Dome Peak and Sinister Peak majestically overlook the vast Chickamin Glacier near Gunsight Peak. The most direct approach to these peaks is the Suiattle River Road and Downey Creek Trail. Additionally, this route is part of the classic Ptarmigan Traverse, a high-alpine path ascending through Itswoot Ridge near Spire Point.
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Dome Peak and Sinister Peak at a Glance
Chickamin Slam = Dome Peak + Sinister Peak
奇卡民滿貫=巨蛋峯+邪惡峯
Access: Suiattle River Road at mile 12.5
Round Trip: 50.5 miles
Elevation Range: 900′-8920′
Gear: helmet, multi-night, snow, rock & rope (60m)
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: no
Friday, July 4
Overview > Day 1 > Day 2 > Day 3
Bike + Downey Creek Trail + Cub Lake
An Unforgettable Dome Peak Adventure
This trip to Dome Peak and Sinister Peak was my most scenic adventure of the entire season. It was also memorable because I met three new climbing partners through a mutual friend. Besides some challenging logistics, everything else for the trip worked perfectly according to our detailed plan.
Apart from the long approach, my least favorite part was undoubtedly the eight-mile bike ride. Ironically, the decade-long road closure was scheduled to reopen in just four short months. Due to snow conditions, we unfortunately needed to put in more mileage than the latter climbing groups.
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The Bike Ride to Downey Creek
Coincidentally, I had bought a bicycle to climb Green Mountain off Suiattle River Road years ago. Since that particular trip never happened, the bike has sat unused inside the garage. But with this incredible outing, I finally made my first long ride to a remote trailhead.
Unfortunately, the Downey Creek bridge was still under construction during our approach hike. So one by one, we crossed above the raging water by using a very shaky ladder. It was quite exciting to see the completely finished product when the dogs and I returned the following year.
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From Downey Creek to Bachelor Creek
Flagging on the other side of the creek took us through downed trees, slide alder and dense brush. We were soon on the right track to reach the very top of the scenic basin. The views greatly expanded in the upper drainage, where we eventually found the first patches of snow.
The long hike to Six Mile Camp offered only spotty views and was mostly uneventful. It then took quite some time for us to find the log over Bachelor Creek to cross. But we were very glad to continue the approach without needing to ford the incredibly raging water.
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Dome Peak Camp at Cub Lake
The descent down to beautiful Cub Lake from the high pass was quite steep. We soon walked over to the lake’s scenic east end and set up our new home. Then we crossed our fingers and hoped for a much better weather outlook to arrive by the morning.
We held a quick birthday celebration for the youngest Bulger finisher, Lindsey Warren, before bed. Patrick even surprised her with a delicious homemade treat he had brought along for the occasion. We all turned in for the night right after the small birthday shindig.
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Saturday, July 5
Overview > Day 1 > Day 2 > Day 3
Sinister Peak + Dome Peak
Ascending Itswoot Ridge to Dome Glacier
The following day, we awoke to a cloudy sky with dark clouds looming ominously in the south. After breakfast, we walked up the steep slopes above camp on our way to Itswoot Ridge. Once we were on the ridge, the sky soon cleared up to let in the bright sun.
Shortly, we carefully navigated through steep slopes on Dome Glacier in the warm sunshine. The terrain flattened a bit as we went over the col and continued on to the east. We had finally arrived and were now standing on the top of the massive Chickamin Glacier.
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Getting Onto the Chickamin Glacier
Shortly, we set up the rappel in order to safely bypass the large, problematic bergschrund. According to Kenny and Patrick, the gap was much wider when they turned around here a year ago. But with our early season trip this time, we successfully avoided that very same crux.
We made firm steps in the snow as we descended so we could use them on the return without much effort. It only took a single 60-meter rappel for us to safely reach the bottom of it. I looked at both sides of the gap and knew it could have easily been a deal-breaker.
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A Long Traverse Across Chickamin Glacier
Dome Peak and Sinister Peak looked deceptively close to each other on the map. But in reality, they were much farther apart with the many turns we took to bypass crevasses. We also needed to drop even lower on the other side to begin our climb on Sinister Peak.
