My friend Heather LaBerge Krauss offered to take me up Dollar Couloir last Sunday. Heather is a very experienced skier, ski instructor, mountaineer and cyclist and has hiked up Dollar in ski boots with Deb Castro to the summit of Charleton and then skied back down Dollar
A bit of history -- Sally and I went up Dollar Couloir in the spring of 2011. It scared the wits out of me -- other things too
Last year, Sally and I ran into Heather and Deb around the time they skied Dollar and were very impressed. After our 2011 experience, I'd pretty much sworn off another attempt but trusted Heather and thought it might be nice to exorcise my "Dollar Demons."
At Southfork meadows, we took the Dollar Lake trail, headed down the cut-off to the lake and endured some bushwhacking to get to the "staging area" for the Couloir. Heather apologized and I laughed, noting that I've taken Sally and other friends through much worse in some of our cross country adventures. Although Sunday was toasty, we wore pants, long sleeve shirts and gloves for skin protection in case of a mishap. Donned crampons and headed up.
Heather led the way and provided very helpful climbing tips. The snow wasn't great -- it alternated between icy and soft. Sometimes my foot would slide an inch or so before the crampon points bit into the firmer stuff underneath. However, overall I was comfortable and thoroughly enjoyed the climb. We reached Charleton a bit after 11 AM, removed the crampons and celebrated with lunch and sips of 18 year old Glenlivet single malt Scotch from my late dad's metal flask.
Initially we were going to walk down Charleton's east shoulder. After starting to post hole badly, we turned around and dropped over the south side of Charleton to the Sky High trail. There were still areas of snow on the Sky High and Dollar Lake trails but nothing requiring traction devices. It was great to get back to my car and trake off the boots. We enjoyed great burgers and baked potatoes at the Oaks restaurant before heading home.
After hearing about the climb, Sally asked if I would mind going back up on Wednesday
We were amazed at the temperature forecast (opposite of Sunday) -- very cold and windy, with an effective wind chill below 0 F. At least this time I didn't mind wearing pants and long sleeves 
When we opened Sally's trunk at the TH, I realized that I'd left my poles in my car, which was a Mill Creek Ranger Station 
Sally graciously loaned me a pole.
I decided to take a different route to the staging area for Dollar Couloir -- big mistake. We discovered that we were too far to the north. Rather than retrace our path, we opted to traverse from the steep ridge we were on over to Dollar Couloir. It was very icy and we had to negotiate pine trees and snow covered rocks. For me, this was the scariest part of the day. Later, Sally recalled that we also did this in 2011 -- sheesh
It was a relief to finally reach the couloir and head UP, rather than traverse sideways. The snow was firmer (better for climbing) than on Sunday due to the cold. In fact, it was so cold that I wore my down sweather and fleece hat halfway up the couloir. We got into the Zen of the climb -- enjoying the beautiful rhime ice left by the cold front. Found a sheltered place in the rocks on Charleton peak for lunch. The artic breeze blew rhime ice off the trees as we fueled up.
Thanks to the cold weather, we were able to walk down Charleton's left shoulder in the snow. At a saddle on the west side of Christmas tree hill, we removed our crampons. Then it was a matter of following the ridge down to Southfork meadows. This was our first time descending this route without snow. It was doable but required some zigzagging due to rocks, brush and deadfall.
Finally rejoined the main trail and headed out. I wish there was a way to decrease the distance between the Wilderness boundary sign and the Dollar/Dry Lake junction -- that section seems to take forever. Since the Oaks was closed for dinner, we enjoyed an excellent dinner at El Mexicano in Forest Falls.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
