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 Peak:  Mt. Democrat
 Route:  East Slope
 Range:  Mosquito
 Posted By:  sky_high
 Date of Info:  6/14/2015
 Date Posted:  6/14/2015
Details

I arrived at the peak around an hour before sunrise and parked below the Kite Lake trailhead. The road is walkable in boots up the the trailhead, but then turns to snow for the rest of the way. There must not have been a freeze overnight because the snow was already loose and wet when I started. Apparently, another group had come up even earlier and taken the wrong trail, ending up at the summit via the southeast face. The normal trail is well trodden, but I strongly recommend not undertaking this peak without traction/flotation. The snow is very loose right now, and while the chance of an avalanche is slim, the chance of slipping your way down the rocks is excellent.

There is some exposed scree to climb on from above the lower gully on the east face. Once you get to it, it is possible to get through the scree in boots with traction up to about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Above that it was all wet snow until about 300 feet from the actual summit. If you're going to glissade down, remember to watch out for the rocks as they are just starting to poke their heads from the snow right now and it's easy to end up with a boulder to the rear.

As for the Decalibron, the path looks clear with really reasonable exposure right now. As others have mentioned, it is very doable, but may take the better part of a day if you're not skinning and you have to pound through wet slush. The quality of snow was poor enough today that I nixed it.



Comments or Questions
DVB1
Decalibron
6/15/2015 11:33am
We’re planning on the Decalibron possibly this wed. My wife may get a little nervous seeing these pics but we’ll see what happens in the next couple days. We are definitely bringing flotation. Thanks for the Pix.


BillMiddlebrook
User
Arkansas
6/16/2015 2:31pm
Any chance you took a pic of 13er Mt. Arkansas while you were on Demo’s summit?



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