Todd and I met up with JBaysurfer at the trail head for Blue Lake around 5:00 on Saturday evening. The plan was to camp at Blue Lake for the night, and ride the remaining snow in the Bear Creek drainage of Diamond Peak the next morning. I’ve ridden Diamond before, but earlier in the year, so I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a bit of snow still remaining on the northern aspects of the mountain, given that the summit elevation is only 8700 feet. Here’s a shot taken from a several miles away looking at our objective….

After a short hike into the lake, we set up our bivy sacks and camp. Todd went to work trying to catch a fish on the fly rod, while JBay and I hiked out to the truck for a few extra supplies (more beer). Neither Todd nor I had any luck hooking a fish that night, but had a good time trying….

After a nice camp fire and plenty of stories, we hit the sack ready for the coming day’s turns. Up around dawn, we hit the trail early after breakfast. The hike up the trail was fast, then we marched through brush for a few hours before we reached treeline. This shot was our greeting at treeline…..

The snow patches were very firm, though I don’t think it froze the night before. We all had elected to leave our crampons at the car in favor of fishing gear (and other gear including skins we ended up not using), so we headed up the main steep rock ridge in front of us. It was pretty easy scrambling, though in one section Todd knocked a loose rock down towards me that narrowly missed my noggin. That occurred not far from this picture……

We reached the top of the ridge, and got the view of our main objective. The weather was nice, not too hot, so we basked in the sunshine for awhile and took in the view before climbing the last half hour to the top. Here was the view from the ridge top…..

Marching up the snow was working pretty well now without crampons, as we were allowed enough purchase to feel comfortable. Here is a picture of me and JBay coming up the last pitch…

This is the view across to the summit proper (Diamond has several false summits)……

Getting to the actual summit proved interesting, as we had to negotiate either a scree ridge which required scrambling, or negotiate a large moat with some exposure. JBay chose going the moat route since he had a whippet, and Todd and I scrambled since we were w/o tools. We ditched our packs about 80 feet below the summit, and hiked up for a nice August view. Here’s JBay from the summit……

We took a few pictures on top before heading back down to the gear. Here’s a shot looking towards Willamette Pass (in the background), where Todd and I are on ski patrol in the winter……

Finally it was time for the riding. Dropping in required riding down a pretty steep pitch of somewhere between 50-60 degrees, but it was only about 100 feet or so in elevation. We dropped it a bit early, and it wasn’t quite as soft as it could have been, but was still fun. Here’s a couple of shots of JBay riding the pitch….

We rode down several hundred feet, then stopped at a rock island to let the snow soften some more. After another 45 minutes, we continued making turns to the bottom of the bowl. Here’s a few more shots of me and JBay….

Once at the bottom, we climbed a few hundred feet up out of the bowl to a saddle in the ridge, then dropped in the other side and continued riding until the snow ended. We probably got somewhere around 2000 vertical feet of riding for the day. Then, we packed the boards on the packs and started the long several mile trudge down the ridge to the trail. The mosquitoes were fierce in the forest below, and I have dozens of bites on my arms and face 😕 We made it back to the lake in time for a nice swim, which made me feel somewhat human again. Then, gear packed, we headed for the truck and were out to the trail head by 4:30 or so to a cold beer. Here’s a shot of JBay and I on the hike out…..

All things considered, it was a good way to earn turns in August and it was a pleasure to meet another rider on this board and get to spend some time in the backcountry with them. Thanks JBay for joining us!