June 9, 2005, Point 9,400 North Gate Mt Shasta
6/9/05
US elsewhere
3792
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[A little summer reading for those interested. Our 4 day Ski Party on Mt Shasta...ah, the memories]
MOUNT SHASTA SKI TOUR 2005
Total Vertical Feet Climbed 6/9 to 6/12, 2005
Daily totals: Point 9,400, Shasta 2,400'
East Bolam Glacier, Shasta 5,600'
Diller Canyon, Shastina 6,300'
Point 9,330, Shasta 2,460'
Total: 16,760'
Day 62
6-9-05
Point 9,400', North Gate, Mount Shasta.
Ski Descent: 9,400' (highpoint near the camping plateau) - 7,400' on the North Gate access trail => 2,000 VF
Total climb: 2,400 VF
Our Volcano tour was ruined before it even got started.
Ron and I picked Wayne up at SeaTac Airport at 2 am Thursday morning and we reviewed the news. The weather for the next 4 days in the Seattle area was to remain in a showery pattern with 30-40% chance of showers each day until Sunday. Read: tense mountaineering in the North Cascade volcanoes with certain white out conditions.
Rats.
Our intent was to ski Mt Baker and Rainier (attempt number 4 for Mt Baker), but we also wanted somewhat of a vacation. If you call one-two climbing the first and fourth highest mountains in the state a vacation. Hard climbing sounded great, but climbing in a PNW fog-snow did not sound like a relaxing experience. Four days of white knuckle climbing - uggh. We had a 3 hour window to daylight and our ski day would begin. Calmer heads would need to prevail.
As is typical, when the north was bad, the south was fine, and it appeared California's weather was to improve over the weekend. Hmmm, decisions, decisions, nervous nail biting cloud watching in the North Cascades or a sunny California vacation on The Greatest Ski Mountain In the World?
We chose to venture south to the land of sun: California!
Our new "climb as we like it" agenda had Mt Shasta as our first objective, then maybe Mt McLaughlin on the return. Who knew? We only knew that skiing was the medium of the next few days and nothing else was really that important. We thought an adventure to the North side would provide an escape from the crowds as well as ticking off a great ski. With the large quantity of snow this year I was looking forward to finally ski a line that needed a lot of snow to make possible top to bottom: the Bolam Glacier. Second on our short list was the North Face of Shastina, a face I had looked at as a possible ski descent since seeing it up close on my first attempt at the Bolam - in 1994.
Well, first things first.
We knew we couldn't get up on the mountain that day, so we decided to scope out a high camp at snowline to ensure easy route finding in the dark of the morning. And of course taking in an afternoon ski above camp would be the perfect way to wind down from a long drive. Skiing soon - something to look forward to!
We each took a shift on the nine hour drive and slept as we could, with the collective agreed amount of sleep attained right around two solid hours. Our first stop that bright and sunny morning was in Grants Pass, a place I consider the divide between north and south. From here on down the road we were officially out of "known territory" and into Terra Incognita, vacation had begun. The sun was up and warm, the road was quiet and the breakfast burritos in a downtown café were fresh and tasty.
On the road again we pass through Medford and Ashland and then the boarder. Soon into California we began to see glimpses of the mountain. The mountain looks in great shape. Snow was fat on the North Face of Shastina, but the connecting snowfield for the Bolam Glacier route was not readily visible. The route was on, but questions remained. We found the Military Pass Road and found ourselves finally on dirt. We were going to try and reach the Bolam Glacier via the Bolam Glacier Trailhead but ended up driving up to the North Gate lot as the road to Bolam TH didn't look all that inviting.
At the North Gate parking lot we asked another busy climber in the car next to us (one of only two groups in the lot, and as it turned out was leaving. They had made it to about 13,000' before turning around, leaving just this solo climber), and he informed us that the Bolam TH wasn't "open" by the forest service. Our decision to head for the North Gate lot was a good one. Once settled in with our decision to leave from North Gate, we ate lunch and throw our packs together for an afternoon ski. The weather was fair with passing clouds and cool temps requiring a t-shirt for any strenuous activity but jackets when a breeze kicked up.
At the crack of 3:30 pm we hit the trail with our day packs. After a few sharp turns of the trail we were meandering in the open woods looking for the trail, glad to have experienced the trail in daylight before the morning headlamp search. We were soon on the right track, but were joined by our fellow departing climber. He had followed our meandering trail in the patchy snow and we called a safety meeting upon his arrival. This was our introduction to John "the Baptist" (you know, like the prophet). He was a ski patroller from Utah, although originally from Connecticut. He had been on the mountain for a month, solo, and was skiing around with only a vague prospect for work in the coming months. Nothing to do but ski, ski, ski. On this outing he had his sights on the Bolam Gully and was going to make high camp before a shot at the route in the morning. As coincidence would have it, he was therefore heading in the same direction as us and seemed to keep the same pace as our merry trio. We briefly became a foursome.
