We drove my girlfriend's VW Golf to North Gate Memorial Day weekend, it was slow going but fine. Anything with alittle more clearance would be smooth sailing.Quote:
Originally Posted by pajamas
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We drove my girlfriend's VW Golf to North Gate Memorial Day weekend, it was slow going but fine. Anything with alittle more clearance would be smooth sailing.Quote:
Originally Posted by pajamas
Was up at the Gravel Creek TH earlier this week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtndaddy
Didn't check out the Brewer Creek access, but that one snow drift
might be gone by the weekend.
Suncups are not an issue.
The north facing drifts heading up and to the right always seem to
stay smooth late into the summer.
What's the advantage of Gravel Creek vs Brewer Creek? Do you take the Hotlum Wintun Ridge route from there or take the Hotlum Glacier route? Or something else?Quote:
Originally Posted by jibmaster
I was up there exactly a year ago and the Hotlum Wintun Ridge route was pretty suncupped up to around 11,000' IIRC. I'm tentatively heading back up next weekend and wondering if I should take the same route (weather didn't allow summiting last year so I'd be happy to repeat it) or try to ski northern aspects.
Skied the Hotlum-Wintun 6/30. Conditions were pretty good. Kinda bumpy everywhere: suncups, runnels, tracks. None of it was too bad but don't expect super smooth skiing. Still worth it though. You can park to within about 3/4 mile from the TH. Skis on at 7400'. I started skiing at about 9:15-9:30 and it was plenty soft. It was softening by like 8 am. Get on it early.
[QUOTE=jorion;5050496]What's the advantage of Gravel Creek vs Brewer Creek? Do you take the Hotlum Wintun Ridge route from there or take the Hotlum Glacier route? Or something else?
The Gravel Creek TH is nice when Brewer Creek is not open yet.
It offers quicker access to the Hotlum Glacier route.
Or you can cross the lower part of the Chicago Glacier and hook up with the
classic Northgate route.
It sits right between the Brewer and Northgate routes.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2911/1...b4f6b1b3_c.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5277/1...4fdd589b_c.jpg
Some videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrJibms...y=gravel+creek
Plus, you get to see Clitoris Falls
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/489/17...7ae32522_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2898/1...e7540a70_c.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7425/2...802d7482_c.jpg
200+ photos of the Gravel Creek TH area/route:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_...eek&view_all=1
The north facing slopes heading up and to the right from the Brewer Creek, Hotlum/Wintun route
hold snow for a long time.
Less suncups than the traditional Brewer Creek route.
Thanks for that! Super comprehensive. I'm curious to check that area out, but I don't have glacier travel training or ropes so I wouldn't want to go too high from there.
So, Im supposed to go up to Lassen Saturday and Shasta sunday. But the forecast for Sunday at 12,369 feet is 38 degrees and windy.
Anybody know what the temps up high at mid day on Shasta been lately? Looks like a wind/drop in temp for the weekend.
Wondering if it will be worth it
Lassen NP brief update from Monday 7/3:
* Road opened to Bumpass lot. Drifts too deep at Helen Lake to punch it to Summit lot.
* Limited roadside skiing options ... South face of Ski Heil connects to the road but is of medium-low quality with respect to bumps/cups. Southwest aspect of Ski Heil mostly burned. North Face of Bumpass is looking like reasonable skiing.
* North facing is reasonable quality, mild sunbumps that are easily skied through. We skied on N face of Ski Heil. It was fun but f(*$ing HOT.
* I did not get onto Lassen proper, but I imagine accessing NE face from Devestated is definitely the best skiing option, based on what we skied and saw elsewhere.
* 2nd hand report from East face of Lassen (talked to another skier) that suncups are of poor quality. Seems like it hasn't frozen a real freeze overnight in forever, despite the clear nights. S face proper is burned, no snow above the Vulcan (navel). There is a decent ramp down to the summit lot, but by the time it gets plowed out, the ramp will likely be gone.
* Coverage on North face of Diller, Pilot Pinnacle, Ski Heil still really deep, but a bit of an effort to get to that stuff, best way is from south face of Ski Heil.
Thanks Alex. Can you camp at the devastated area lot still or do you have to have a campsite ? Ill pull in late Friday night and will be sleeping in the truck
I don't know the answer to your question. If you have a subtle camper setup you probably will be okay.
I know when there is a lot of snow on the ground and the road is closed at Devestated, NPS Rangers have not enforced any camping restrictions at the Devestated lot. They definitely know that skiers camp there to get early starts on skiing, and haven't mentioned anything when driving through the lot while skiers are obviously getting ready to go while tents are still set up etc. I've camped there this season, about 2 months ago, with no issue.
