July 1, 2017, Mt. Shasta, Hotlum-Wintun

I can just add a few photos and personal route details from Ron's great report of the same day. We made this summit for my friend's 40th birthday and it was my first time up Shasta, so a memorable climb for both of us.

The road is blocked by a few snowdrifts around 6,900 feet, but they are melting fast. We hiked in Friday afternoon in trail runners, for a beautiful night of camping under the stars, along a row of whitebark pines around 8,500 feet. Leaving camp just before sunrise, the snow was firm through the morning, and we switched to booting with crampons about half way up. We summited around 11:30 and soaked in the warm, windless conditions with a small stream of climbers coming up the westside.

Skiing down the route around 12:30, we found good skiing, and the route seemed to go forever. Predictably smoother on the upper snowfield, with more suncups and runnels lowers, but soft enough to make the whole ski grin-inducing. All in all, it was about a 7,000 foot vertical descent, with us finally being forced to pull the skis off in a gully just shy of the last turn in the road. What a great route for summer skiers!

(p.s. The photo option in TAY doesn't seem to be available - I can add a few later if it is fixed)