The 2 inches of soft corn over the deep, frozen corn pack made for easy climbing and hinted at fantastic skiing, even this late in the day. The NW aspect of the terrain we were looking at was just coming into its best condition at this late hour. The sun was shining and the turns above looked great. We entered a clearing and a huge boulder appeared on the edge of the woods. It was 15 feet tall with vertical and overhanging sides and appeared to have solid rock, save for the enticing edge or two. Something had to be done.
We all dropped our packs (John the Baptist, too) and a fierce bouldering session began. One problem in particular, an overhanging arête with a fabulous snow landing all along its underside, held our extended attention. Each of us taking a few stabs until Ron put all the pieces together. The sun was still shining when we left the boulder, but our minds and bodies were loose with laughter and an upper body workout made our arms useless.
We climbed another 1,000 VF and crested the 9,000' plateau that generally circles the mountain. We said farewell to John, who made camp nearby, and we prepared to descend. Below us, the steep chute and snowfield was a smooth buttery 2" of corn powder (the kind that makes a rooster tail, but won't give you a face shot) from the new snow earlier in the week. Above us, as if a stellar ski below weren't enough, we were afforded great views of the Bolam Route. This was turning out to be a very useful and rewarding run.
We each carved beautiful turns down the snowfield; it was evident that the new snow from earlier in the week was deep up high, but on its way to corn if the sun had been hitting it all day. Another night of cold and the skiing would be even better. As it was, the skiing was absolutely great. The new snow was smooth as a billiard table, not grabby like some transitional snow, and not too soft or too firm. Like Goldilocks - just right. Especially for 5:30 pm!
Once at the base of the steep face, we dropped into the forested North Gate trail drainage, following corn covered hard pack for another 500 VF to a huge tree shaped in a "V" we promptly named the Victory Tree. A short stroll brought us back to the trail and a 1/2 mile jaunt to the trailhead. For perspective, we noted that we had just skied the vertical of Stowe, and barely started the route ahead for the next day.
Back at the car we devoured sausage and pepper sandwiches, prepped our packs for the am, watched a rainstorm pass by in the comfort of the truck (the only moisture we'd see all weekend) and went to bed before the light left the evening sky.
[continued on June 10th - East Bolam Glacier]
MOUNT SHASTA SKI TOUR 2005
Total Vertical Feet Climbed 6/9 to 6/12, 2005
Daily totals: Point 9,400, Shasta 2,400'
East Bolam Glacier, Shasta 5,600'
Diller Canyon, Shastina 6,300'
Point 9,330, Shasta 2,460'
Total: 16,760'
Day 62
6-9-05
Point 9,400', North Gate, Mount Shasta.
Ski Descent: 9,400' (highpoint near the camping plateau) - 7,400' on the North Gate access trail => 2,000 VF
Total climb: 2,400 VF
Our Volcano tour was ruined before it even got started.
Ron and I picked Wayne up at SeaTac Airport at 2 am Thursday morning and we reviewed the news. The weather for the next 4 days in the Seattle area was to remain in a showery pattern with 30-40% chance of showers each day until Sunday. Read: tense mountaineering in the North Cascade volcanoes with certain white out conditions.
Rats.
Our intent was to ski Mt Baker and Rainier (attempt number 4 for Mt Baker), but we also wanted somewhat of a vacation. If you call one-two climbing the first and fourth highest mountains in the state a vacation. Hard climbing sounded great, but climbing in a PNW fog-snow did not sound like a relaxing experience. Four days of white knuckle climbing - uggh. We had a 3 hour window to daylight and our ski day would begin. Calmer heads would need to prevail.
As is typical, when the north was bad, the south was fine, and it appeared California's weather was to improve over the weekend. Hmmm, decisions, decisions, nervous nail biting cloud watching in the North Cascades or a sunny California vacation on The Greatest Ski Mountain In the World?
We chose to venture south to the land of sun: California!
Our new "climb as we like it" agenda had Mt Shasta as our first objective, then maybe Mt McLaughlin on the return. Who knew? We only knew that skiing was the medium of the next few days and nothing else was really that important. We thought an adventure to the North side would provide an escape from the crowds as well as ticking off a great ski. With the large quantity of snow this year I was looking forward to finally ski a line that needed a lot of snow to make possible top to bottom: the Bolam Glacier. Second on our short list was the North Face of Shastina, a face I had looked at as a possible ski descent since seeing it up close on my first attempt at the Bolam - in 1994.
Well, first things first.
