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Just got back from a Northgate mission. Heinous winds turned us around about 600 feet from the summit as we tried to ascend a west facing, icy, rocky couloir. Rime, ice and rocks started raining down on us so we turned away from the summit and got a nice windboard to corn descent. Fun turns but not much snow down low. 3 mile dirt bootpack from the car till we put on skins.
^^^ Good to know. I'll be up thereabouts in two weekends. Thinking Brewer. Three miles on dirt doesn't sound fun...
anyone been up recently?
I'm going tomorrow for the weekend, we'll see how the winds are.
That shiny rocky shitty looking couloir-thingy is where we got turned around. Looking to head to the South Side sometime this week.Quote:
Originally Posted by jibmaster
Lassen road pretty much clear all the way through, but closed due to lots of rockfall, some new wind drifts, and also because they want to have a "car free weekend" next weekend (5/17) for bikers and hikers. So, your options are still driving to Devastated and hiking the north face, or walking/biking from the south gate.
Did a bike assist tour up to Ski Heil on Saturday and got blasted by winds and graupel but it eventually blew through. Skied great smooth dust on crust on the SW face of Ski Heil for 3 laps. The winds were mostly North, some North Northeast all day Saturday through the next morning - really strong sustained gusty winds that messed up anything that wasn't perfectly smooth snow to begin with.
Sunday we hit the east bowl and skied the chute skiers left of the main bowl. Missed the corn window and skied firm breakable refreeze around 4:30 PM. (we got to a pretty late start with the bike tour due to heavy winds not dying off until 10 AM)
Top half of the NE bowl was completely windjacked - horrible crust and old railroad tracks. Some snowboarders hit it yesterday and the upper half looked horrible, with the lower half being nice wind deposited pow. The hike out is already looking like a decent effort.
Much less snow on Lassen Peak this last weekend than over Memorial Day weekend 2012 if that gives you a sense of the coverage. Maybe a touch more than where we were at this time last year, but much smoother snow that isn't suncupped like it was by the end of May last year. The summer trail on the main peak is starting to show in a lot of places. Loomis Peak is pretty much bone dry. The south face of Lassen is bony, but the chutes off of the navel are filled in really well. North face of Diller looks really damn good right now. The skiing over Memorial Day in 2 weeks will still be fun - but a lot bonier and a bit more effort than past (even dry) years.
Shasta is in perfect condition right now. We camped at Bunny Flat TH Monday night. 15 minute walk to snow, then 4 small dirt patches before all continuous.
The mountain has been icy/wind blown and it just warmed up this week. Really fun corn snow to slush from 13,500 on down. Summit had <5 mph wind and blaring hot sun (T shirt weather). We rode through chutes on the lookers right side of the Red Banks and it was untouched for about 4,000ft. Go get er done.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention ...
THEY DISMEMBERED THE PENIS!!!!!
:tdo13:
any reports from the weekend?
Skied shasta today, from brewer creek.
You can drive to the trailhead, then about an hour till you can skin, including route finding in the dark.
Lots of soft sastrugi above 11,000, but you can find really good snow.
Still winter snow higher up, mixed with a bit of ice.
Worthwhile.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums
Skied Lassen on Sunday. Skinned SE face from the pass, and barely connected snow to the summit and ended by booting the upper ridge. Dropped in at 8:30, and glad we weren't any later! Weak refreeze over the weekend, but supposed to cool down later this week.
SE face is still going for at least another week or two, but it's getting thin. There are some really fun (and scary) pond skims over melted out lakes with glacial looking blue water at the base of the S face by the parking lot.
NE side (from Devastated) is melted out down low, but still had coverage over the top 2500 feet. Fun looking snow in there too.
Highly recommend bringing a paddleboard or kayak or a set of brass balls, and jumping in one of the many glorious lakes around there on the way down.
Sorry didn't take many pics.
Attachment 155785
Attachment 155786
Nice update, I was going to put the exact same thoughts/pics (even one at summit lake).
I agree though, prob have a solid 2 weeks left to get Lassen while its still fun!
Skied Shasta Sat 24th, and Lassen Sun 25th. Both are still holding good snow, but get it now. Shasta was epic, we skied Trinity chutes down to Lake Helen then took the skiers left drainage all the way down till the snow gave out. Ended up hiking out of the drainage to the Horse Camp trail to the car. Dropped in at 12:30 and it was absolutely perfect corn the whole way down. The approach was firm and very windy, making for primetime corn once we dropped in.
Lassen was not sun cupped yet, but the weak refreezes made for sloppy boot pack even at 8 am. In hindsight, i wish we did the hour long boot pack a 7am instead of 8. Hopefully the cooler weather this week helps. Long hike out of the devastated area to the road, about 45 min longer than last year at this time. Good turns but sticky and lots of wet slides around.
Thought this pic was worth posting actually.
From the devastated lot.
Taken May 24, 2014
Attachment 155800
Bumping this up, does anybody have any info on snow line at Shasta from last weekend?
We switched over at 8800'. On the way out, skied a small tongue of snow down Brewer Creek to 8k, but it wouldn't be worth skinning up - all sidehill as it's just on the N facing part of the gully, and the walking is pleasant dirt, not nasty scree.
