Although Sullivan describes climbing the Dome itself (Hike #98 in his Southern Oregon guide, 2nd edition), his description of the actual climbing route isn’t very detailed, so we used the one on SummitPost. It’s not a technical climb in the strictest sense but (as Sullivan says) it’s only for “confident scramblers” – as there are places where a slip could have very tragic consequences.
The trail ended with us facing the S side of the Dome. From there we zigged-zagged up 3rd class ledges (black arrows) and up to a feature called the “Dish” (just beyond the white arrow on the right). This shot was taken after we descend, and another group had started up, so (for scale) there’s a person standing the ledge above the orange arrow.
Once you’re on them, these initial ledges seem fairly wide and are easy to follow.
At the far upper right of these ledges, we came to the “Dish”, which is an easy traverse only about 10’ long, with good hand and foot holds.
The catch is that if you slip here, you’ll slide 10’ down a dirt-lubricated trough and over an 800’ cliff. The Dish is just above the white arrow – the rest is cliff.
Immediately past the Dish, we went up a shallow gully,
which tops out (just below the white arrow) at the base of the final pitch of climbing to the summit.
I free climbed this last bit but the loved one used our rope – not because she isn’t a good climber – but because we had it, knew how to use it, and there was no reason not to have a little something extra in our favor.
About 50’ above the end of the gully, the slope eased considerably, and we were on the summit in no time, with a splendid view of Shasta,
and the Castle Crags themselves.
Getting down went quickly and we were back on the trail in time for lunch and to see some clouds start to form over the Crags and Shasta (but nothing came of it).
While we were eating lunch, a group of college-age folks went by and proceeded to scramble up the Dome unencumbered by gear of any sort. It looked like the leader had probably done this climb many times before, which undoubtedly raised their confidence level (this was our first time). It also showed that the Dome need not be a technical climb. Ultimately, however, anyone thinking about hiking it will have to make their own assessment of the risk involved and whether they want to give it a go (and with what gear). A short (5.4 mi RT, 2100’ gain) but very fun hike/scramble on yet another perfect day!
