Tuesday was a gorgeous sunny day which started off a chilly -18 but warmed up to freezing by late afternoon. We parked about 1½ kilometers past the Mosquito creek bridge and headed up a combination of an old uptrack and ski tracks, all of which were well covered with recent snow. We came out of the woods below the end of the south ridge of Dolomite Peak pretty well bang on, then continued east toward our objective.


Skiing toward objective

Once on the slopes, Peter and I stopped to dig a pit which indicated a stable snow pack of about 2 meters on top of faceted snow at ground (at least at the point chosen!). We then climbed up to join the others for a lunch break.


Lunch: Gary, David, Terry, Doug O and Doug D

Five of us headed up to a high notch, while the others went for first tracks.


Gary, Terry and David with nowhere else to go

After one run, two elected to return to the lunch spot for an abbreviated second run. The snow was slightly wind affected, but there was no sign of previous activity. Doug measured the angle at about 25 degrees.


Doug admiring tracks

We managed to find a route out through the jumbled terrain before the traditional run out from Dolomite Pass without donning skins.


Skiing out

Most skinned up for the short climb prior to the dash through the trees back to the highway. We took about 7.5 hours cars back to cars.

For those who are bewildered by the popular name “Watermelon Peak”, here is an old photo taken from the Katherine Lake area. Perhaps it helps!

Watermelon S2

Thanks to participants Peter, Terry, David, Doug and guest Gary and Douglas (picture) for their trail breaking and good company.

Philip

Addendum:Bill has set me straight on Watermelon peak, which is in fact 2.5 km NNE of the peak pictured above. My picture is of a peak known as WatermelonS2 in Bivouac and on Google Earth, but to me it looks more like a watermelon. Apparently appearances are irrelevant since the name is attributed to Bill Putnam who climbed the peak in 1966 with a watermelon in his pack. Thanks to Dave Birrell’s “Peak Finder” for this tidbit. I guess things are never simple in the mountains!