June 12, 2005, Mt Shasta, Lower Avalanche Gulch
6/12/05
US elsewhere
6699
3
Well, when I last spoke with Amar he was going to write today and yesterday's reports but since I got back to Portland early, I hope he doesn't mind if I post a report for today.
After skiing Diller Canyon on the westside of Shastina on Saturday, today's objective was the West face of Shasta with an ascent via Avy Gulch. Initially we had considered a summit ski of the Whitney glacier or ascending the Whitney glacier to the Shasta/Shatina col and skiing Shastina's North face, but with the crust and variability we saw up high on Shastina the day prior, we thought the West face would likely yield better skiing.
We left a bit after 7am, with me starting a bit before Amar so I could fill my water bottles at the and commented how windy it must be up there. Sure enough, the winds got progressively stronger the higher we went. At 50/50 Flat the winds were absurd--it was clear our objective was not going to go. Parties coming down described Helen Lk as a complete mess. We picked up a tent tarp that was being blown towards us, and amazingly found the owners a bit later. When large gusts of wind came we'd have to brace ourselves against the wind to prevent being blown over. At 10,170', we . We waited there about an hour and half, then descended into avy gulch staying near the east gully. We found excellent corn for this descent.
Three Amars skiing the great corn:
Around 8000ft we donned skins and headed back for another run. We ascended the east gully most of the way, the wind was still present but had moderated from earlier. On this run we tried to stay on the west facing aspects underneath Green Butte ridge to get on snow which had seen less sun. We again found excellent corn, with it becoming a bit heavy as we got lower.
Even though we didn't get the West face and we didn't ski 10,000vft in one day
The next day Amar headed to Lassen National Park, while I met my father and Pitr for what was planned to be a 3 day hike up Avy Gulch. Things didn't go quite as planned for me, but I'll leave that for the next TR.
After skiing Diller Canyon on the westside of Shastina on Saturday, today's objective was the West face of Shasta with an ascent via Avy Gulch. Initially we had considered a summit ski of the Whitney glacier or ascending the Whitney glacier to the Shasta/Shatina col and skiing Shastina's North face, but with the crust and variability we saw up high on Shastina the day prior, we thought the West face would likely yield better skiing.
We left a bit after 7am, with me starting a bit before Amar so I could fill my water bottles at the and commented how windy it must be up there. Sure enough, the winds got progressively stronger the higher we went. At 50/50 Flat the winds were absurd--it was clear our objective was not going to go. Parties coming down described Helen Lk as a complete mess. We picked up a tent tarp that was being blown towards us, and amazingly found the owners a bit later. When large gusts of wind came we'd have to brace ourselves against the wind to prevent being blown over. At 10,170', we . We waited there about an hour and half, then descended into avy gulch staying near the east gully. We found excellent corn for this descent.
Three Amars skiing the great corn:
Around 8000ft we donned skins and headed back for another run. We ascended the east gully most of the way, the wind was still present but had moderated from earlier. On this run we tried to stay on the west facing aspects underneath Green Butte ridge to get on snow which had seen less sun. We again found excellent corn, with it becoming a bit heavy as we got lower.
Even though we didn't get the West face and we didn't ski 10,000vft in one day
The next day Amar headed to Lassen National Park, while I met my father and Pitr for what was planned to be a 3 day hike up Avy Gulch. Things didn't go quite as planned for me, but I'll leave that for the next TR.
Wow - I cannot believe I came so close to stardom!
Jeff - Our party of three (my two brothers, one by blood the other by default) were the three snowboarders you saw in Diller Canyon on Saturday. We were wondering what fanatics drove up to 7,000' on that 4X4 road - now it all makes sense - the purveyor of Cascade Volcano info himself - Amar and friend Jeff.
Looking forward to Amar's report (if he does post). We were very glad to have climbed that face in the shade, it looked very hot when you guys hit it.
Jeff - Our party of three (my two brothers, one by blood the other by default) were the three snowboarders you saw in Diller Canyon on Saturday. We were wondering what fanatics drove up to 7,000' on that 4X4 road - now it all makes sense - the purveyor of Cascade Volcano info himself - Amar and friend Jeff.
Looking forward to Amar's report (if he does post). We were very glad to have climbed that face in the shade, it looked very hot when you guys hit it.
Wow - I cannot believe I came so close to stardom!
Jeff - Our party of three (my two brothers, one by blood the other by default) were the three snowboarders you saw in Diller Canyon on Saturday. We were wondering what fanatics drove up to 7,000' on that 4X4 road - now it all makes sense - the purveyor of Cascade Volcano info himself - Amar and friend Jeff.
Looking forward to Amar's report (if he does post). We were very glad to have climbed that face in the shade, it looked very hot when you guys hit it.
We wanted to chat with you guys about snow conditions, we were wondering why you didn't stop. It never got too hot for us because of the breeze, and the late start allowed the snow to soften enough that Jeff skinned all the way up the canyon into the crater. The snow looked frozen up high when you guys came down, but by 6 PM everything was in fine shape, not mushy even down low.
My trip report is here: June 11, 2005, Shastina, Diller Canyon. It includes a couple of distant zoomed photos of you climbing and snowboarding.
Amar - Stopping in the middle of a descent doesn't usually occur to me, especially to chat up people huffing up a mtn. I thought we (or at least one of us) would have been close enough to call out a question. But anyway, I know myself that I couldn't stop smiling and skiing!
Snow was powdery (if you can believe it) in the chute and velvet below. I might have waited a little longer for the middle to soften, but alas, you where there - it was such a beautiful day.
Snow was powdery (if you can believe it) in the chute and velvet below. I might have waited a little longer for the middle to soften, but alas, you where there - it was such a beautiful day.
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