[Fletcher]

As soon as access to the Suiattle Valley was restored last fall, I decided I was going to make Dome a priority this summer. This week, Rob, Micheal, and I made it happen. On Tuesday morning I picked Rob and Mike up from their homes and we drove out to the Downey Creek TH. We started hiking shortly before 9:30. Only a few minutes up the trail, I was drenched in sweat and knew it was going to be a long day. We cruised the 6ish miles to Bachelor Creek in 2 hours.

probably my favorite wilderness

Green Mountain Lookout from Downey Creek

Bachelor Creek foot log

We took a break at Bachelor Creek and located the path heading up its north side. This trail is nice for a while until its not anymore. We crossed paths with 2 ladies heading out in Lower Bachelor Creek. They had hiked into Dome Col to retrieve some gear that had been left up there 2 weeks prior because of an injury and airlift situation. They gave us beta on the the trail up to Itswoot and the Dome Glacier crossing. Soon after that, we came across 2 older gentleman that had climbed Sinister the day prior. It was 99th and 97th for them on the Bulger List. They said the shrund onto the Chikamin was already open and they had to climb down into it to get across. Although we werent seriously considering going for Sinister, I kind of wanted to try. This info dashed that hope, but that was alright! Whats some dumb list anyways.

Bachelor Creek Trail

Rob in one of the nicer sections of Bachelor brush

A recent trip report on Cascade Climbers says to cross to Bachelors south side at 4100 ft, the ladies we talked to echoed this so thats what we did. Yeah, dont do that, more on that later. After crossing the creek on a foot log, we battled keeping the trail through hellish brush for what seemed like forever, until we finally came to more open forest around 4500. We took a break here before following the route through a marshy area, then up an old avy path in direct sunlight. This was the hottest part of the day.

up the old avy path

this section of the route was heinously hot and muggy

After the slide path, the route goes up through more forest for a little while, then FINALLY you pop out in a subalpine meadow. Damn, that seemed to take forever. At this point, the trail becomes much easier to follow as you gain another ~400 ft up to the ridge above Cub Lake.

ahhhh finally pleasant travel

cub lake below

first look at Dome

We quickly dropped the 700 ft down to Cub Lake and look a lengthy break before heading up the final 1000 ft to camp.

Cub Lake with route up to Bachelor Creek

Itswoot Ridge

Spire Point

nearing camp

We finally arrived at camp at 8pm, 11 hours after leaving the car. I think this approach would have generally taken us maybe 7 or 8 hours but the heat and humidity really slowed us down. The campsites on Iltswoot Ridge are amazing with up close and personal views of Dome and Glacier as well as the area from Sulphur Mountain to Bannock. We had dinner and enjoyed the sunset, then went to bed. It never got fully dark that night because of the nealry full moon.

We did not get an early start in the morning as we knew we had all day just to get Dome. We were descending on good climbers path from camp, into the Spire Creek drainage at 9am. Travel was pleasant with plentiful water over talus, snow, and rock slabs. We picked out a nice looking route from camp, where we could take mostly snow to gain most of our elevation to get us up and even with the Dome Glacier. Our route worked out well.

traverse to Dome

descending from camp

our route went down around the buttress that is just over Rob's head, then up and climbers right

ice blocks

nearing the Dome Glacier

Eldorado and the Ptarmigan Traverse

We got to the Dome, roped up, and headed up toward Dome Col without much difficulty, other than it was as hot as a furnace on the glacier with little wind.

Dome Col is just right of the blocky sub summit and just left of the true summit

Mike and Rob with Spire Point and our Iltswoot Ridge camp far below

nearing Dome Col

We dropped a bunch of gear at the col and took a lengthy break before heading up the short distance toward the summit. There was a little steep snow we climbed the gain the summit ridge.

gnarly

summit ridge

The lower portion of the ridge still held some snow, taking away from the exposure on the left side because we were in a moat of sorts. It took us no time at all and we were looking at the incredibly exposed summit scramble. "Whoa, that looks gnarlier than I thought it would be" I said.

easy scrambling approaching the summit block

Mike and Rob on the ridge

Dome summit

We hung out there for a few minutes, nobody was really eager to lead the final bit to the summit. There was some good snow just before the exposed move around the big blocky rock so we placed an anchor with pickets and set up a belay. Mike was the one who manned up first and tied into the rope. I belayed him over to the top. It looked easy, like we thought it was supposed to be. From the summit, Mike set up another anchor with a sling and belayed Rob and I over. What an incredible climb!

