August 23, 2004, Snow Dome - Mt. Hood, OR

A quick scan of the weather band radio the previous night had us dreaming of fresh snow above 8OOO ft on Mt. Hood. Dawn was foggy and very damp, climbing through heavy fog and misty rain I wondered if it could have possibly snowed..Would be score virgin August turns? ooh yes baby...ohh yes...oooooooooh.....yesssssss!!!! Exotic conditions. Up to 4 inches of fresh snow blown into interlacing runnels, like the coat of a Snow Leopard. From the base of the Snow Dome we shoe'd and skinned through a bit of broken snow to the main snow field and climbed a bit above 9200ft. Above that the snow field was bisected by a few manageable but menacing crevasses. Most of the snow field was strewn lightly with rocks, but slashing tight turns in the four foot wide patches of fresh was the only focus. We finished up making a few wild turns on the very last toungue of snow that peels off the Elliot glacier and rounds the corner below Snow Dome. Yet another wicked fix...