June 3, 2006, Mt. McLoughlin

Headed down to McLoughlin friday evening with 3 friends. We made it 0.7 miles inward on the road to the trailhead before snow patches stopped us, so we set up camp on the road. We left the cars at about 5:30 a.m., and booted it for the first couple hours until we hit solid snow worthy of skinning. But before long, we were booting it again either because of slope or windblown areas free of snow. We summited a little before noon, and enjoyed an almost wind-free summit experience with great intermittent views of Shasta, Lassen, and the Trinity Alps. 2 of us started skiing down the SE side and myself and one other started into the east bowl. However, on about my 5th turn I started a good sized avalanche, and we thought better of the east bowl. Too bad, it certainly looks gorgeous in there. We skied down into the trees on the SE side until we literally couldn't ski anymore, then booted back out and to the car around 4 for some High Lifes resting in a snow patch.

Pics can be seen here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hbasagic/album?.dir=/617bscd&.src=ph

Approach Notes:
trail-finding is a bit tricky on the way up with snowy sections. A GPS location or 2 around treeline would be beneficial if you don't want to bushwhack for a long time on your way out like we did... Hitting the trail a couple hours earlier would probably grant access to the east or NE bowls for your descent.