July 9-10, 2005, Lassen Peak
7/9/05
US elsewhere
1922
0
Saturday, my brother Ben & I hiked up from the 6450' Devastated Area parking lot - with the kitty litter, was one step forward and several inches back. Continuous snow first appeared at 7725', then when the snow got steep switched to ski boots for climbing mode and reached the ridgeline at 10,000' (to climber's left of summit). Surface was quite smooth, and only the top couple inches were soft enough to peel off.
Sunday, hiked up the trail from the other side, although probably could have skinned up almost the entire way (via the snowfield to climber's right). Dropped in at about 10,420', i.e., just beneath the summit's solar-powered phallus. (What is that thing anyway?!?) First several turns off the summit were mildly sketchy (i.e., steep, narrow, and rocky), but nothing extreme. Snow was once again quite smooth, although even at this earlier hour of the day (i.e., a bit before 9:00), the top couple inches were already peeling off. Skied down 1700 vert to where the pitch levels off, then climbed back up the previous day's boot ladder to 9950' on the ridge and skied down to 7725'. Did the kitty litter shuffle back to the Devastated Area parking lot, then car shuttled back to the other trailhead. (Our numbers & vehicles had multiplied since the prior day, so decided to take advantage of that.)
Despite our two days' exclusive focus on Lassen Peak, good conditions abound throughout the park, some right up to the trail or road - we saw plenty of tracks in plenty of places.
Pics available here:
http://jshefftz.photosite.com/Lassen/
. . . plus here were are tromping/slip-sliding back down the kitty litter at the end of the second day:
Sunday, hiked up the trail from the other side, although probably could have skinned up almost the entire way (via the snowfield to climber's right). Dropped in at about 10,420', i.e., just beneath the summit's solar-powered phallus. (What is that thing anyway?!?) First several turns off the summit were mildly sketchy (i.e., steep, narrow, and rocky), but nothing extreme. Snow was once again quite smooth, although even at this earlier hour of the day (i.e., a bit before 9:00), the top couple inches were already peeling off. Skied down 1700 vert to where the pitch levels off, then climbed back up the previous day's boot ladder to 9950' on the ridge and skied down to 7725'. Did the kitty litter shuffle back to the Devastated Area parking lot, then car shuttled back to the other trailhead. (Our numbers & vehicles had multiplied since the prior day, so decided to take advantage of that.)
Despite our two days' exclusive focus on Lassen Peak, good conditions abound throughout the park, some right up to the trail or road - we saw plenty of tracks in plenty of places.
Pics available here:
http://jshefftz.photosite.com/Lassen/
. . . plus here were are tromping/slip-sliding back down the kitty litter at the end of the second day:
Reply to this TR
Please login first: