June 18, 2009, Mt. Shasta, Hotlum-Wintun
6/18/09
US elsewhere
1538
1
Only a week late, but here goes...
Camped at the Brewer Creek trailhead on Wednesday night after driving down from Seattle that day (6/17), and got a nice early 2 am start on Thursday--no more sleeping in! Wore trail runners up to about 9,000' when I decided that carrying skis and boots was a silly idea. The snow was still crusty, making skinning kind of ridiculous, so I gave in and boot packed the rest of the way. After crossing onto the Wintun glacier things got rather interesting, with a strong wind blowing mostly down from the summit, and making skis behave like sails on my back...the snow was relatively soft, but steep, and combined with the wind I was literally crawling up the last 800 feet. Got to the summit around 11:30 and hung out to wait for Spencer, who climbed the last pitch without crampons (eek!) and was relieved to finally make it to the top. There were a handful of others on the route, but not too much of a crowd and we were all spread out.
The ski down was splendid from the top to about 9,500', where things got bumpy and then suncupped to heck. I think we hit it in just the right conditions, making it a darn good ski--get it while it's still good!!
Photos are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/theRobynator/ShastaLassen61819?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKUjqiT0Nu7OQ#
Camped at the Brewer Creek trailhead on Wednesday night after driving down from Seattle that day (6/17), and got a nice early 2 am start on Thursday--no more sleeping in! Wore trail runners up to about 9,000' when I decided that carrying skis and boots was a silly idea. The snow was still crusty, making skinning kind of ridiculous, so I gave in and boot packed the rest of the way. After crossing onto the Wintun glacier things got rather interesting, with a strong wind blowing mostly down from the summit, and making skis behave like sails on my back...the snow was relatively soft, but steep, and combined with the wind I was literally crawling up the last 800 feet. Got to the summit around 11:30 and hung out to wait for Spencer, who climbed the last pitch without crampons (eek!) and was relieved to finally make it to the top. There were a handful of others on the route, but not too much of a crowd and we were all spread out.
The ski down was splendid from the top to about 9,500', where things got bumpy and then suncupped to heck. I think we hit it in just the right conditions, making it a darn good ski--get it while it's still good!!
Photos are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/theRobynator/ShastaLassen61819?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKUjqiT0Nu7OQ#
Nice work! We were up there that day. I think you two were climbing up the final pitch just as we dropped from the summit.
Perfection, though the wind at the top was pretty amazing.
Perfection, though the wind at the top was pretty amazing.
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