Mike became suddenly ill and unfortunately decided that he would stay behind. We made sure that he was waiting in a safe spot on the glacier until our return. Then the rest of us continued onward and planned to meet him right after the climb.
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The North Route on Sinister Peak
We carefully rerouted our path several times and went through an area I thought was terrifying. Some of the places even had massive crevasses both directly above and below us. We were soon standing under the intimidating and stunning north side of Sinister Peak.
Lower down, Kenny and Patrick opted to go around the backside to climb up through scree. But Linsey and I stayed on the north side and decided to tackle the steep snow instead. I did not think that this noted challenging route was as scary as it had looked.
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The Final Push on Sinister Peak
Later, we all met up higher on the ridge after reaching that point via our separate ways. Then we set up a secure hand line through places with high exposure along the ridgeline. We later finished the rest of the climb on class 2 terrain up to the summit.
I could still feel the lingering effects of the Tylenol PM from last night. So with a heavy rope in my pack, even the easy walk-up section on mild ground felt quite brutal. It soon began to drizzle as we made the final stretch up to the broad summit.
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Limited Views from Sinister Peak
The views from up here were scarce as the dark rain clouds moved into the area earlier. At one point, Dome Peak briefly emerged from the mist during our short summit visit. The lousy weather soon crept in from the north just as we started to leave the top.
Afterward, we met back up with Mike on the Chickamin Glacier as he was now recovered. By then, more clouds had moved in, and the visibility was unfortunately at its absolute worst. We then climbed over the bergschrund crux in the mist using our firm steps.
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Beginning the Climb of Dome Peak
Kenny and Patrick had climbed Dome Peak the year before, so they went straight back to camp. But Mike, Linsey, and I decided to continue with our climbing objective. Shortly after the two men departed, we moved up the slopes toward the incredible summit of Dome Peak.
Because of the weak visibility, we could not quickly pinpoint the summit, even with a GPS device. But shortly, we were able to spot the anchor with webbing used by other parties. We were all very glad to know that we were still on track to reach it.
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Final Push to Dome Peak’s Summit
The most exciting part about climbing Dome Peak was the exposed rock arête leading to the top. Without any hesitation, Linsey grabbed the rope and quickly inched toward the true summit. “You go, girl!” I shouted with much amazement.
There was absolutely no way for us to protect the featureless and narrow rock ridge. So Lindsey set up a hand line at the top as I slowly scooched my way over. After some initial hesitating, Mike decided to come up by using the newly fixed rope.
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Incredible Views from Dome Peak
As luck would have it, the clouds completely broke away the minute we reached the top. An amazing inversion even formed under our feet as we carefully moved around. We then had an excellent 15-minute window of blue sky with the sun shining high above.
From our angle, dense clouds had completely shrouded all the nearby, lower high points. So there was not a lot for us to see from the summit block. But the warm sun sure was pure bliss, and we soon made our way down the peak in case the mist returned.
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The Descent from Dome Peak
The visibility had improved a great deal by the time we returned to the col. Then the low clouds lifted right as we strolled our way back through the Dome Glacier. Soon afterward, the magnificent, impressive Glacier Peak finally reappeared into our view.
The three of us made it back over to Itswoot Ridge just after it got dark. But unfortunately for us, the snow had significantly softened on the traverse later in the day. So we very slowly postholed our long and tiring way back to our camp.
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Sunday, July 6
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Exit
The Grand Exit From the Mountains
On our final morning, we took our time to pack up before leaving the beautiful lake basin. I could not help but glance back at the impressive Itswoot Ridge on my way out. Meanwhile, I still had not processed all the climbing we crammed into one incredibly long day.
The hike going back to the Bachelor Creek Basin was pretty unexciting for all of us. Then it was a long way out to Suiattle River Road from there. But on the bright side, we were so glad to have our bikes to ride downhill for most of the way!
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Overview > Day 1 > Day 2 > Day 3