We knew we couldn't get up on the mountain that day, so we decided to scope out a high camp at snowline to ensure easy route finding in the dark of the morning. And of course taking in an afternoon ski above camp would be the perfect way to wind down from a long drive. Skiing soon - something to look forward to!
We each took a shift on the nine hour drive and slept as we could, with the collective agreed amount of sleep attained right around two solid hours. Our first stop that bright and sunny morning was in Grants Pass, a place I consider the divide between north and south. From here on down the road we were officially out of "known territory" and into Terra Incognita, vacation had begun. The sun was up and warm, the road was quiet and the breakfast burritos in a downtown café were fresh and tasty.
On the road again we pass through Medford and Ashland and then the boarder. Soon into California we began to see glimpses of the mountain. The mountain looks in great shape. Snow was fat on the North Face of Shastina, but the connecting snowfield for the Bolam Glacier route was not readily visible. The route was on, but questions remained. We found the Military Pass Road and found ourselves finally on dirt. We were going to try and reach the Bolam Glacier via the Bolam Glacier Trailhead but ended up driving up to the North Gate lot as the road to Bolam TH didn't look all that inviting.
At the North Gate parking lot we asked another busy climber in the car next to us (one of only two groups in the lot, and as it turned out was leaving. They had made it to about 13,000' before turning around, leaving just this solo climber), and he informed us that the Bolam TH wasn't "open" by the forest service. Our decision to head for the North Gate lot was a good one. Once settled in with our decision to leave from North Gate, we ate lunch and throw our packs together for an afternoon ski. The weather was fair with passing clouds and cool temps requiring a t-shirt for any strenuous activity but jackets when a breeze kicked up.
At the crack of 3:30 pm we hit the trail with our day packs. After a few sharp turns of the trail we were meandering in the open woods looking for the trail, glad to have experienced the trail in daylight before the morning headlamp search. We were soon on the right track, but were joined by our fellow departing climber. He had followed our meandering trail in the patchy snow and we called a safety meeting upon his arrival. This was our introduction to John "the Baptist" (you know, like the prophet). He was a ski patroller from Utah, although originally from Connecticut. He had been on the mountain for a month, solo, and was skiing around with only a vague prospect for work in the coming months. Nothing to do but ski, ski, ski. On this outing he had his sights on the Bolam Gully and was going to make high camp before a shot at the route in the morning. As coincidence would have it, he was therefore heading in the same direction as us and seemed to keep the same pace as our merry trio. We briefly became a foursome.
The 2 inches of soft corn over the deep, frozen corn pack made for easy climbing and hinted at fantastic skiing, even this late in the day. The NW aspect of the terrain we were looking at was just coming into its best condition at this late hour. The sun was shining and the turns above looked great. We entered a clearing and a huge boulder appeared on the edge of the woods. It was 15 feet tall with vertical and overhanging sides and appeared to have solid rock, save for the enticing edge or two. Something had to be done.
We all dropped our packs (John the Baptist, too) and a fierce bouldering session began. One problem in particular, an overhanging arête with a fabulous snow landing all along its underside, held our extended attention. Each of us taking a few stabs until Ron put all the pieces together. The sun was still shining when we left the boulder, but our minds and bodies were loose with laughter and an upper body workout made our arms useless.
We climbed another 1,000 VF and crested the 9,000' plateau that generally circles the mountain. We said farewell to John, who made camp nearby, and we prepared to descend. Below us, the steep chute and snowfield was a smooth buttery 2" of corn powder (the kind that makes a rooster tail, but won't give you a face shot) from the new snow earlier in the week. Above us, as if a stellar ski below weren't enough, we were afforded great views of the Bolam Route. This was turning out to be a very useful and rewarding run.
We each carved beautiful turns down the snowfield; it was evident that the new snow from earlier in the week was deep up high, but on its way to corn if the sun had been hitting it all day. Another night of cold and the skiing would be even better. As it was, the skiing was absolutely great. The new snow was smooth as a billiard table, not grabby like some transitional snow, and not too soft or too firm. Like Goldilocks - just right. Especially for 5:30 pm!
Once at the base of the steep face, we dropped into the forested North Gate trail drainage, following corn covered hard pack for another 500 VF to a huge tree shaped in a "V" we promptly named the Victory Tree. A short stroll brought us back to the trail and a 1/2 mile jaunt to the trailhead. For perspective, we noted that we had just skied the vertical of Stowe, and barely started the route ahead for the next day.
Back at the car we devoured sausage and pepper sandwiches, prepped our packs for the am, watched a rainstorm pass by in the comfort of the truck (the only moisture we'd see all weekend) and went to bed before the light left the evening sky.
[continued on June 10th - East Bolam Glacier]
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