Now that the main northside campgrounds at Manzanita, Butte Lake are open, who knows if they are going to be more strict. However, summit campgrounds are still closed, so maybe the rangers are willing to accept that as an excuse.
But in your case, in a camper, they probably won't give you any hassle.
So not able to bike to the Summit lot at Lassen?
^ The road is plowed from the South to Lake Helen. You really can't get far on a bike past the closure @ Bumpass Parking Area. The climb from Helen Lake to the Summit Lot is still under several feet of snow.
From the north you can get from Devestated to Summit Lake, which is still like a mile to Reading Peak.
NE face of Lassen skied great yesterday. It's definitely holding up way better than Eastside stuff at much higher elevations. It would have been a little bit better at noon, but it was just a little on the thick side at 2PM. We were able to ski within ~1000' vertical of the Devastated Area parking and walking out down the creek drainage wasn't bad. Suncups weren't an issue at all until the bottom and even then it was just mellow straight-lining.
What's the preferred way of climbing from the north side? We ascended via the north ridge and had to do a lot of somewhat sketchy scrambling up the ridge. I think it was nearly 800' of vert worth and really slowed us down. Having minimal climbing experience on rock I found it a little spicier than I'd prefer. Next time I'd try just booting straight up to the ridge. Is that the norm in summer?
The Hotlum Wintun Ridge was glorious today. I was pretty shocked by how good conditions were.
The road is now open to the Brewer Creek trailhead, although it was just barely passable in my old Outback in a few places towards the end. There's continuous snow to at least 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead, maybe closer if you're more clever than we were.
We starting skinning at 3 under a crazy bright full moon and summited at 11 with some long breaks. The bootpacks are in excellent shape. Dropped in at 12:30 and found good to great conditions the whole way down. A little firm up top and a little heavy down low, but the snow is in relatively great shape. Suncups are just barely starting to show up. There were some runnels in one section that were easily smoothed out.
Night and day difference from the end of June last year. I'm planning on heading back in a couple weeks and checking out the north side.
Lassen coverage:
Attachment 209249
Dawn on the HW:
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Looking down at where your car is parked 7000' below is pretty wild.
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How long did it take you to get to the top? I'm thinking about heading out that way this weekend and I'm glad coverage is still looking good. Appreciate the picture up above as well!Quote:
Originally Posted by jorion
We were feeling better than we expected and did it in 8 hours with an hour or so of extra rest. (we didn't want to top out too early and have to sit around in 40 mph winds for a few hours at the summit while waiting for the snow to soften more.) Really though, it would have been fine to drop at 11, and it also turned out there was a wind-protected spot to hang out on the summit ridge. If we had descended earlier the top 1000' would have been less forgiving but the maybe the lower mountain snow would have been a little less thick. Conditions were absolutely nothing to complain about though, especially for July! A lot nicer than this time last year.
As for coverage, only about 15 feet of the traverse from the snowfield onto the upper glacier was on rock on the way up, and we were able to ski all the way down to treeline without taking skis off by staying skiers right past the climbing traverse and then cutting left through a small section where the snow connects halfway down the glacier.
This pretty much shows the whole route:
Attachment 209336
Closed out my Season this last weekend with a Lassen/Shasta double header. Drove up Friday from San Diego Solo. Its a Looooooong ass drive from my house to NorCal
Saturday Morning Park fees
Attachment 209340
Just a heads up as of July 9th its a two mile hike to snow
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Finally a view of the peak
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On the up
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The skin begins
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Storn on the way up
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Hi Mount Shasta
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So, I started skinning with ski crampons on . I like skinning in steep terrain so I wanted to challenge my self. Can I skin this whole bowl? Well, the snow was getting softer but my skins and crampons were holding well so I thought I would be able to make it
The photo below tells the story. You can see my skin track above the top rock on the slope. I almost made it. The slope broke around me and I was caught in the worlds slowest wetslide. Not in danger, but getting pissed as the vertical feet I was supposed to be riding slid by me . I finally got my whippet to garb just past the rock. You can see the slide path.
I regained composure and started booting up . Made it to about 50 feet from the top , heard a thud and looked down to see on of my bindings rolling down the slope . DAMMIT. I down climbed the slope and retrieved the binding.
Back up. Once more. But now the slope is getting rotten and I don't have boot crampons. It becomes obvious I wont see the top of Lassen Peak today
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4297/3...bbfbf785_c.jpg
Now for some Riding
Storn
Attachment 209347
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Buffy
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On the way out I had to point out to Storn my ass slide/ shwack path and why I didn't top out.
