Lassen / Shasta Conditions Anyone?

I've wanted to hit Shasta for about two years now. First time I saw her I fell in love real quick. Finally got the chance to get up that way and give it a go this Thursday and Friday. Started hiking at 3AM Friday morning and got to the summit at 1PM via Avalanche Gulch. Dropped from just below the summit pinnacle at 2PM. The skiing was very firm and rough above 13k but everything from there down to 8k was primo. Could've dropped an hour earlier for "best run of all time conditions" but I was feeling it after the climb up so I wanted to relax for a little while. Honestly got a perfect weather window as the early morning cloud cover broke for a great afternoon of mostly sunny with minimal wind. Bunny flat is starting to burn out right at the trail head but coverage was ample above that. There was a decent amount of rime falling on the way up the gulch and a gal ahead of me took a softball sized chunk to the cheek. Lots of ice left in the Red Banks/Trinity Chute area still waiting to come down. Great trip all around and I can't wait to get back to try a different route.

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Damn, Bunny Flat is burnt in early May!

https://vimeo.com/268558609

these are fucking sick

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Originally Posted by B__

A few more from Friday:
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Skied Lassen N side on Tuesday 5/8, Shasta Hotlum/wintun Wednesday, and the S side Thursday.

Lassen N side: Could still patch things together w/o taking off and ski to ~6600ft, only a 20-25 min walk to the Devastated area parking lot. That will move up quick and in another week(?) you’ll be skiing/walking to around 7k instead. It softened really early that day- I was able to skin all the way to the summit plateau and that was 8:30-9am:eek:. Great corn from ~10.4k down to maybe 8k at 9:30am, then all mush below that. It was really smooth for the most part (some limited avy debris). On that day the window was 8am-8:30.

Shasta Hotlum/wintun: good balance of access (6450ft) and skiable snowline (6800ft), maybe a 15-25 min walk on the road to snow with minimal cross country – see map below. So that’s a nice ~7.4k ski descent. Some of it hasn’t gone the cycle up high and hasn’t smoothened fully yet (wintun above 12.5k and hotlum snowfield above 11.5k still need more sun). Still skiable and fun, but just not the hero corn that we find there when we typically go in June. Below that It’s really smooth. I’d bet the Northgate side is further behind on the cycle, but with warm days and higher sun, all of the above should hopefully be great soon.

Shasta S side (Bunny flat/Gulch/Sargent’s/Mud creek glacier). Great access yesterday, you can skin/ski right down to the first turn out of bunny flat(~5 min walk). But it’s pretty patchy below 7500ft, so there will be a lot of taking off/on soon, and by memorial day I’d guess you’ll be dry walking on the trail all the way to horse camp. Coverage above 7500 is really good, no sun cups yet, but the snow from ~7700 and below is getting dirty, at least on the E side of the gulch where you ski down to catch the skiers gully (wind event?).

Pics below:
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LASSEN TUESDAY
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Shasta, > 100 miles to the north:
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My first of 4 Arby’s(high altitude climbing fuel) purchased on Monday night and consumed over the following 3 days. Gross? perhaps. I read that Ed Viesturs likes SPAM on his climbs, and so this is my equivalent. I think both come from the same part of the cow (testicles? Tongue? Hoof?).
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Looking at the N side from the top:
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SE side looks good:
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Road plowing zoom in on S side:
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Where i took my skies off on tuesday:
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Shasta, Brewer creek Wednesday.
After having great weather on Lassen Tuesday, Noaa was calling for Rain/lightning on Shasta Tuesday night , with clear but high winds for the rest of the week (Summit forecast was 20F high with 40Mph winds with gusts to 70, but supposed to lower to 40MPH gusts by late Wed). Got there on Tuesday afternoon and rain/lightning, could no longer see the mountain. But It cleared so we went, but decided to do a non-alpine start to have some hopes of it softening up high by late afternoon, and hopefully melt off the rain/snow from the storm and have the wind reduced in the afternoon. Wrong call. No wind at all. So by the time we skied from the top at ~3pm, everything below 10.5k was mush. really smooth mush.

