Trip Report
This climb was one of two "graduation" climbs scheduled for those who had participated in the Basic Mountaineering class. A total of 18 people signed up for the climb and waiting list. Cancellations brought the number down to 14. Rather than turn anyone away, Steve Still and Kim Sawyer agreed to lead six of the climbers on the originally planned Pioneer Ridge route, and the remaining five people accompanied me on a climb of the West Ridge via Corrigan Lake. The two groups departed from South Eugene High School at 6:00 a.m.
The Corrigan Lake report: Our group left the trailhead at about 8:30 a.m. under clear sunny skies. We ran into snow about a half mile up the trail. Snow conditions were pretty soft at first, and crusty at times farther up the mountain, but snowshoes worked well for all the snow conditions we encountered.
Since none of us had done the Corrigan Lake route before, we had some work with a map and compass and GPS to find the lake and the ridge above it, but all worked out well. We stashed the snowshoes at about 7800 ft. and continued up the ridge to the summit, where we met up with the other group. The trip back down the ridge went pretty fast as we took advantage of good glissade conditions. We retrieved the snowshoes and headed down the bowl north of the West ridge to Corrigan lake and were back to the car before 5:00 p.m.
The Pioneer Ridge report (from Kim): Steve Still led the group up and as the trail became covered in snow he took a compass bearing on the summit. We continued via the ridge and had a good walk up; we did not use our snow shoes, as the trail was steep and we weren't post holing. We met up with the Corrigan Lake group at the summit and spent a leisurly 45 minutes visiting. On our decent we got very wet glissading and did finally use our snowshoes when the trail leveled out some. Oh, and that compass bearing Steve took, he brought us right back to the exact spot! We were all duly impressed.
Reaching the summit via Pioneer Ridge were Virgil Lamb, Linda Lamb, Laurie Funkhouser, Larry Huff, Steve Stuckmeyer, Garry Degulis and leaders Steve Still and Kim Sawyer. Those making the summit via Corrigan Lake and the West Ridge were Jodi Brensike, Jonathan Russell, Jason Mueller, Andy Jobanek, assistant leader George Jobanek, and Sue Sullivan, leader. <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond1.jpeg" width="360" height="480">
Jodi and Jon at Corrigan Lake <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond2.jpeg" width="360" height="480">
Good snowshoe conditions <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond4.jpeg" width="360" height="480">
Reaching the ridge - and open conditions <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond5.jpeg" width="576" height="432">
Proving you can kick steps in snowshoes <a href="images/ss20040502-diamondpan.jpeg"><img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamondpan.jpeg" width="500" height="175"></a>
A panorama of Diamond from the lower West Ridge (click on image for full size) <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond6.jpeg" width="576" height="432">
Jodi's fun meter is about pegged... at 8000 ft on the West Ridge <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond7.jpeg" width="576" height="432">
The gang on the summit <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond8.jpeg" width="576" height="432">
Descending the West Ridge <img border="2" src="images/ss20040502-diamond9.jpeg" width="360" height="480">
Andy enjoys the glissade - photos by Sue Sullivan
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