August 26, 2001, Snow Dome, Mt. Hood

Wanted to make an August ski, so made the long drive and met friend Cyril at cloud cap trailhead to check out Snow Dome for the first time. Hiked in at night and camped at ~7700 ft. Our plan was to make a couple of laps below the large crevasses at about the 9000 ft level. Awoke to very pleasant weather and we hoped the sunny day would soften the (dirty/icy/bumpy) snow. Climbed on skins with ski crampons (on randonee gear) to about 8800 feet below some crevasses, and waited until about 12:30 to start down. The views were of course excellent and except for a couple of ant-sized hikers on the Cooper Spur we had the whole north side of Hood to ourselves. The skiing was not excellent however, as the slope did not soften a great deal. We decided to wait a few hours and at 3 we went for another run. The snow had softened only a little bit, so we could not harvest the corn we had dreamed of, but the weather and the setting still combined to make an enjoyable day of skiing. I imagine that this would be an excellent spot with more snow.

Any suggestions on a place to get September and October turns? (The thin snowpack makes me wonder if it will happen for me this year, let's hope for a couple of early-sason dumps!).

Corey Bloom