Lassen / Shasta Conditions Anyone?

[chunder]

^^^yup that's right. The clouds burning off my brain made my sense of direction disappear into thin air.

[SchralphMacchio]

Hmm now I'm turned around ... you telling me that big double-hump rock thing on the ridge separating the sunny bowl from the shaded bowl isn't Shastarama point / top of Mud Creek Glacier?

Compare the pic to this map showing Shastarama Point and Green Butte (which I believe to be visible in the lower right portion of above treeline visible in pic)
https://mapcarta.com/23487928

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Hmm now I'm turned around ... you telling me that big double-hump rock thing on the ridge separating the sunny bowl from the shaded bowl isn't Shastarama point / top of Mud Creek Glacier?

Compare the pic to this map showing Shastarama Point and Green Butte (which I believe to be visible in the lower right portion of above treeline visible in pic)
https://mapcarta.com/23487928

Yes it is but the photo is looking east not north.

[gimpy]

I think shralph is right. That's avy gulch center of pic. The west face of shastina is diller canyon. That is not diller.

[LightRanger]

Shralph is right for sure. View is straight at Avalanche Gulch. Prominence on the right is Shastarama Point, with Mud Creek directly behind it.

I had to do a double-take too, but it's obvious if you look at it on Google Earth.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Now I'm confused.

Okay, maybe it was the perspective. Yes, Avalanche Gulch in center view is ENE. Weird how different things look from 30k.

[hoarhey]

thanks guys
cloud threw me off

I guess if it's morning, then the sun is coming from the east or slightly east-southeast, so that aspect is southwest.

[SchralphMacchio]

avy gulch is SSW, sun rises about 15 degrees north of due east this time of year in Northern CA.

Not meant to be a pissing contest though, wanted you to know what routes you were looking at in those photos!

West face of Lassen is a fun mellow run, long slog from Manzanita Lake (which I did a few years ago) but easy when south road is plowed to Bumpass Hell. Right now road is open to Devestated Area on NE bowl, which is a spectacular run.

[GeezerSteve]

Hitting Shasta on Tuesday/Wednesday for the first time and I'm stoked

Well? Did you see Jeff R's party up there?

[Paul Blart]

Well? Did you see Jeff R's party up there?

Unfortunately I only got as far as yuba city before my CEL decided to blink and my engine decided to misfire like a bitch. There's always later this month or next month I guess ..

[Skiwurrel]

Might come through next few days if good weather I'm traveling from Canada anyone want to ski something rad up high??

[B__]

https://goo.gl/photos/VgA9hP8eYcxWkunT6

Shasta summit photosphere from today. Click on the link, then the image that loads, then pan and zoom away.

[jibmaster]

That is fucking cool!
You gotta teach me how to do that!
I like how only part of your leg shows up.
The Lemurians must have transported the rest of you...

[thekol]

Just got back from Shasta for the weekend - very windy conditions meant nobody in our group made it to the summit but got some nice corn on the way down!

[B__]

^^$ from Devastated Area yesterday (Lassen)

From Sunday (Shasta):

^^These were pretty icy inside even at 2:30 in full sun


^^But then the snow got good then great and stayed that way starting about 1500' above Helen


^^A fat Wintun looking down toward Brewer


^^Shastina

I really need to start bringing a digi cam again or lose the haze-imparting case on my phone.

[emcee]

nah it's cool it looks like old mountaineering photos. like an analog filter

[SchralphMacchio]

^^A fat Wintun looking down toward Brewer

Amazing that there is actually even a bare spot at the Hotlum Hotel, I had expected that entire hump to get buried.
Ash Creek Butte looks like it has been serving up fun sled missions all winter long.

PS, nice line on that climber's left bowl on Lassen. Clearly your pup likes the most direct route!

[B__]

Thanks, that L bowl was maybe the best snow I found all weekend (lower avy gulch was prime as well)

[zion zig zag]

Total Shasta newb here, so sorry for the jong question: Any predictions on when the Brewer Creek TH will open, or the road open to within a reasonable striking distance? I assume when that happens the skiing will still be good?

[SchralphMacchio]

I don't think it will go to the TH until mid-July. By then, the skiing will be good on at least 2000' of vert, usually between 13K and 11K. Nominally variable (or still frozen) above 13K and some combo of sticky/bumpy below 10-11K at that time of year. But I bet you will still be able to ski to 8500' through the end of July this year.

But you don't really need the road to go all the way, because by the time it goes all the way to the TH it's usually spotty skiing and walking back to the TH and also a good chance of getting lost. You really want the road to go up to any of the switchbacks nearest the creek around 6500' or so, because then you can literally get 8K of skiing back to the car.

Also, the skiing on Shasta is plenty good from other TH's right now (2nd hand reports from my friends, as I haven't been able to line up a weather window with available time the past couple of weeks). There's plenty more to ski than just Avy Gulch.

[zion zig zag]

I've always wanted to ski the Hotlum-Wintun route for some reason so that's good beta on the road. Man, looking at maps that lower brewer creek area is a mish-mash of tangled roads, I can see how getting lost is a possibility.

[SchralphMacchio]

Yeah, basically park at a good area where road switchbacks or intersects a drainage you can see on a topo, and then mark it in your GPS. I use cell phone GPS app, only turn it on and off when starting from Brewer or finishing up

[jimw]

I just came here to post this highly useful reference shot of Shastina:



(... and to say, awesome shots B_!)

[CaliKid]

Skied Lassen from the devastated area today. Arrived to the lot Fri night to a mixture of hail and snow. Snow was really fun once off the top few hundred feet of hardpack/ice.

[Ted26]

I think I will be heading your way this weekend from Montana, hoping to ski Lassen and Shasta early next week!