopes of the other north-facing rim peaks including Hillman Peak and the Watchman.
Monday, I climbed Mt. Bailey from Diamond Lake. Mosquitoes were intense on the bushwhack up to the east ridge, but once on the upper ridge, it was fine with continuous snow for skinning underfoot. I skied down around 10:30, dropping in to the East Bowl via the entrance on skiers left from the summit for some great turns on corn snow, and then out through the old avalanche path, which is heavily suncupped but allows skiing to within about a 1/4 mile of the road along Diamond Lk with some creative linking of snow patches.
All in all, a fun trip and still lots of snow to be sampled in Southern OR!
Nice work getting out there DG! Southern Oregon has some great terrain. I know what you mean about the mosquitoes. Last year at Scott we were forced to build a smoky fire and cake on the deet at camp. I counted 76 bites from the two days on my arms and shoulders when I got home...
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