Attachment 209352
On the drive from Lassen to Shasta we stopped by Burney Falls. Never been there. Was really cool
Attachment 209353
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Sunday - Shasta
Original Plan was to go up Diller Canyon. But Jim W had just arrived in camp with the bad news that the snow was missing from our intended area. It was also getting late, so we opted for a run down the old Ski bowl from Shastarama point
Attachment 209355
Damn this place is big
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4278/3...de58192f_o.jpg
A few hours later
Attachment 209356
Plant Life
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And....the last run of the season
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So that's it. 2017 was a great season. I didn't score as much powder as I wanted , and I didn't get as many days as I wish but Im safe and sound with tracks on the ground
Thanks to all my good partners. You are a family to me
Dude that woulda been redunculous if you skinned all the way to the top of Lassen. Good times splitbooting, splitboarding, and riding snowboards with you guys Tex!
Did lassen and the snow is going quick but it's still so damn nice. More details to come ..
Is lassen rd open to top yet?
July 27 full opening
You can get to Peak trailhead now
So overall the snow was great. I would highly suggest getting up to Lassen within the next week or two before the suncups grow some more and ruin everything. Made a little edit from this weekend.
https://vimeo.com/226877221
Shasta on 7/23. Hotlum/Winton from Brewer's Creek. Serious mosquito swarm in the late evening/early a.m. About 1 hour hike to hit snow. Lots of butterflies on the summit, and 5 other skiers. Top 2K on Winton from the top was fairly smooth on the down, next 4.5K on Hotlum was sun cupped but soft in the afternoon. Overall two thumbs up for 6K+ of continuous turns in July!
Lassen's latest opening to date.
Hi, anyone have any beta on current Lassen conditions? Still holding snow on the north face or Eagle, Loomis or Reading Peak?
thanks
I was just up at Burney falls and could see snow on the North face still... Can't say how far towards the devestated area it goes.
Just adding for others: North Gate TH on shasta is about 4.5 miles of dirt before skinning.
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Was just up at Lassen. From Hat lake the snow line on the NE face looked to be around 8600ft so unless you like scrambling it's done. I found a nice thinly continuous patch above Emerald lake that skied alright. Everything is pretty well cooked.
It sounds like Lassen Peak is done, anyone have information on the surrounding slopes? My son and I "need" to get some turns this month to keep our streak going at 12 months. Any suggestions?
Just saw a report on the North gate area on Shasta. Still turns available. 5 miles plus to skinnable snow I bet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtndaddy
Fresh and Deep.
Lassen wasn't bad on Aug 21. Got about 3000 vert of good turns with minimal effort. Hiked the summit trail. Skied down the north side until it flattened out and then booted back up and skied 2 patches down the south with an easy traverse to the trail. Pretty good September potential. First 3 pics are from the north side and the last one is from the south heading back to the TH. Some other guys did the NE with the hike out to devastated and hitch to the summit TH and they were pretty close behind to our 2 runs. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9ef538e9c2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9e64ccf57a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c23a7806c7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a66b901e72.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Mtndaddy
Well done! I particularly like this outfit. I will have to wear mine next time I hit Lassen.Quote:
Originally Posted by h-atlas
Skied the north side Sept 3rd. Continuous Snow for 2400+ ft. Still some good sized patches on the east face next to the summit trail also. Snow was sun cupped but not bad. Snow was good at noon. Finally got 12 months straight this year!!! What a season this was.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e6f451da0b.jpg
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bump for gimpy
Lassen must be getting hit with some legit snow up high with these AR’s?
the park got 5-7 inches Saturday night. light winds on sunday, but Monday was pretty brutal and almost everywhere got wind jacked from the NE winds.
just enough coverage to get out and about but pretty slim still until you are up high.
Any beta after this weekend? Considering making the drive up to get in some vert this weekend and start getting the legs in shape. I'm assuming skiable coverage and predominant windfunk?
Skied Shasta Sunday. Great coverage (skin/ski to the car). Everything had setup with a good melt/freeze that night and it was corn from at least from where we skied (11.2k) down to bunny flat (6.9k). It was all about timing and aspect - anything SE facing steeper stuff 11.2k-->9.6k was really good, then a short mushy section until you get on the flatter stuff a few hundred feet below. but from there down to 7.5 was really good on the flats again. We skied off of Casaval at noon and it felt like perfect timing. The west facing stuff hasn't gone the cycle yet, so for now skiing off of Casaval is where it's at. there is some texture and ski tracks but it was soft so it skied like it was smooth in most places.
I tried to post a bunch of pics earlier but it said something like "need moderator to approve the post" or something. I'm sure I screwed something up.
If folks want to see some pics let me know and I can try again. Assuming this post goes through :) ... cheers.
Going to Shasta tomorrow, 4 th time in 4 weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. hankey
When you say you skied off cassaval ridge, were you skiing from the ridge into avalanche gulch, or north of the ridge cause to West face?
Was ice fall bad into the avalanche gulch?
Thank you.
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Attachment 223114.
A picture from a week ago.
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