July 10, 2010, - Mt Hood - Snowdome/Eliot Glacier

After skiing the Cooper Spur from 8500 feet the night before http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=17135.0, Todd and I hit the trail around 6:00 to get some turns on the Eliot Glacier and Snowdome.  Since the trail has been washed out for several years, to access the Snowdome you need to cross the Eliot Glacier around 7000-7500 feet.  The crossing was pretty direct, with most crevasses showing and no need for tools or ropes.  We decided to rope up just for the fun of it, even though most others just skinned directly later in the day.

The hike up the Snowdome itself was pretty quick and smooth, thanks to a boot pack put in from a climbing party the night before who summited via the Sunshine route.  I've rode the dome a couple of other times in July, but this trip was by far the smoothest and fastest.  Here's a shot of the entire route we were able to ski, from the top of the dome at about 9400 to the bottom of the Eliot snow fingers at about 6500.



We met the climbing party from the Sunshine route at the base of the dome, and they seemed envious watching up get our skis/board ready for the descent, knowing we'd be down in a fraction of the time in would take them to down climb.  The upper pitches of the mountain looked very smooth, and would be pretty skiable if you wanted to negotiate a few large crevasses/bergshrunds.  While sitting at the top of the dome getting ready, a large serac/icefal calved off on the Coe Glacier and cascaded down the slope - a good reminder to be darn careful around those things. 

Here's a shot of me making turns down the upper pitch of the dome with the climbing party looking on.....



Todd was linking some nice tele-turns down the middle of the dome, which skiied perfectly....Mt St Helens is in the background...



Here's Todd ripping some nice snow lower down on the Eliot with some nice glacial features in the background....



The snow remained smooth and fast most of the way down the Eliot and we were able to ride down to the trail, with a few portages over some rocks.  After another 45 minutes or so, we were back at the trailhead satisfied with a good day's ride.  We hit the Ratskellar in Govy for a beer and burger before making the trek down I-5 home.