Route was still worth it and a lot of fun. Lots of people on Sunday, but for some reason everyone was carrying their skis rather than skinning, and once we crossed the rocks onto the Wintun, we saw a few with ski boots but no skis. Left the car at 4:30, summited around noon, wish we'd been about an hour earlier the whole way up as it was a pretty hot day with no breeze up high.
Attachment 155998
Attachment 155999
Road open over the top?
If you are referring to Lassen, I heard that it is open.
Lassen is past its prime. Not really worth a trip just to ski, but maybe if you happen to be there anyways. SE face has huge runnel ruts, some going all the way to the ground. N Face is sloppy mashed potatoes, with a few smooth shots on the east side.
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8b0f3c81.jpg
NE Face
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0c965edc.jpg
N Face
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/...ps866c3a0b.jpg
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/...pseb9b5c80.jpg
Climbers
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/...psf7af5473.jpg
Wetslide
Did a quick one day trip up Hotlum-Wintun last Fri. Left Oakland after putting my son down for the night, met up with B at Granzellas, swapped driving/sleeping and started hiking after moshing down some MREs at the trailhead around 3:30, summit around 11. You can hike up to around 9000 ft, then you can skin or crampon up from here. The snow was varied but really fun. You can ski some of the tongues down to around 8000 ft leaving you with a short hike to the car. 'Twas HOT! The cool off at the lower McCloud was essential afterwards.
Sunrise...
http://telek.smugmug.com/Backcountry...imagesL-X3.jpg
http://telek.smugmug.com/Backcountry...imagesL-X2.jpg
http://telek.smugmug.com/Backcountry...%280%29-X2.jpg
I think just skipping around on the vid will give you the best sense of snow quality. Firm for a bit up top, nice corn, then slarvy, & finally sloshy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzoQZVBXJ-o
August pic of Shasta. Never seen it this dry. From KQED (http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/0...-mount-shasta/)
Attachment 157968
Likewise. Here's another from this morning:Quote:
Originally Posted by meter-man
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/09/05/a4e8y3eg.jpg
Wow, welcome to California.
I was just in the White Mountains, and the view of the Palisade glacier was equally dismal.
When I flew over it on Tuesday evening I didn't recognize it. Thought it was Lassen for a second ...
When Tony texted me that photo I had to do a double-take for the same reason. I recognized Shasta contours, but it seemed almost impossible that there was that little snow. The mountain also saw the biggest summer glacial melt off since the big drought in the 30s. I'll send you some photos of that too.Quote:
Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio
Sounds like one of the glaciers on the east side of Shasta broke apart.http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/w...lood%20warning
http://www.redding.com/news/local-ne...wo-road-closed
The Konwakiton, aka the McCloud Glacier.
Aka "The Muddy One" in Wintu language. Appropriately named, apparently.Quote:
Originally Posted by LightRanger
That volcano is heating up inside!!! Shit will get real, real soon....(geological time).
Must have been a big Lumerian spaceship coming or going to knock that glacier loose.
I think it's time to leave California and its volatile, dwindling, and poorly regulated water supply!
Shasta is looking pretty durn white: http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/118...a-Mount-Shasta
Anyone head out there yet? Alternatively, what trailhead do folks recommend for accessing Diller Canyon (Shastina) this early in the season?? Bunny Flat, or the Diller TH (which I haven't found directions to yet).
I started watching last week. They have gotten snow, just wondering what the wind speed will be around 11-12K this weekend ?????? 100mph?
Snow level's been hovering around 5k and supposed to drop to 4k by the weekend. They've already been getting substantial precip up there. So if you were just looking for turns, you might not have to get that high. Of course it'll be blowing like crazy at any (lower) elevation steep enough to ski either way...Quote:
Originally Posted by TEXASS
LR, any chance you can beta from your source on snow depth? Are there snotels somewhere up there?? I'd take 24 inches of base in a heartbeat.Quote:
Originally Posted by LightRanger
Bumping -- anyone got intel on snow depth?? The snow sensor at 6700 feet at Sand Flat shows nothing on it yet (http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryDaily?SDF) but the webcam looks pretty good! http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/118...a-Mount-Shasta
If I go, I'll post beta. It's either there, Carson Pass, or ??...
Well, there is this
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/earth/
Oct 30, 2014
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/...d72bc39b_c.jpg
- which apparently states that there is 20 inches of snow above 9000'.
So, take that info and put the snow where it usually goes and you have up to 2 feet of snow above treeline
in favored areas. Kinda shows the basic freeze line and averages all the snotel sites around the mt.
More coming in tonight/tomorrow. Snow levels around 4000' or lower.
Not sure of how much, but it's gonna help.
This site is not working for me right now, but it's fun to play with.
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interacti...nt=0&js=1&uc=0
In my experience using the GoogleEarth snow depth website...
I have used it for the Coast Range.
It seems to underestimate the snow pack in general.
But what it does do well, is define the freezing level.
In low snow depth situations, where the snow line is concerned, it accurately displays the freeze line.
Take a bucket of salt and pour it over your head.
Then you will see the light
...
Excellent beta - thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by jibmaster