
Trip Report
Dickerman Mountain (winter)
Pleasant early-winter scrambling trip.
- Fri, Nov 24, 2017
- Dickerman Mountain (winter)
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Snow-free to 3,800'. (Snowpack had diminished greatly in preceding days' "Pineapple Express" storm.) Many areas of trail were flooded and basically like walking through a stream, sometimes up to 6" deep.
Waterfall gully @ 4,200' had about 6" snowpack on either side. The gully itself was free of avalanche debris - ice axes were not needed. Crossing the gully required careful travel - water had pooled deeply & was semi-frozen on surface; water was flowing in between boulders at a depth of about 6"; boulders had about 3" of snow on them and maintaining contact with hands was pretty much essential to prevent a slip from resulting in an 8' drop into the semi-frozen pool below.
Snowshoes donned at blueberry meadow @ 4,600'. Snow wet & firm here.
Approx 2.5 to 3' snowpack from 5,400' to summit at 5,700'. Snow dry & powdery in this region. Stable & well-bonded to ground; no avalanche risk observed.
While the final 200' of ascent are on fairly gentle terrain (~20-25 degrees) and not usually mentioned in avalanche discussions, it was noted that trees in this area are flagged, indicating avalanches do occur with some frequency.
Weather: Overcast; no views; some fog at summit. Trailhead was ~40F and lightly raining. Precip changed to snow at ~3,800'. Light snow fell throughout the day. Summit was ~30F and 20mph winds; combined with being wet from rain & snowfall, was very frigid - our party could only withstand staying at summit for 20 minutes.
Good workout, good post-Thanksgiving calorie burner.