june 24, 2009, mt shasta
6/24/09
US elsewhere
2047
2
Quick report for anyone interested in driving to n ca for about 1500 ft of corn. Ascended Shasta on wed via the avy gulch route. Solo trip made the dog route seem like the best idea. Snow was firm, made good speed with crampons and did not use the skins at all. Rocks were falling underneath the heart, make this traverse a speedy one! Also, noticed some climbers taking breaks on the heart itself, which caused more rockfall underneath. Winds picked up significantly at around 13000 and the entrance to the gulch never corned up. Seems like a natural wind tunnel anyway. Entrance was frozen and a somewhat tricky ski, but by 12.5k it was perfect corn. All the way to 11k or so when the dreaded sun cups appeared. Beautiful climb, bring a helmet.
Nice job; did you do it in a day from Bunny? And where exactly did you enter Avy Gulch?
one day trip from bunny flats, started about 630am, reached Misery Hill a little past noon. My line was a little west of red banks, but east of the exposed chutes. These looked good while climbing, (there was at least one line visible) but Im glad I stayed away, the wind seemed to funnel up the gulch and made for some interesting skiing conditions as the anticipated corn never happened. My first turns were on the steepest and most frozen portion of my line. Under better circumstances (less wind and maybe a month earlier) the chutes would be the line of choice. From what im reading and from what the locals are saying, it seems there are better ways to get down Shasta than the gulch. Seems like the SE face is the ticket. Nevertheless a great trip, always nice to see such a different landscape.
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