After my successful mount McLoughlin expedition upon return to the car I sat sunbathing enjoying the sun. I was pretty exhausted after the long climb and lumbering through the forest back to the car but decided I would keep with my plan and stay in Klamath Falls Saturday night with a plan to hit Mt Scott Sunday on the way home.
I stayed in a terrible motel (econo lodge, really dirty, not recommended). I left Sunday later than planned after getting little sleep due to the broken toilet flushing every 30 minutes, the incessant humm of some generator or AC unit next to my room, noisy neighbors, traffic, a fire alarm at 2am and proximal gunfire noises at 3am...
On the drive to mount Scott I had to stop for fuel, stop for provisions, and stop to buy duck tape to fix a broken ski pole. Getting to the right forest roads from highway 97 proved difficult because many of them led to private property ( I got chased away by a pack of angry dogs at 1 point). As I got close large snow drifts appeared, my forester crawled over the first few but then I seemed to reach consistent snow cover at 4850ft, nearly 6 miles and* over 4000ft from the summit. By this point it was 9:45 and being tired I decided I probably wouldn't summit but should enjoy a mellow tour in the warm spring sun and the quite pine forests.
I skinned along some forest roads in the direction of mount Scott, very gently climbing, pleasant but a little hot. After 3.5 miles and 1400ft I arrived at the top of the forest roads where I had originally planned to make my way up the SE ridge towards the summit. By this point I was tied with sore feet from the distance covered and the big climb the day before.* However, since i had now arrived at the start of the climb i was motivated to give it a good shot, with less than 3000ft and less than 3 miles to the summit form this point. There were already some tracks which I followed. The heat and sun was quite intense being so late in the day which made for an uncompfortable climb. Once I got within 1500ft of the summit I knew I had to push on in order to get the views of crater lake. After some pushing I was well rewarded with fantastic views of a cloud filled lake. I finished at the 2nd (southern) summit without the watch tower as the traverse would add unnecessary extra time which I would have to double back on for the descent, all for an extra 20-30ft ascent.
Temperatures were very mild and pleasant and I could have spent hours looking at the lake but it was getting late (I summited at about 1.15) and snow deteriorating in the sun. A large group of skiers were at the watch tower and traversed back to me before descending.
The descent back to the forest roads was fun, fast, smooth and very enjoyable. I kept to the SE ridge like the other skiers, the obvious tree free bowl and avalanche path just didn't seem a wise line but was tempting. I think a little more freeze-thaw is needed, and an earlier start. A very long slog was required to cover the 3.5 miles back to the car along mostly flat roads with deep wet heavy snow. Still, a fantastic journey.
About 4200ft and 6.5 miles to the summit, about 3.5 hours up which surprised be considering exhaustion and the heat. Getting back to the forest roads took 20 minutes but 70 minutes needed to get back to the car along the flat.
The objective. Originally i was going to ski the avy path but snow conditions dictated staying to the SE ridge lookers and climbers left, just on the skyline.
Ascent towards the summit. The UN was really working the snow.
The reward, the view
The true summit and watch tower
More crater lake
but this may mean easier access gets easier as roads melt out