Trip Stats
Trip Report
Day 1
As soon as the alarm went off at 5am, I was ready to get up. Eagerness
to ski Shasta was only a small part of the reason; mosquitoes flying in
mouth, ears and nose throughout the entire night was the deciding
factor. Fortunately, I didn't get a single bite and I think the
mosquitoes were just seeking heat during the cold night. Unfortunately,
I don't think I sleep more than two hours. I won't make the same
mistake of sleeping out in the open in the forest around Mount Shasta.
We hiked less than a mile before we were able to don the skins and pick our way through the forest. When we stopped briefly to shed layers, Trevor accumulated at least 30 mosquitoes on his back in under a minute. Soon we came out onto the slope and caught our first glimpse of Shasta, spying our objective, the ridge between the Hotlum and Wintun glaciers. By the time we reached the base of Shasta, the mosquitoes were nowhere in site, much to my relief. We slowly made our way up the slope, feeling the weight of our packs and the heat from the sun. There didn't appear to be too many people on this side of the mountain, a stark contrast to Avalanche Gulch, which I'm told gets very crowded on nice weekends.
Around 1pm we reached a rock outcropping that looked perfect for a camp. Trevor's altimeter read 10,200ft, but we later found out we were at 10,700ft. We went to work shoveling out snow and creating a platform for the megamid. After we erected the tarp and ate some food, I crawled inside to get out of the sun. I always enjoy a sunny day on snow, but the sun seems to take a lot out of me. Trevor decided to climb up for some turns, and I opted to stay in the tent and drink water. After eating one of my dehydrated meals, taking in some water and talking with a fellow by the name of Dave, I decided I better get some turns in too. So I threw on my skins and began climbing. Around 11,700ft, I stopped to watch Trevor make some turns and then followed suit, feeling content with only a 1,000ft of skiing on the first day.
Back at camp, we ate dinner and enjoyed the views. It was amazing how remote the area seemed with no civilization in sight. It didn't take us long to hit the hay for the night, especially considering the lack of sleep from the previous night.
Day 2
Awaking bright and early, we stayed in our sleeping bags and turned on
the stove, cooking some warm breakfast for the big day. That's one of
the nice things about the megamid and floor made of snow, you can cook
inside the tent and not worry about spilling anything! Shortly after
6am we were skinning, following the track we had laid the day before.
There were a couple of groups already coming up the mountain, and a man
who camped on another rock outcropping across from us was already over
11,000ft with his dog. We wondered whether his dog was going to go to
the top and how it was fairing on the hard, slippery snow. With that in
mind, we decided to use our ski crampons...
We took a break after an hour of skinning. It was early in the morning and we were nearing 12,000ft, yet it was hot out. Keeping a good pace, we continued climbing and eventually made our way across the open face. At 12,400ft, we stopped at the ridge just before the north edge of the Wintun glacier. The climb ahead looked relatively steep, so we decided to put our skis on the pack and boot the rest of the way up. As got into the slow rhythm of booting up, I realized how warm it still was. Here I was at 13,000ft on the side of a mountain, and I was in a t-shirt and soaked with sweat! Shortly after 10am, we reached the summit and sat down for food and water. Only on the summit did it cool down as the wind whipped across the mountain. While we saw a couple of parties coming up our route, there where at least 30 people on the top, most having come up Avalanche gully.
A large group began to get ready for a roped-up glissade descent of our ski route, so Trevor and I sprang into action and got our gear on. Trevor dropped in first and the turns looked great, we were skiing right from the summit at 14,179 feet and the chute had a nice sustained pitch to it. I followed suit and we carved nice turns in the soft corn snow. We kept skiers right on the Wintun Glacier and eventually Dave, whom we had talked with the day before, came teleing down the hill and he joined us as we continued skiing. The snow stayed good as we made our way down the mountain. We kept heading right, itching to get as much vertical as possible on this descent. Towards the bottom of our run, the snow began to get sloppy, and we eventually came to a stop once the snow field flattened out. The altimeter read 9,500ft - 4,500 plus vertical feet on a descent, not too shabby.
We chilled for a while, chatting about the addiction of ski touring. Finally, we put our skins on and started the ascent back to the camp. We only had about 1,200ft to skin up, but half way there, I started to feel the exhaustion of the climb and the scorching heat. Trevor and Dave continued on as my pace slowed and I finally found Trevor, hidden in the shade of a large boulder, at the top of the snow field. I quickly shed my gear, got behind the rock and smeared snow on myself in a futile attempt to cool down. After resting in the shade for 15 minutes, I felt somewhat better and we made the short traverse back to camp. We mellowed in the megamid for awhile, cooked dinner, played cards and went to bed.
Day 3
We did the morning routine and then decided to quickly skin up for a
few extra turns before packing up camp. At 11,700ft we decided to make
the descent. Trevor was contemplating going up higher, but I was ready
for turns and wanted to get on the road for the 10 hour drive back as
soon as possible. The ski back to the camp was great. The snow had
softened up just enough with the morning sun. We quickly packed up our
camp and skied over 3,500ft before the snow ran out. As we walked along
the road back to the car, we noticed how much snow had melted in just
the past three days.
