June 6, 2004, Mt Lassen SE Face

Me and my dad decided that we would quit skiing and boarding the long hike up the devestaded area North Face since most of the snow has melted that used to connect to the devestated area parking lot so we headed to the main mt lassen hiking trail for a little SE face skiing and boarding. So we showed up around 9:30 and took off about 10 from the parking lot. There was a lot of skiiers and snowboarders heading up also and even some coming down as we headed up. Snow covers probably a little more than half the trail but is easy going. It was extremely windy that dayand when we summited at the top I stood there leaning all my weight into the south westernly wind thinking it was just a hard gust and would calm down a little but it didnt and I realized that it wasnt going to stop so i quickly strapped on the board as well as my dad in his skis and took off as quickly as we could because of fear of being blown off the mountain. We headed down carving through some nice dirty corn snow avoiding the rock here and there. There was light to moderate sun cups worsening a little the further you went down but was nice skiing and boarding all the way to the parking lot avoiding bare areas of dirt. There would have been plenty of time for a 2nd and 3rd run maybe even a 4th but the wind was way too extremely at a rough guess of 45-60 mph or more at the top and slightly less as you went down and every once and a while you would feel the sting from dirt and small rocks being blown up and hitting you in the face. But it was all good snow and a nice day on mt lassen so we headed out. We reached the parking lot around 12 and left. Definately a place to check out when the winds are calm.

Tim