Lassen / Shasta Conditions Anyone?

[rod9301]

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

[meter-man]

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.

[jskierpx]

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!

[bluesbrother49]

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.

[jskierpx]

Thought this pic was worth posting actually.

From the devastated lot.
Taken May 24, 2014

[emcee]

Bumping this up, does anybody have any info on snow line at Shasta from last weekend?

[mattyj]

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.

[splat]

Road open over the top?

[hutash]

If you are referring to Lassen, I heard that it is open.

[Nevada29er]

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.


NE Face


N Face




Climbers


Wetslide

[telek]

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...






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

[meter-man]

August pic of Shasta. Never seen it this dry. From KQED (http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/0...-mount-shasta/)

[LightRanger]

August pic of Shasta. Never seen it this dry. From KQED (http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/0...-mount-shasta/)

Likewise. Here's another from this morning:

[hutash]

Wow, welcome to California.

I was just in the White Mountains, and the view of the Palisade glacier was equally dismal.

[SchralphMacchio]

When I flew over it on Tuesday evening I didn't recognize it. Thought it was Lassen for a second ...

[LightRanger]

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.

[LegoSkier]

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

[LightRanger]

The Konwakiton, aka the McCloud Glacier.

[meter-man]

The Konwakiton, aka the McCloud Glacier.

Aka "The Muddy One" in Wintu language. Appropriately named, apparently.

[DasBlunt]

That volcano is heating up inside!!! Shit will get real, real soon....(geological time).

[snapt]

Must have been a big Lumerian spaceship coming or going to knock that glacier loose.

[SchralphMacchio]

I think it's time to leave California and its volatile, dwindling, and poorly regulated water supply!

[meter-man]

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).

[TEXASS]

I started watching last week. They have gotten snow, just wondering what the wind speed will be around 11-12K this weekend ?????? 100mph?

[LightRanger]

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...