There is a convenient plowed parking area 100 metres beyond the dogsled road off the Callaghan/Olympic Park road. We parked there knowing we wouldn't be towed. From there we walked back to the dogsled road and strapped on the boards. The route follows logging roads. There are a couple of them, both in the same direction. We crossed the first one to reach the second. Both roads were groomed by snowmobile for dogsledding. The best route follows the second road, which crosses the creek draining the east side of Metal Dome. After a couple of switchbacks, it levels out and proceeds up the Callaghan Valley towards the NE side of Metal Dome. When the road ends, there was talk of a high route and low route. We adopted the low route, which according to various sources leads to gentler terrain for gaining the subalpine environment. I was glad of this choice because all my previous ascents were using the high route or variations thereof. The route choice provided me with further knowledge of the area.

The low route proceeds level from the end of the logging road. It shortly crosses two creeks in small canyons, both easily crossed. After about 30 minutes (perhaps one or two kilometres) we could see the terrain easing off and opening up. We came upon another creek in a small canyon and now turned up its true right bank. This proved to be the creek that drains Metal Dome glacier.

Another 30 minutes or so of climbing through pleasant open timber brought us to the subalpine basin whereupon we spied our destination. There was a large group of heliskiers that had completely tracked out the glacier. We made our presence know and after a final run, the heliskiers bid us adieu. That was decent of them. They left some untracked goods behind for which we aimed our tips and tuned our beacons. About 40 minutes of climbing took us to about level with the top of Metal Dome, whereupon we called it our high point. There was a slightly higher col but it was a bit skied out so we gave it a pass. No real remorse from the crew, that!

The skins were detached, the tips pointed downhill and we expended our built up potential energy in a most pleasing manner. Snow conditions were almost perfect and the avalanche danger virtually nil. What more could you ask for?