Mt. Shasta
Description:
I've heard quite a bit about skiing Mt. Shasta over the years, but since its so far and there are several great volcanos to explore around Seattle and Portland I hadn't seriously considered making the trip. Though earlier this week ( June 2016) on our way to Yosemite Marcy and I caught site of it and the plan started to take form. In Tahoe we bought some maps, emailed some friends for beta and made tentative plans to attempt it on our way back to Seattle. ( we already had skis with us since we hoped to ski Rainier). The day before I was on edge for 9 hours as we drove our car up from a shop in Mammoth to Mt. Shasta in 90+ degree heat after getting it worked on for overheating. At-last we got to the TH at 11:30 and just slept in our seats til 3am. In one of the slowest shows of gearing up, we were on the trail by 4am. We ascended Avalanche Gulch and had a mean push and summit shortly after 11. The route is primarily a fairly gradual approach for several miles, than an in your face ascent for 3000' to thumb rock, followed by another few hills and several false summits. On the descent we opted for the West Face descent as we heard it was on par with the SW chutes. It was a sweet fall-line run for 4000', but wind kept the upper part firm before we found the good corn and then had to negotiate our way back to the Hidden Valley trail.