Home > Trip Reports > 3/08/2012, Mt. Shasta full moon tour

3/08/2012, Mt. Shasta full moon tour

3/8/12
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Posted by Kyle Miller on 3/9/12 2:06am
I swear sometimes the full moon beckons us to get out in the mountains and this was the case for me.

I was fortunate enough to head down to Cali with Kathy from Crest Pictures  running around Tahoe and the Eastern Sierras for a few days doing screenings of Freerider and found myself in the town of Weed staring at Mt. Shasta on Wednesday. Over the past two full moons I had done trips (The Asulkin Hut and Paradise to Crystal Traverse) and didn't want to end this streak so I decided to go for Mt Shasta. A forecast confirmed that the high winds were dying so right after doing the slideshow Kathy was kind enough to drop me off at Bunny flats around 11:00 p.m.

Not a single person was seen as I skinned under the moon all the way up to Lake Helen before switching to crampons for the climb up Avi Gulch. Snow quickly became water ice but climbing was relatively easy all the way up to Misery Hill. I was expecting to get blasted by winds once I made it to the high plateau but the winds were calm it was quite the surreal experience.

I made it to the summit around 5 a.m., pulled out my sleeping bag and waited for the sunrise and sunset of the moon before taking a nap until around 9 a.m.

As for conditions. It would have been faster to walk all the way down to the base of Misery Hill simply because there was massive blocks of water ice EVERYWHERE. Going from avi gulch down I was able to find smooth edgeable almost corn snow all the way to the parking lot where Kathy was waiting for my arrival.

BTW, a huge thanks to Kathy for shuttling me and for their work on Freerider

awesome Kyle.  Glad you pulled it off and it was great riding with you down here.

Thanks Powderjunkie I had a great time. Thank you soo much for showing me the Eastern Sierras

Sweet trip. I appreciate the pictures, but next time bring Jason

author=ErikT link=topic=24062.msg101766#msg101766 date=1331359687]
Sweet trip. I appreciate the pictures, but next time bring Jason


Does Instagram have a "Hummel" filter yet to spruce up phone pics like these?

hummel and miller aren't exactly attached at the hip ..

looks sick, kyle!  i hope the winds were calm for your summit nap.  i was without a car, too, for this full moon, but was unsuccessful at convincing anyone to give me a ride out to go tour.  i must not have asked in a charming enough manner!

ha .. i'm just a nice person ;-)

were you at the show? all you had to do was ask ..

Nothing like the weather,stars and the moon aligning!  Nice report, thanks.

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3-08-2012-mt-shasta-full-moon-tour
Kyle Miller
2012-03-09 10:06:15