I had climbed Royce and Merriam Peaks the day before, so I was well acclimatized for the shorter but much more intense climb of Mt. Dade. Due to the record winter the Hourglass Couloir was still completely full of snow in late July, except for the top 100 ft or so which had melted out. The bottom half of the coulior is pretty low angle and I made quick progress upward. The top half was steep and slushy making for a slow and exhausing climb using the ice axe in the stake position.

I was on the summit by 11 am but the clouds had already grown dark. While on the summit, the snow flurries came, followed shortly by pebble-sized hail. I assumed the lightning wasn't far behind, so I made a hasty retreat down to the top of the Hourglass. From here, I took a deep breath than began the 1,000 ft glissade down the 40 degree slope. As I was sliding down, I found myself veering more and more towards the rock wall of the couloir and couldn't steer myself back to the center. Now too close for comfort, I rolled over and did a self-arrest. Once stopped, I walked to the center of the slope and finished the rest of the glissade without incident.

This is an awesome route - it's tough but doable and I had a great day out at less than 7 hours!