August 1 - SnowDome
8/15/10
3216
3
Hello Everyone. I really enjoy this board, just never had anything worthy of posting...
I was lucky enough to be invited on an over-nighter to SnowDome this weekend. Never been there, and was great to be essentially guided. Thanks Paul, Hans, Peter, Lason, & Little Dude.
Five guys, one dog drove to Tilly Jane late afternoon Saturday, and hiked to about 6300 feet, where we set up camp on the glacier toe. Had a great meal, little too much fun, and crashed out. Couple guys tented it, I cleared an area, made a wind-break, and slept under the stars. Was awesome til my bag zipper broke sometime in the night. Ever tried to wrap up in a mummy bag? I put on every piece of clothing I had, and was fine for the rest of the night.
Up at dawn for coffee and some peanut-butter sandos. Water was still running under the glacier, but the snow had set up into a easy-to-climb crust. Crossed the glacier low in the valley then scrambled up a broken rock-fall / face to the north - interesting with a loaded pack and skis on back; then hiked up a ridge to the bottom of the Dome.
Hiked Dome in leathers to about 8000 ft, then switched to skiboots for the rest of the climb. Thought about skins, but as was confirmed by another group, was too slick / steep. Maybe with ski crampons. Anyway, good steps cut all the way up to ~9900 ft - base of Sunshine.
Still crusted over when we topped out, but corned within about 45-minutes. Amazing 1/2-hour of wide sweeping turns all the way back to camp. Few spots of sun-cups, but not bad. Crossed a couple of crevasses high-side, and only terrain-trapped our selves once. Packed up camp, and hiked out by about 2pm.
August - 22 consecutive months.
Cheers.
Hawthorne
Welches, OR
I was lucky enough to be invited on an over-nighter to SnowDome this weekend. Never been there, and was great to be essentially guided. Thanks Paul, Hans, Peter, Lason, & Little Dude.
Five guys, one dog drove to Tilly Jane late afternoon Saturday, and hiked to about 6300 feet, where we set up camp on the glacier toe. Had a great meal, little too much fun, and crashed out. Couple guys tented it, I cleared an area, made a wind-break, and slept under the stars. Was awesome til my bag zipper broke sometime in the night. Ever tried to wrap up in a mummy bag? I put on every piece of clothing I had, and was fine for the rest of the night.
Up at dawn for coffee and some peanut-butter sandos. Water was still running under the glacier, but the snow had set up into a easy-to-climb crust. Crossed the glacier low in the valley then scrambled up a broken rock-fall / face to the north - interesting with a loaded pack and skis on back; then hiked up a ridge to the bottom of the Dome.
Hiked Dome in leathers to about 8000 ft, then switched to skiboots for the rest of the climb. Thought about skins, but as was confirmed by another group, was too slick / steep. Maybe with ski crampons. Anyway, good steps cut all the way up to ~9900 ft - base of Sunshine.
Still crusted over when we topped out, but corned within about 45-minutes. Amazing 1/2-hour of wide sweeping turns all the way back to camp. Few spots of sun-cups, but not bad. Crossed a couple of crevasses high-side, and only terrain-trapped our selves once. Packed up camp, and hiked out by about 2pm.
August - 22 consecutive months.
Cheers.
Hawthorne
Welches, OR
Great first post, Hawthorne, keep 'em coming.
Sounds like a fun trip.
Any 1000-ft patches left on Cooper Spur....? I haven't been to OR in a while and might be down that way in a couple weeks.
Any 1000-ft patches left on Cooper Spur....? I haven't been to OR in a while and might be down that way in a couple weeks.
There was good snow on the Spur, but it runs out onto the glacier closer to crevasse activity than the Dome run. There were people on the ridge, but I did see anyone drop in.
Take a look at AlenL's report. Looks like they went further up the spur before crossing than we did.
Take a look at AlenL's report. Looks like they went further up the spur before crossing than we did.
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