I wasn't assisting with the glacier climbing class for 2001 but my girlfriend was. She was going off to climb Mt. Baker. So what was I gonna do? I needed to tag along on a climb. Three friends mentioned that they were going to climb Dome Peak and, while in the neighborhood, have a go at Sinister too. 1200 ft. of 50 degree ice on the Chickamin Glacier. Cool! I had read that Dome had a bit of a tough approach but hey, I'm tough! Right? Plus, what peak in the North Cascades doesn't have a tough approach? So I tell Steve Matera, Seth Pollack and Sandy Weil that I'm the fourth guy for this trip and on June 22 we leave Seattle for a six day adventure.

The first 6 ½ miles are on maintained trail following Downey Creek with almost no elevation gain. A few blow downs but no real problems. However when we reach the trails end we find that crossing Bachelor Creek is a bit of an issue. We finally decide to cross on a downed tree that spans it. However this tree is about 12 ft. above the creek and not very wide. Walking it looks pretty sketchy so we end up scooting across it on our bums. With 65 lb. packs this requires a lot of arm strength and balance.

At this point we leave the maintained trail and get onto the climbers path. Right. Actually, aside from gaining 600 ft. in the first ¼ mile (ok, that may be an exageration) the trail isn't so bad. Or maybe it's just that I've hiked worse. Anyhoo, we weave our way up the Bachelor Creek drainage over blowdowns, Slide Alder, Devils Club, etc. It eventually flattens out, opens up and we lose the trail. According to Nelson/Potterfields guidebook we were to have crossed the creek about 600 ft. lower but no one saw any sign of that.

A bit of scouting and Sandy crossing the creek to have a look see at the other side ("Yes, the trail continues over here!") and we start to question the accuracy of the book. So we take off our boots and wade across. Soon we find a decent spot to camp. A bit soggy but after an 11 mile day with heavy packs we're happy to eat, relax & sleep.

After a night of Steve snoring ("Keeps the bears away!") we get up, hoist our now 63 lb. packs and continue up the creek. Soon we hit a steep area where the creek swings around from the North and heads South. We enter snow and traverse around until we hit the head of the valley. We climb up to a saddle and peer down to Cub Lake in all its Aqua-Blue beauty. Great place to rest. The elevations aren't matching the book, Hmmm.

The descent to Cub Lake is very steep and mostly without snow. We sure hate to lose those 600 ft. but from there it's a whole new world. Alpine, baby! We round the lake and find our target way up on Itswoot ridge to the East. Picking our way across a somewhat trecherous, snow-covered boulder field full of hidden moats we start the steep climb up the ridge. Our beautiful camp on the ridge gives us our first look at Dome Peak and the Dome Glacier, 18 miles from the trailhead. We note a few more descrepancies with the guidebook and come up with "Nelson? Potterfield? Never been here!"

The next morning we cache some food and gear near camp, descend and traverse over to the glacier. There are some areas that look a bit avalanchy and we avoid them as best we can. We climb a few hundred feet next to and eventually onto the Dome Glacier before ending up on the flat upper part of it where we find our favorite type of snow; breakable crust! Step, step, SINK! Step, SINK! This goes on for way too long and includes the last 600 ft. of elevation gain to get to the col just under Dome Peak.

But we slowly make it and set up camp at the col at 8560 ft. We have the Dome Glacier to the South and the Chickamin Glacier to the North. Clouds prevent good views but we're happy to finally be here, 3 days and 21 miles from the trailhead. The plan was to set up camp, have lunch and then climb Dome Peak, just 400 ft. above us. But the mountains have other plans. The clouds move in, the temperature drops, the wind shifts direction, starts blowing and then comes the snow. Steve and I jump into our tent, the one we borrowed because it was lighter than mine, where we quickly realize why we shouldn't take 3 season tents on climbs. The snow blows under the fly and attaches to the mesh. The wind shakes the tent and we get a good spray of snow on our faces. Pretty soon there's a good amount of snow in the tent. Ok, boots back on, go outside and fix this. We pile snow up and over the bottom of the fly encircling the entire tent. It works. The storm lasts for 14 hours and by the time it's over our tent is about 2 feet narrower and 2 feet deep in fresh snow. I love my earplugs.

The next morning we finally get up to perfect blue skies and amazing views. But the storm had changed our plans for us. Sinister, with all of this new and unconsolidated snow, was off the list. So time is on our side. We take our time with breakfast and just enjoy the views. Eventually we do the 20 minute climb up to Dome Peak. The easiest summit day I've ever had! We end up spending 6 hours up there which includes a cell phone call to Doxey Kemp for a weather update…… and to rub it in.

Eventually we go back to camp because we're hungry. After eating we're playing hackey sack (in plastic boots!) and hear a small plane. Seth had mentioned that his friends Anna and Mark were talking about flying over us in Marks plane. The plane gets louder, it gets closer, it flies over us, turns around, drops lower and buzzes us. It's them! Cool! On their second pass we see something flung out of the plane. A drop! We see the package come toward us but the wind catches it and it drops out onto the steep glacier. Sandy yells "I got it!" and starts running out onto the glacier. "NO! Sandy! You're unroped!!!" He stops just as we see the package slide down the slope. "Hey, it's stopping!!" "It's sliding again." "IT'S STOPPING!!!" and then we see it slide away toward a crevasse and suddenly… it disappears. Bummer.

