June 14, 2005, Lassen Peak, NE Face and Hat Creek
6/14/05
US elsewhere
9922
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After my failure to bring skis along on the hike up Manzanita Creek (see TAY report), I knew I wouldn't repeat that mistake the next day. I planned to drive around to the south side of Lassen Peak and do the standard up-and-over ski of the NE Face, with a twist. Last year, I had climbed the trail from the 8450 ft parking lot to the summit and skied down the face to the Devastated Area (3500 vert of ski descent with only 2000 of ascent), then hitchhiked 12 miles back to my car (see TAY report). This time, I wanted to try skinning back around to the south side via the West Fork Hat Creek drainage, which appeared to offer quick and easy access around the east side of the peak and right to the base of the SE Face beside the summit trail.
As I drove past the Devastated Area parking lot at 6450 ft Emigrant Pass, I studied the usual excellent view of the NE Face (see photo below). Snow coverage on the face is just a tiny bit better than the same day last year and looked good down to below 7000 ft in the gullies. Farther along the drive, the nice view of the 2200 or 4400 pixels wide). It seemed much warmer than the previous day, and the snow was already soft in the crater by 11 AM. The last 100 ft to the summit are bare on the trail side, but a . They had stashed a second car at Hat Lake, and planned to car shuttle back around, with the telemarkers hitching a ride. The main part of the face had already softened too much, so we all traversed well to skier's right, trying to hit the most northerly aspects which had the down to about 8500 ft, where things got very sticky.
I parted ways from the others at this point, making an angling descent below the rocky East Ridge of Lassen Peak and down to about 7600 ft in the West Fork Hat Creek drainage. The snow was very sticky and the slope flattens at this point, so there was no reason to ski any lower. I skinned back up, following an obvious gully which turned out to be a side branch, forcing me to cross some bare pumice in order to angle into the main gully (which had continuous snow). , but luckily there was a skin track already in place from someone who had skied in from the other side earlier in the day. This glacial cirque is unique on Lassen Peak, since the lava dome erupted only about 11000 years ago (after the Ice Age) it has no major cirques carved into it. This small cirque still has a pair of fresh-looking nested moraines, evidence that a small glacier may have occupied it as little as 200 years ago during the height of the Little Ice Age. I think it's a very interesting spot, see this and the
View of the Northeast Face of Lassen Peak from Emigrant Pass. click here for an enlarged version of this photo.
This was part of a week-long Cascade volcano ski road trip. Other trip reports:
As I drove past the Devastated Area parking lot at 6450 ft Emigrant Pass, I studied the usual excellent view of the NE Face (see photo below). Snow coverage on the face is just a tiny bit better than the same day last year and looked good down to below 7000 ft in the gullies. Farther along the drive, the nice view of the 2200 or 4400 pixels wide). It seemed much warmer than the previous day, and the snow was already soft in the crater by 11 AM. The last 100 ft to the summit are bare on the trail side, but a . They had stashed a second car at Hat Lake, and planned to car shuttle back around, with the telemarkers hitching a ride. The main part of the face had already softened too much, so we all traversed well to skier's right, trying to hit the most northerly aspects which had the down to about 8500 ft, where things got very sticky.
. I skinned up from the parking lot at 9:30 AM, along with two women telemarkers from Colorado whom I had met in the campground the previous evening (they had come to Lassen to find snow, but had no map or other route knowledge). It was a bit later than planned since I hoped to ski off the summit by 11 AM to find optimal conditions on the NE Face. The skin up the trail and ridge went quickly, although the others eventually switched to carrying their skis as the slope steepened above 9800 ft. I skinned up to the 10350 ft summit crater and spent some time exploring the crater and upper northern flanks on skis (see a 5-image panorama at 2 resolutions: <a href=){kind=link}
. As I prepared to ski off the top, a couple of yahoos from Lake Tahoe arrived, complete with alpine skis and raging testosterone. They were really going to try to impress the two women, and I knew I better get the heck out of there quickly for personal safety. At noon I skied down the choppy snow of the steep face, not as bad as I thought, just in time to look up and see a pair of ski tips already poised to launch air off the summit. I escaped to the safety of the edge of the chute just before the <a href=){kind=link}
I parted ways from the others at this point, making an angling descent below the rocky East Ridge of Lassen Peak and down to about 7600 ft in the West Fork Hat Creek drainage. The snow was very sticky and the slope flattens at this point, so there was no reason to ski any lower. I skinned back up, following an obvious gully which turned out to be a side branch, forcing me to cross some bare pumice in order to angle into the main gully (which had continuous snow). , but luckily there was a skin track already in place from someone who had skied in from the other side earlier in the day. This glacial cirque is unique on Lassen Peak, since the lava dome erupted only about 11000 years ago (after the Ice Age) it has no major cirques carved into it. This small cirque still has a pair of fresh-looking nested moraines, evidence that a small glacier may have occupied it as little as 200 years ago during the height of the Little Ice Age. I think it's a very interesting spot, see this and the
View of the Northeast Face of Lassen Peak from Emigrant Pass. click here for an enlarged version of this photo.
This was part of a week-long Cascade volcano ski road trip. Other trip reports:
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