Pics:
Map – you can drive to the black dot next to the X, the a dry walk on the road/woods until you ski/skin with great coverage at the “O” dot.
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smooth on the hotlum snowfield ~10k. Could skin all the way to the cross over pt at ~12.6k, but the hotlum side of the ridge is more northerly and more textured.
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Zipper rain crust from the night before(?):
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Lunch on the cross over point. Clouds kept coming then clearing. Alternating between 0 vis and what you see here. The H/W ridge is a great guide in a white out.
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The final gully – notice the slight texturing. It was ok to good skiing, just not corn. Lots of tiny pebble like snow chunks kicking down when you ski.
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Misery hill/Whitney from the top:
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Looking E towards our descent through the clouds
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Sherpa1 starting the 7.4k of skiing:
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some of the pics look similar, but you can see the difference in the snow. some places better than others. btw, the very top above 14k was bullet proof until you go over the roll-over.
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Still 5000ft to ski:
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Looking up from ~10.5-11k. this was soft but with a zipper crust
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Back in the clouds, moments later.
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Below the clouds, ~10k. This part has gone the cycle and was perfectly smooth. Would have been great corn if we started in the dark. Attachment 235558

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Shasta, S side from Bunny Thursday.
Was planning on a short day with the goals of getting home early and just to get the best corn. Was gonna do giddy giddy or maybe hit the SE side of casaval, but it was much colder that day so even with our late 7am start we kept climbing since it was still too firm to ski. Kinda nice having no agenda and just going with the flow w/o a timeline. Ended up crossing over to Sargent’s ridge and skiing off the SE side down to the Mud creek glacier, then down Sargent’s to ski bowl, and back over GB ridge to the gulch. Fantastic corn almost the whole way as we changed aspects from E to SW, to W as we descended (E aspect from 11.7 to the glacier was perfect at noon, then SW from Sargent’s to the ski bowl was good from 10.5 to 9.3, still firm from 10.5 to 11k but skiable. The W face of GB ridge down to the gulch and the gulch down to 7.7k was great, until you hit the dirty snow).

Gulch.
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After crossing over GB ridge to the ski bowl, skinning towards Sargent’s Ridge.
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Looking down on the mud creek glacier after climbing over Sargent’s. The "pinky chutes" both still go from upper Sargent’s ridge and are clean. If you ski the Konwakiton gully or Thumbs down chutes you’ll either have to cross that thin rock band or ski down below it. But all of it is still in play with great coverage with minimal rock crossing to get back over to sargent’s from the Mud creek glacier. I wouldn't wait until june though. FYI, it's safer and easier to climb to thumb rock from the gulch directly. Thumb rock is not visible here (hidden behind the lower stuff on Sargents ridge, but you can see the top of the Konwakiton gully (rimy part looking futher back in the center, starting from the summit plateau).
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Getting ready to ski down to MC glacier (left) Ski bowl/GB on the right.
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peaking over Sargents ridge looking down at ski bowl, gulch(right) and if you zoom in you can see bunny flat.
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This was fantastic at noon. E facing, 11.7k. usually this side is corn by 10am, but it was cold that day.
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Looking down from Sargent’s to the ski bowl (and gulch in the right). The top 500ft from 11k to 10.5 was still firm (SW facing), but 10.5 to the cross over at 9.2k was great.
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Sherpa1 dropping the W face of Green butte to the gulch. Great corn. Great day.
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This trip was special. After having kids i really didn't ski for 6 years and last year when i got back into it i found out i couldn't do any big trips > 3k due to foot pain having to take my boot off. That and the 30 extra pounds. Still rocking the dad bod today, weighing in at my late 80's ski size (need to lay off the Arby's) with another 10+ to go, but the podiatrist fixed me up (Mortons's neuroma), so i feel like i got my mojo back this year. This is probably my last hall pass from Mrs. Hankey, and it's a low snow year in CA, but just so thankful to be out there again...

This Volcanic shredporn is excellent. Great work and beta!

Great beta...heading that way in 2 weeks.

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Originally Posted by mr. hankey

Pics:
Map – you can drive to the black dot next to the X, the a dry walk on the road/woods until you ski/skin with great coverage at the “O” dot.
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Nice work!
How big was that drift where you stopped? Hoping for more info from this weekend.

