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Monday, June 16, 2008
Going Down Big Mt. Shasta 6/15/08
The skiing around the lake has really turned to crap over the past couple weeks. The gate up to the fourth of July chutes finally opened last friday, and if you missed it don't worry. Since the first couple times I rode my bike up there the snow has gotten progressively less smooth...imagine that. So, usually about once a year I try to ski Mount Shasta. It usually happens anywhere from mid May to mid June. This year it just happened to be yesterday.
For those of you who have never been up there, its really a pretty amazing mountain. It is one of about fifteen 14,000+ foot peaks in the state of California, and probably one of the most straightforward and easy to climb. Most of the trailheads sit somehwere between six and seven thousand feet, so getting to the 14,162 foot summit still takes quite a bit of effort.
After making the super last minute decision to go up there we got the crew together and left Tahoe City at about 8:30 Saturday night. With gas prices being completely through the roof like they are we went ahead and packed in all our crap and 4 people in the same rig and started driving. We arrived the Brewer Creek Trailhead on the east side of the mountain at 2 am, unrolled the sleeping bags and a got about three hours of sleep. We woke up at 5 and threw all of our stuff together and we were on our way about 5:30 am. The smokey haze in the air made for a ridiculously red sunrise. Starting from the car at 7,200 feet we were looking at about a 7,000 foot hike, no problem.
The ascent route up the east side is very straightforward. Basically you hike in a straightline for the summit the entire way. The route starts you on a glacier between the Hotlum and Wintun glaciers, and eventually you cross a moraine onto the Wintun glacier for the top 1,500 vert or so. For those of you who have never hiked 7,000 feet in a day, it is hard, and painful, but that's kinda the point. So what was a guy to do, maybe go for a new personal best time to get up there, why not... Topping out at 10:30 am on the summit without a breath of wind was pretty outstanding, especially because the first 4,00 feet of my ski run was going to be steep, uninterrupted, smooth corn. That's right, I'm talking 4 grand right off the top. There's hardly anywhere else you can go skiing around here right now, but above 10,000 feet on Shasta is where its at. So we dropped in around 11 am and skied the crap out of it. Getting down to the bottom of the Wintun glacier we couldn't even believe how smooth and long the run was... then the skiing got interesting. In my haste to get to the top I neglected to notice how huge and plentiful the suncups were down near the bottom. From 10,000 feet down you could ski, but it wasn't pretty.
Overall it was a pretty unbelievable day, I got to ski a side of the mountain that I'd only looked down from the top, and the skiing that mattered was spectacularly good considering the skiing I've done over the past couple months. If you plan to go, just remember that the mountain is huge, really big, and the bottom is gonna suck but the top will make it all worth it.
Jeremy
This pic was taken about 20 minutes into the hike, our route is straight for the top from here, ascending the obvious snow filled gully just lookers left at the top.
This shot is from about halfway, notice all the wacky smoke haze in the sky. This is where it starts to hurt.
Standing on the summit, the trailhead is just down in the trees about where the snow runs out.
A shot of the whole mountain. Our route is from right off the summit, and straight down, the lower 3,000 feet or so is obscured by the trees.
Labels: Backcountry, Jeremy Benson, MT Shasta, Ski
Monday, June 2, 2008
Skiing in Lake Tahoe 5/31/2008
My birthday was last Saturday, the 31st of May. Every year I try to ski on my birthday, and some years its way easier than others. A couple years ago Alpine Meadows and Squaw were still open, this year, however, was a completely different story. I talked with a few of my more hardcore friends and we devised a simple plan to get some great skiing in the basin and only a few miles from my house.
After sleeping til 10 am we all met at my house over on the west shore. We loaded up the cars with all of our ski gear and, of course, our bikes. We drove a couple miles down the west shore and parked next to a locked forest service gate. We packed up our ski packs and slung our ski boots on our back too, and jumped on our bikes. The snow, you see, was still six miles from where we parked the cars, and uphill the whole way.
Clearly this wasn't my first time to the biking with my ski gear on my back rodeo, but it may have been for Oscar, Charlie, and Rylan. Having an extra 40 pounds or so on your back while riding your bike for a while will be sure to put the hurt on your "sit bones", so be sure to wear padded shorts, eh.
After about six miles of uphill skis on the back riding on a closed forest service road we reached the point of no more biking. The sneakers went on and after about a mile of really easy snowy road walking later we were at the top of the pass and very close to our goal. A half hour of boot packing later and we were on the top of the ridge with numerous steep, short chutes to choose from, and not another person for miles....
We briefly took in the view and dropped in for our first run, hoping to get in three and still get Oscar and Rylan to work on time. Eight turns and 400 vert later we were switching over to bootpack mode to head on back up for more. The skiing was good, and I mean really good. I can't think of a more random and fun way to spend a day in the late late spring. Sure the mountain biking is off the hook right now, but the skiing won't last much longer, so get it while you can.
--Jeremy
Labels: Backcountry, Jeremy Benson, Skiing
Monday, February 11, 2008
Weatherman Joes Tallc and Desolation Wilderness Shots
Our weatherman Joe just sent me over these photo and I had to post them. Joe's Words "Looking back, we should have skied it from the top of the peak.....the first 50ft was steep but after that is was nothing crazy. Even 5 days after the last storm and all the wind we endured, Annie and I skied binding deep soft wintery snow the entire 1500' ". With some warm days here the backcountry should be running rather nicely.
Labels: Backcountry, Desolation Wilderness, Lake Tahoe, Mount Tallac, Porters, Skiing, Weather
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