Mike on the summit

view north

view NW

Bonanza

view east

Rob and Glacier

three idiots made the summit of Dome Peak!

Register

some names I recognized

After 20 minutes on the summit, we decided to head back down. I tied in first and was belayed back across to relative safety. I was able to get some shots of Rob on the crossing.

snow arch below us on the Chickamin Glacier

The route back down to the col went by quick and easy. At the col, we ate, retrieved our gear, roped up and retraced our steps down the glacier and ultimately, camp. It all went by pretty quick as we could plunge step and boot ski a good portion of it below the glacier.

Sinister

looking back up at the summit

obligatory cannon hole shot

Dome Glacier terminus

looking back

Back at camp, we enjoyed another great sunset and moon rise for dinner.

After dinner, we hiked up into the basin below Spire Point by moonlight. It was spectacular. On the way down we noticed some sections of tread and a few cairns. Is this the climbers route to Spire Point? We got up early on Thursday knowing we had a long hike out and that it was forecasted to be even hotter than approach day. We left camp at 6:20 and made it down to Downey Creek by 11. We saved considerable time by crossing back over Bachelor Creek at 4500 instead of 4100. There is a noticeable campsite there, with a large boulder with a fire pit next to it. This way you avoid much of the brush. It sounds like quite a few parties have done the same thing we have done in figuring out the easier route on the way out. On the way in, it felt like we had to cross the creek sooner than later to stay in easier terrain but dont! Stay on the north side and the brush will give way to open forest and save you time. The "trail" through between 4100 and 4500 is complete sh## and was the crux of the approach. Back at Downey Creek, we took a long break and then hauled the last 6 miles to the car in 2 hours. It was extremely hot and humid in the valley and I felt like I was melting. When we got back to the car at 1:30, it was 93 degrees We grabbed a 6 pack and found a nice spot to relax on the Sauk rather than get stuck in traffic for rush hour. What a great trip! ~30ish miles ~lots of gain

Glacier sunrise

moon setting

frog on Downey Creek Trail

Mike passed out

[Schenk]

Nice report! Nice trip! Be glad you did not try to shortcut up Sulfur Creek...traveling through it could push one over the edge of sanity.

[silence]

I looked longingly at Dome on the 30th from Green Mountain ... and while I've always had my eye on it, we're just not skilled enough to climb the peak by ourselves, esp now at our age. However, getting up to Itswoot Ridge is still possible ... so thx for the great beta. And, congrats on the summit!

Shot with the tele from the top of Green Mountain.

[Distel32]

Sweet

[contour5]

Stellar reportage. Perfect angle for shooting Glacier Pk...

[cefire]

Very cool! Also, "Ptarmigangstas"!!!

[raising3hikers]

great place to go! to avoid the brush and alder, don't cross the creek. as soon as the trail peters out, go N through 5'-10' of alder and on the other side, is nice open pockets of easy travel to weave in and out of to avoid the bushwhacking. Then at the top of the meadows near boulders, hike back into the forest (East) to find the old trail again near the creek

[EastKing]

[cartman]

Outstanding, and thanks for all the great pics and beta. That's a tough one to do in the heat.

[gb]

[Gregor]

Nice report Amazing how different it looks. We did this peak almost the same day but in 2013 and cub lake was frozen, it was all snow to the summit from there. The summit was a crazy snow fin.

[Foist]

Bachelor Meadows was still in the "100 classic hikes in washington" book when we bought a copy in the late '90s. I was always drawn to the photo of Itswoot Lake (but scared off by the description). Isn't that one a cool turquoise color? Did you get any photos of it on your trip?

[wildernessed]

[Michael Lewis]

Video's up. Thanks Fletcher for having me on this very memorable climb!

[rbuzby]

Great pics! Dome is a very important mountain.