Jibmaster,
It's a pretty big snowfield (1.5-2ft deep, 30-50 ft of driving), and worse it's on a curve. I don't think it will melt out this weekend, but should be passable by next weekend. Without that snowfield, you could almost drive to where we put on ski's.

Good stuff mr. h.

Was planning on climbing it this weekend but looks kinda windy. Would you do it? B, you in town?

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Originally Posted by mr. hankey

Jibmaster,
It's a pretty big snowfield (1.5-2ft deep, 30-50 ft of driving), and worse it's on a curve. I don't think it will melt out this weekend, but should be passable by next weekend. Without that snowfield, you could almost drive to where we put on ski's.

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Ah, I see, still pretty big. Yeah - that drift is a classic. It drifts in deep right there every year.
So about a mile of hiking.
Perfect - thanx for the info mr. hankey!

Nope.

Great beta there Mr. Hankey. Sounds like a great few days.

Finally got McLoughlin in good corn today, after years of staring at it from Shasta and Lassen.

So much easier when the summer TH is open, otherwise it is a longass slog from Highway 140. It just opened the last few days ... and I was surprised to see 3 other parties on McLoughlin today.

Could barely make out Lassen and Shasta today as well - they looked pretty socked in. But views of Crater Lake rim (Scott) and Thielsen were amazing.

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Very nice indeed! Good work. It's on my list.

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Originally Posted by B.Gillis

https://vimeo.com/268558609

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BTW. totally forgot to say - thanks for the cool viddy above, B. Gillis. got me stoked before our shasta trip!

Shralph - well done on McLoughlin. Awesome pics!
Mr. toad, not sure if your question was for B_ or me regarding "if you should go?". hope you went and had a good time (if so).

I haven't looked at every page of thread. Starting to concoct idea of overnight trip to Lassen with my tween kid. What is the story for relatively easy bc outing? I know it can be done there, but am very light on details. It'd be his maiden voyage on AT gear, if I can convince him that his season is not yet over. I've never been to Lassen.
Cheers

Bodywhomper, the best time of year to go is when the south road is open to Bumpass Hell.

Roadside access along the southwest and southeast aspects of Ski Heil Peak make for really easy skiing. The north side of Ski Heil is a super fun short shot (500 vert maybe? well worth an out and back). This area can be linked up with a longer tour out to Pilot Pinnacle and/or Eagle Peak if the kid has stamina.

Lassen proper is also easy from Bumpass or Lassen summit parking area once plowed, only 2k vert.

Right now with the south road only open to Sulphur Works and the north road open to devestated area, most skiing is going to be a sufferfest slog for a young one.

Beware two things:
1) The Road is of questionable stability right now due to a recent rockfall and that may really delay road opening.
2) when the road is fully plowed and deemed safe, the NPS will typically keep it closed for one full weekend for cyclists only. This is a bummer because often you can drive from South visitor center to Bumpass Hell just to ski if plowing is “mostly done” ... then once the plowing is complete they re-close the road from the south.

Moral of the story, call a ranger and wait until the road opens from the south to Bumpass ... unless you want to do a bike-ski tour with your kid (which you can do right now).

https://www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvis...ing-update.htm

Thank you!!!

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There is a link on the Lassen website that shows Road plow and road opening status. Schralp posted the link.

If the road is not open to Bumpus hell or or summit and you're committed to going anyway your best option is probably parking at sulfur Works and going up to Ridge Lakes. You're probably hiking on the summer trail until you hit snow line.

I think devastated area approach to snow line is melting quickly but it is relatively straightforward with great terrain on the northeast side.

You can park at Sulfur Works now but the bowl above Ridge Lakes was pretty sloppy on Monday - it has not been freezing or clear overnight. The north side of Diamond Pk might ski well - get there by hiking up the road and taking the "Ranger's Cutoff" up the south side. Folks are cycling up to Bumpass or the summit parking area and skiing from there. We met some who had skied the peak on Sunday and said it was firmer than they had expected.

hopefully theyre getting some of this storm
were expecting up to a foot above 8000

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Originally Posted by mr. hankey

BTW. totally forgot to say - thanks for the cool viddy above, B. Gillis. got me stoked before our shasta trip!

