June 12, 2004, Mt. Hood, Snowdome/Elliot Glacier
6/12/04
OR Mt Hood
2591
2
We (Corey, Cyril, Sky, Scott, Donnelly) arrived the night before to find the Cloud Cap road gated ~5-6 miles from the TH. The road has lots of switchbacks and there were trails cutting through them so we thankfully would have a shorter distance to walk. Because it was so late, Donnelly began to worry that his streak of 130+ days of skiing in a row might be in danger, so Sky let him borrow his car so he could drive around to Timberline and make turns before midnight. He was in such a hurry to get those turns that he forgot his sleeping bag! I guess a cold night is a small price to pay to keep that streak going. ;) The rest of us crashed by the car for a very short night of sleep. Too short for me, when I finally woke up Cyril was shouldering his pack and starting to walk and Sky was not too far behind. I tried to get my things together as quickly as I could, but since Scott was just now getting up I decided I'd be better off waiting a few minutes for him than trying to catch the others at this point.
We hiked to Cloud Cap campground and then up to the trail that leads up towards Cooper Spur. I saw Cyril & Sky much higher on the ridge and realized we were too far back to catch them, so we decided to cross the Elliot Glacier and ski the Snowdome/Sunshine route depending on our timeframe. Recent snow seems to have helped, and coverage appears excellent everywhere on the North side of Hood. It was warm, but Clouds started spilling over the mountain mostly from the SW. Thankfully, the Snowdome seemed to have the best visibility of anywhere on the North side. Sky and Cyril by this time had vanished into the mist on Cooper Spur. I had gotten a bit ahead of Scott, so I decided to ski down to him from above the Snowdome at ~10,000'. The snow up high was kind of in transition from fresh to corn - not there yet. The lower snow was more consolidated and funner. When I got to Scott, he had gotten his second wind and was feeling good, so I re-skinned and followed him back up to my previous high point. Both the Sunshine route and upper Elliot Glacier looked skiable and in good shape but it was a little late in the day and the weather was supposed to get worse later in the day so we skied from there. Good turns, especially on the lower Snowdome and the ramp down to Elliot Glacier. Around this time we saw Cyril & Sky emerge from the cloud on lower Cooper Spur. We reunited on the lower Elliot, and walked out together. Our timing was good as it started to sprinkle when we got to the car, where Donnelly had returned and was waiting for us. It rained much of the drive home.
By now things are probably corning up nicely on the North side. All you PDXers should hit it as soon as possible. Coverage is good, and the routes seem to be definately in.
We hiked to Cloud Cap campground and then up to the trail that leads up towards Cooper Spur. I saw Cyril & Sky much higher on the ridge and realized we were too far back to catch them, so we decided to cross the Elliot Glacier and ski the Snowdome/Sunshine route depending on our timeframe. Recent snow seems to have helped, and coverage appears excellent everywhere on the North side of Hood. It was warm, but Clouds started spilling over the mountain mostly from the SW. Thankfully, the Snowdome seemed to have the best visibility of anywhere on the North side. Sky and Cyril by this time had vanished into the mist on Cooper Spur. I had gotten a bit ahead of Scott, so I decided to ski down to him from above the Snowdome at ~10,000'. The snow up high was kind of in transition from fresh to corn - not there yet. The lower snow was more consolidated and funner. When I got to Scott, he had gotten his second wind and was feeling good, so I re-skinned and followed him back up to my previous high point. Both the Sunshine route and upper Elliot Glacier looked skiable and in good shape but it was a little late in the day and the weather was supposed to get worse later in the day so we skied from there. Good turns, especially on the lower Snowdome and the ramp down to Elliot Glacier. Around this time we saw Cyril & Sky emerge from the cloud on lower Cooper Spur. We reunited on the lower Elliot, and walked out together. Our timing was good as it started to sprinkle when we got to the car, where Donnelly had returned and was waiting for us. It rained much of the drive home.
By now things are probably corning up nicely on the North side. All you PDXers should hit it as soon as possible. Coverage is good, and the routes seem to be definately in.
Corey many thanks for this timely TR! Ironically we're actually planning to ski Snowdome this Friday.
As to the approach, we're thinking it's faster to hike the Tilly Jane trail then to bushwack up Cloud Cap road. In retrospect do you think Tilly Jane is fastest (it's 3 miles long over 2000vert)? How long did it take you to hike the road?
Again many thanks for the report, my heartrate jumped in excitment when I read it!
As to the approach, we're thinking it's faster to hike the Tilly Jane trail then to bushwack up Cloud Cap road. In retrospect do you think Tilly Jane is fastest (it's 3 miles long over 2000vert)? How long did it take you to hike the road?
Again many thanks for the report, my heartrate jumped in excitment when I read it!
It might not be that much slower to hike the Tilly Jane trail, but it really wasn't too hard to find our way. There are trails (possibly they are CC ski trails?) that cut the switchbacks nicely. I'm not sure exactly how much elevation you save by starting at the gate, maybe it's not really that much - I seem to think it was around ~4700 at the gate by looking at the map but not sure that's accurate. So if you start from the gate, just walk the road until you see an obvious trail, and hit it.
With all these nice days to help things corn up, I think you should be in for quite the treat on Friday
With all these nice days to help things corn up, I think you should be in for quite the treat on Friday
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