Swans, Dog Peak

I took a day off of work and rallied proper early to have a look at Dog peak, which is a prominent peak on the Swan crest just North of Smith Creek pass.  I don't know of a formal name for the peak, and it doesn't have an elevation on the FS topo map, but it does sit at the head of Dog creek, so I refer to it as Dog peak.  Getting to the peak early enough to catch safe spring conditions is a non-trivial challenge, so I did my best by rallying from Missoula at 3 am.  I scouted what looked like a fun approach run just North of the pass from old photos an Google earth, and made reasonably quick work of the approach.  Unfortunately when I summited, I realized that I had climbed the wrong mountain!  

Early morning view of the ski run on Dog peak.

After getting my head straight, I pieced together a reasonable way off the mountain and was soon at the base of my primary objective.  The fragile overnight refreeze had fallen apart, and the snow was pretty slushy, but I made my way up safely with lots of attention to detail.  After a quick summit transition, I skied the hanging upper face, which was safe enough with a few strategic ski cuts, then enjoyed skiing bed surface snow in the main Southeast couloir.  I was pretty happy get off the mountain and cruise the run to the terminus of the avalanche path, 1,700 vertical feet below the summit.  ,

Looking down the exit couloir.

It had warmed up so much that the rest of the day was pretty much shot for good skiing, so I battled up through mush to re-gain the crest, then checked out a nice alternate exit, climbing out to high point 7,973, which allowed for a wicked fast exit to the trail.  It was a pretty quick walk out to the car from there.

This might be a first descent, but I would love to hear otherwise.  In any case, the ski line is a great ski mountaineering objective - complicated and exposed to demand attention, but totally safe and fun with good conditions.  Lots more to ski around here, particularly on Cooney, so I will definitely be back.