Shralph - well done on McLoughlin. Awesome pics!
Mr. toad, not sure if your question was for B_ or me regarding "if you should go?". hope you went and had a good time (if so).

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Thanks Mr. H. I really want to get after the Hotoon next week if conditions allow. How fudged up was the road on the way into Brewer Creek? As in could I make it with an impreza?

That road has been in really good shape since 2014 and an Impreza could make it. It used to be a lot worse. Just don’t come in from 97 (via Military Pass) .... it’s well graded from 89 to Brewer Creek.

Probably still won’t be able to get to the TH proper but it’s not a big deal. Just drive until you are blocked by snow, then turn around and find a nice camp spot nearest the last switchback. You can usually head straight south and find a ribbon of snow this time of year, even in a dry crappy high snowline year like this one.

Thanks Schralph, I feel like you have the answer to just about every question in this thread. Every TR and route guide I could find for the Brewer Creek trail head said the road was garbage. Glad to hear that's not the case now. Now I just need the weather to hold up.

Park road will open 5.27

Holy crap, I nearly got skunked on Mt. Shasta on Saturday. Literally, well, actually, the fucker gave me the biggest stink eye and said the summit block was all his.
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I was so stunned it didn't even dawn on me that I should risk the wrath of the dude to get a selfie with him.
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Conditions for the ski down were the best I've experienced on Shasta, with about a half-foot of consolidated powder from the summit through the Trinity Chutes transitioning to porn below the Chutes to Lake Helen, followed by really good corn on the west facing slopes to about 8,500 feet. The last 1,500 feet was wet snow, however the snow in the creek went to within 1/4 mile of Bunny Flat.

Sorry for the upside down photos. I'm too lazy to fix them.

Made my way up to Shasta this weekend. I was rolling solo so I skipped out on the hotoon and opted for the more popular avalanche gulch. That being said I did drive over to brewer creek to check it out and you can drive all the way to the trail head now. I got to bunny flat Friday during the rain/fog so I got a nice parking spot. Saturday was still rainy and overcast so I hung out and waited for the sun to finally come out. I knew it would be busy but I didn't anticipate so many people. It was like half of Northern California showed up just to take a picture at the trail head and leave.

I gave it a go Sunday. Dirt hiking to horse camp with skinnable snow from there. The snow however was destroyed from the masses post holing so skinning was quite a bitch. Opted for the bootpack after a little while and should've made that call a little earlier. The wind was the xfactor for the day and unfortunately it was just a bit too much. The climbers gully kept you fairly sheltered from the wind but once you got below helen it was unavoidable. I knew I wouldn't be summiting so I climbed up to the exposed rocks climbers left above helen while getting destroyed with little ice/snow pellets the whole time. I watched one guys tent just crumble in the wind, looked like he snapped a pole. Almost lost a glove down the mountain as well due to the wind.

Skiing down was phenomenal. I dropped just after 10 from 11.3k and the moraine's skied really well. Corn was about as perfect as it gets. It almost felt like taunting. Slashing amazing turns above the hordes of people suffering up the gully below me. Made my way back to horse camp in about 20 minutes and walked back out. I always get a kick out of the tourists when I'm hiking and the questions they ask.

Sorry for the no picture post but the wind just kept me from taking out any devices.

Just got back from Shasta. Had to dig our way into Brewer Creek TH on Saturday. Got stuck trying on Friday. Had to dig out in the pissing rain, no fun. Camp about a mile town the road in the pissing rain, no fun. Saturday we were determined to get to the TH, and after helping to get a Subaru unstuck in the same place we stuck a Silverado 4x4 we headed up and had to do a little road work, but made to the end. Soon after the hoards started to arrive. Skinned up to about 10K the first day and camped at the TH. Skinned in to last decent trees to camp, then skinned up to about 11K. Wind was pretty brutal, and summiters said the top was horrific. Monday we started about 4 AM and the wind was slightly better but still high. Have it up at 12,800 and skied a mix of wires and variable snow. The rain on Friday went to at least 12,800', so made for a very funky snow pack on the Wintun glacier. Lots of mani on the way out, but did get about 1,000' of good corn. Wired weekend for sure.

