June 17 -21, 2005, Mt Shasta Hotlum-Wintun
6/17/05
US elsewhere
6402
6
.June 17 -21st Just got home from Mt Shasta Hotlum /Wintun attempt via Brewer creek. We saw it all happen. Got there friday night and set up tent 2 mi from Brewer creek campground.This was possible because the trusty and rusty old Trooper blasted its way through snow banks blocking the road and it passengers clearing a few trees.Overnight It snowed 4 " at 6400' which gave us good skining on Saturday morning up to 8800' where we found shelter from the wind to set up camp. We skied a bit after early supper but the snow was very moisture laden. Sunday morning bright and clear but cloud cover and strong winds on summit and ridges. We toured up to 10'350 on the Gravel creek side to access the Hotlum but winds were too punishing.Skiing was exellent on warming and supporting crust.We shied away from anything over 35* and saw no natural slide activity.one fun thin gwe did was ski down Gravel creek an dpopped out amazing close to our campsite. Our guess was that on the NE side (rain shadow?) maybe 4-6" of wet was laid down and quickly froze.We didn't feel the earthquake but did see lots of plane activity to the south of us. Hotlum/ Wintun was extremely wind scoured. Monday almost the same story but with clear overnight skies we awoke to a stong crust and warmer day to come .There were still plumes of snow coming off the summitt and ridges so we did a repeat of Sundays tour.Using the "When the snows is bad the good skiers go touring" logic. After another good day of skiing we loaded up the " whole catastrophe " and skied out and down below the trail head which left us with about a mile hike back to car.On the way out the trooper continued its assault on the snow banks. We found a good creek down around 4000' for a bath,tented up one last time. Woke up Tuesday ate breakfast at the BLack Bear in Shasta City and drove home. The good news is with warm weather and cold nights this week The snow will furtheer consolidate and the Brewer creek trail head will be accessible or close enough to count this weekend.
The 3 of us had planned this way ahead with our work situations. In a "normal year" this date would have been a good bet for Brewer Creek and Hotlum Wintum. again the good news is what Amar has described is that its going to be a very very good summer on Shasta!
Ps i'll try and get some pictures up soon.
Pics now at http://groups.msn.com/RobiesBackcountrySkiers/mtshastabrewercreek.msnw?Page=1
The 3 of us had planned this way ahead with our work situations. In a "normal year" this date would have been a good bet for Brewer Creek and Hotlum Wintum. again the good news is what Amar has described is that its going to be a very very good summer on Shasta!
Ps i'll try and get some pictures up soon.
Pics now at http://groups.msn.com/RobiesBackcountrySkiers/mtshastabrewercreek.msnw?Page=1
Thanks for the report Robie, that's the route I would like to do in a couple of weeks. Sounds like the road will be in better shape then. By the way, what shape was the road in before you hit snow...did you need a high clearance 4x4?
It was my pleasure! the underlying road of red cinder is in good shape we needed high clearance trooper 4x4 to blast throughabout 4 or 5 snow banks to make it within 2 road mi. of trail. one last bank stopped us cold from another mi of clear road. All that should be gone in two weeks and a std. car could get in then.
Great report, Robman, and nice work with the pics.
I'm glad you got some good skiing in.
I'm glad you got some good skiing in.
Last year I got a VW Eurovan camper up that road (to point where snow stopped me, and everyone else, about 1.5 mile shy). A Eurocan is about as low ground clearance as you can get. In general I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the logging roads in the Shasta area (given all the rain though things might have changed in a year). The worst part of the logging roads was about 3 miles in on the road to Military Pass from US97, just after crossing the railroad tracks, and you'll only hit that if you come in direct from the north rather than going through Shasta City, and all it took was slowing down quite a bit, the van still made it. I'm not sure I was on the right roads all the time on the way either up or down, on the way in it was quite well signed however and I got there without apparent wrong turns. Watch it on the way back out because the roads are NOT signed in the reverse direction. Next time I'll pick up that map Amar suggested.
Robie: too bad you couldn't make it go all the way. Seems like there's a lot of luck involved avoiding those punishing winds on Shasta, I got plenty lucky on my single attempt.
Robie: too bad you couldn't make it go all the way. Seems like there's a lot of luck involved avoiding those punishing winds on Shasta, I got plenty lucky on my single attempt.
Robie, thanks for the timely report after the huge snowstorm. I'm glad you got some good turns despite the winds. It's good to know that the road is driveable so close to the trailhead, the official USFS report still says 5 miles.
Thanks for the report Robie. Glad you got some good skiing after the recent snow. Amazing what the conditions are going to be like on Shasta for the next month or two. Already thinking about another road trip.
Paul
Paul
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