But the plane flys by again and another package is thrown! And we watch as the wind takes it away onto the glacier and it slides down the slope following the first one. Damn! But wouldn't you know it, Anna prepared 3 packages! The third one lands above Sandy, who's now out onto the slope, and he grabs it and runs back to the rest of us. The plane flys by one last time and we hear Anna yell "WhooHoo!!!" as they pass. We wave a hearty thanks and tear into the package. Corn bread and chocolate cake!!! Gone in seconds! Just as we're feeling both glad and sad Steve says "I think I see the second package out on the glacier!" Sure enough, it's there. We'll get it tomorrow. Later we climb a steep snow wall near camp in an effort to justify carrying these second tools all the way up here!

Day 5. We pack camp, say bye to Dome and shake our fists at Sinister. It looked really cool too. Out on the glacier we retrieve the package. Returning on the traverse we cross avalanche debris that wasn't there the day before. Ugh. Once back on the ridge we pray the marmots didn't get to our cache. Seth tells us that it's all been eaten but it's just a joke. The second package has turkey sandwhiches and another huge piece of chocolate cake! We feast!

So now the plan is to not just go back today over what we climbed on days 2 and 3 but to go a couple of miles further to make the last day easy. There was this great camp back there, see, and we'll have a bonfire, see, and we'll eat all the rest of our food, see….. so we have a goal. Well, we make good time descending in the snow. The climb back up to the pass above Cub Lake is hard but all in all we move fast. Then we hit the slide Alder and the creek crossing. Sandy decides he's gonna take a dip after taking his pack across. So, in his underwear, he starts crossing. I watch him as I take my boots off and I see him slip and go into the water down to his waist. Unlike Sandy he didn't jump right back up. I see him wince as he pulls his pack back onto his shoulder. We yell to ask if he's ok but he can't hear us over the rushing water. He crosses to the other side and I go across to him as fast as I can. He's in pain. One look at his shoulder and it's obvious; it's dislocated. Suddenly we have a medical situation. We all get over to him and Seth, who has first aid training, tries to put it back in but it just won't stay. It's kind of in, kind of out. We try traction, we give him Percocet, put clothes on him, etc.

After more than an hour it becomes obvious that the shoulder just won't stay in and it's getting dark. So we use a hiking pole to splint his arm into the "Jesus position" and divide up all the gear in his pack. So now our packs weigh about 80 lbs.! We figure we're within 2 miles of the camp so Steve and I go to find it and set it up for the night while Seth walks with Sandy. After what seemed like 2 hours we find the camp. We had been there only 10 or 15 minutes and Steve was just about to head back to see if they're ok when they appear. Even in pain and on Percocet Sandy is fast!

We try again to put the shoulder back in but it just won't go plus Sandy is exhibiting symptoms of shock. So we put him in his bag and tent. The rest of us eat and talk about our options. We need to get up with the sun and get Sandy to a hospital. So we all go to sleep. Except for Seth, he doesn't have enough room to lie down in the tent!

Morning comes early and we take off. Sandy's doing pretty well actually but is anxious to get his shoulder back in place… we all are. We have about 3 miles to descend on the climbers path. It goes pretty well with Sandy negotiating the brush fairly easily. But when we hit the maintained trail we encounter the obstical that we've all been dreading: the Bachelor Creek crossing. We eventually decide that the best way to get Sandy across is to ford it. We put him into his harness and all walk beside him with one hand holding the harness. To decrease the fall factor we all walk in just the shells of our plastic boots. It helps our traction on the slick rocks but MAN do they cut into our ankles! And of course once we get Sandy across we have to return to get the packs. So we each crossed 3 times… except Steve, who scouted the route, who crossed 5 times!

Once we're on the other side with all of our gear and dry socks on our feet with just 6 ½ miles of maintained trail ahead of us Seth finally relaxes. He's been running on adrenalin since the accident and maybe got 2 hours of sleep since then. And we see it in his face. He's toast! But it's a breeze from here, right? Well, we each have about 80 lb. packs and have to stop about every half mile or so. At least we get to raid Sandy's food bag… which weighs 10 pounds on day 5!!! The truth is, this was almost the toughest part. It's not really flat but rolling up and down and we feel every uphill like we've never hiked before. Sandy's on more Percocet and not making much sense. At one point he says "Hey Doug, *%#w*cnjdiomvijc@nudrxkufhm!c#x?nh$bvybbu." To which I say "No problem, Sandy." And the trail just keeps going and going and going and going and going. 6 miles?!?! Really?!?!?! Unbelievable. And then………….. it rains…………..

So 6 miles takes about 5 hours and we arrive at the car spent and wet. We decide to take Sandy to the UW hospital. He's insured there, they have good doctors and, well, we've waited this long, what's another hour or two? We don't get any dinner, we don't pass go, no $200. But Sandy does get to the hospital where even the doctor couldn't get his shoulder to stay in. So he tells Seth and Steve to leave the room while they turn Sandy into a pretzel. He gets it back in. Thank goodness for Percocet.

That's our story, fun, sad and true. So if you're partner is on a climb without you and you're looking for a little something to do while they're gone….. don't call Sandy, Seth or Steve! Or maybe my problem is that my name doesn't start with an "S"……