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Originally Posted by hutash

Just got back from Shasta. Had to dig our way into Brewer Creek TH on Saturday. Got stuck trying on Friday. Had to dig out in the pissing rain, no fun. Camp about a mile town the road in the pissing rain, no fun. Saturday we were determined to get to the TH, and after helping to get a Subaru unstuck in the same place we stuck a Silverado 4x4 we headed up and had to do a little road work, but made to the end. Soon after the hoards started to arrive. Skinned up to about 10K the first day and camped at the TH. Skinned in to last decent trees to camp, then skinned up to about 11K. Wind was pretty brutal, and summiters said the top was horrific. Monday we started about 4 AM and the wind was slightly better but still high. Have it up at 12,800 and skied a mix of wires and variable snow. The rain on Friday went to at least 12,800', so made for a very funky snow pack on the Wintun glacier. Lots of mani on the way out, but did get about 1,000' of good corn. Wired weekend for sure.

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White Silverado? If so I saw you guys back there and was impressed you were camping out in that rain Friday night. I'm also amazed that anyone got to the summit, that wind was brutal.

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Originally Posted by B.Gillis

The snow however was destroyed from the masses post holing so skinning was quite a bitch. Opted for the bootpack after a little while and should've made that call a little earlier.

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That brings back memories from years ago in that gully ... it's even worse trying to skin the refrozen bootpack-mess on a splitboard. You're never quite sure when you'll just lose all grip from your edges getting high centered on bootpack chunder! Definitely best to boot the chunder until you can get up on the flanks above the gully!

I'm glad people were getting after Shasta this weekend despite suckass weather ... we opted for a day of shuttle-served on Mount Ashland, and the north aspects of Shasta were still looking super fat! (Primo dirt on Ashland right now btw, everything was raked out perfectly for Spring Thaw and nothing is really beat up yet)

Yep, we were the two idiots camping in the rain.

Winds were howling at altitude. At least the sun was shining so it wasn't too cold, but it definitely funked up the snow pack.

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Shadow of Shasta extending across the valley was nice to enjoy along with a flask of single malt scotch.
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btw, does anybody know how to get pictures to load correctly?

HW was in good shape yesterday. Blue skies and no wind. Brewer TH is open and skinnable about .25mi in. Good corn from summit to about 10K. Ideal drop time probably 11-1130 on a day like we had.

^^^Missed it by a day.

Glad you had a good day. We had fun on Monday, just didn't have great skiing conditions.

The Avalanche Gulch route was great on Saturday, 6/2, albeit a bit busy! Dirt up to Horse Camp and frozen bootpacking shortly after that. I started skinning at about 9,700' and switched to boot crampons above Helen Lake, around 2/3rd of the way to Thumb Rock. 11:30-12:30 seemed to be the ideal time for corn. It was a bit rocky on the summit pinnacle, so I dropped from the top of Misery Hill after snapping a few pics on the summit. Smooth conditions and as expected, total mash down near Horse Camp later on in the afternoon. Here are a few pics:

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View from Bunny Flat on 6/1

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Following the rest of the climbers up towards Red Banks

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Looking off towards Misery Hill from the top of Red Banks

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The home stretch!

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View of Hotlum-Wintun Ridge area from summit

On the way home, I drove through Lassen Park. Here's how the NE face is holding up:
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and finally the SE Face:
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A little late getting posted and pictures up, but for those of you thinking about heading up to shasta this weekend, it was amazing last week and should still be good. Last week probably had the best conditions I've ever had (over 20 years of skiing Shasta) on the east side. We went up from Brewer Cr Trailhead and were on snow within 20 min's. Camped at the moraine and summitted around 10:30. Hung out for a while up top (and forced to listen to some idiot's backpack boombox!). We chose to ski down a "spicier" line skier's left of the usual ramp. It drops onto the Hotlum-Wintun snowfield but the fall line drops to the cliffs above the Hotlum. It was untracked and fantastic. No sun cups all the way down to camp!

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Originally Posted by Mtndaddy

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Man! that is some aggressive skinning;)


It is interesting how much snow there is up high, yet down below is well burnt.

What day was it? The week before they got a foot of snow and I was wondering how long it took to corn up.

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