marmotlegs

Thought I would add a current post to this thread... The winter drought took us to Damnation yesterday and we found it quite enjoyable in a wet, cold, dreary, brushy kinda way. The old spur road is pretty open for maybe half its distance, then tolerably clogged, the last half-mile or so being the worst. Left the road near its end, crossed the creek easily (easier crossings farther upstream) and headed up the obvious fan and gully SSE of the summit. Passed an easy third class step, then at steeper rock above angled left in a smaller gully branch to the ridge crest where we encountered the first continuous snow (about 4,500 feet). Strapped on the shoes here. The route over the false summit and up is obvious as noted by others. A short scramble at the top led to those wishful views not to be had. Only 2 or 3 feet of snow near the summit. For variety, we mostly glissaded the NE ridge to the saddle, then down easier terrain about 1,000 feet before angling right to eventually intercept the creek maybe half-mile above the road end. Valley travel here was easy, as was the descent in forest (some brushy places). About five hours up and not quite three and half down. A good off-season trek--if avalanche hazard is low.