Lassen / Shasta Conditions Anyone?

[meter-man]

Yeah, rangers haul gear up on snowmobiles to the bowl east of Avalanche Gulch and ski it in from there. Lots of tracks in there.

Good to know. I had no idea sleds were allowed.

[LightRanger]

Old Ski Bowl is a bigtime sled play area. Sledders need love too!

[powfiend]

How high can one get a sled up in old ski bowl? Would it be worth sledding up a ways and skinning up from there?

[meter-man]

How high can one get a sled up in old ski bowl? Would it be worth sledding up a ways and skinning up from there?

All of the sudden buying a sled in California has a lot more appeal. There is some great terrain just at the top of the ski bowl....

[jibmaster]

Depends on the size of your cojones.
Or the power of your steed.

Snowmachines are allowed all the way to the ridge (Green Butte) above, hikers right of Avalanche Gulch.

http://www.summitpost.org/green-butte-ridge/157170

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=...11744399%40N08

[gimpy]

If I were to bring a sled to Shasta midwinter it would be to access the other trail heads like brewer n diller
It's never seemed that worthwhile to me to sled up ski bowl just to save some vert and then u gotta ride yer sled down ski bowl instead of skiing it Or ghost ride it I suppose

[buildakicker]

Good amount of snow fell on Lassen and Shasta. Lassen info in pic

[LightRanger]

7" of water had fallen at Shasta Dam by early afternoon on Thursday from one storm. I bet areas like mid-upper Avalanche Gulch and Cascade Gulch got way more than CDEC shows.

[buildakicker]

Ranger was claiming 4 to 5 feet on the 6th above 10k

[LightRanger]

I believe it. And now probably 10-11.

[rod9301]

I'm thinkung if skiing shasta next weekend, probably west face.
I skied it a few times in the spring, both by booting up the west face and by going up avalanche gulch and traversing left to drop in from the too.

I dont remember how steep the west face is. Can I skin up it in soft snow?

Because this is my first big ski of the season and I might want to overnight at hidden lake.

If I go up avalanche gulch and overnight at helen lake, I would have to carry all my shit up and ski down west face with it, ng.

Thanks.

[jibmaster]

Oh, yeah - just head up after a big dump.
You'll be fine.
You've been there before, should be good to go.
[sarcasm]

Anything this next week will not be good.

Lots more snow coming in.
Stick to the Coast Range for more stable snow.

[ska21]

Class 4 Avi in Avi Gulch on 12-12-14

[jibmaster]

Mucho safe snow stability in the Coast Range.
Especially at Hull Mt.
This next week will set Hull up.

Black Butte as well as Anthony Peak out of Mendo. Pass will be going off.

Stay safe with some Coast Range touring.

http://www.earnyourturns.com/3878/cc...e-2-mendocino/

[buildakicker]

No statistics! Play it safe.

[rod9301]

Ok, at the risk of being an asshole, I just wanted to know if it's feasible to skin up west face in soft snow.

I can evaluate the avie risk, and I either go this weekend or later.

But I still would like to know the answer too my question.

[gimpy]

Avy conditions up there sound really manageable right now according to the Shasta avalanche center. If you havnt checked their recent advisory check it to see a really cool shot of the slide and the distance it covered. Looks like more weather this week but there could be a nice window Thursday and fri.

[powfiend]

It's not necessarily the avi danger I would worry about this week, more so the storms coming in now through Friday. The upper mountain on Shasta is not somewhere I would want to be in bad visibility. And you know how those big solitary volcanos like to suck in storms. I bet this weekend would be good up there though!

[buildakicker]

I've never skied the West face, but know hikers really like it. Trip report help?? Though they went from avi gulch over http://www.earnyourturns.com/11251/t...tas-west-face/

[snapt]

Class 4 Avi in Avi Gulch on 12-12-14

Any word where it started exactly? I heard near Helen but havent seen any crown pics despite everything esle floating around on Facebook etc.

[meter-man]

Ok, at the risk of being an asshole, I just wanted to know if it's feasible to skin up west face in soft snow.

I can evaluate the avie risk, and I either go this weekend or later.

But I still would like to know the answer too my question.

It is possible to skin up it. Depends on your skill and the snow, but that goes without saying. You might need to switch to booting at the top. I think it maxes out about 40 degrees, maybe slightly less. Bring ski crampons.

[gimpy]

Snapt go look at the Shasta avy advisory

Is ther an echo in here?

[SchralphMacchio]

I'll just post this for good measure:

Backcountry skiers on 12/12/14 came across some impressive debris of a large natural avalanche (HS-N-D3-R3) that slid down Avalanche Gulch proper and ran past the Horse Camp (Sierra Club) cabin. The avalanche likely occured on 12/11/14. The avalanche came down through Avalanche Gulch proper, and not the "climbers gully". Thus, the starting zone was likely the Sargents Ridge, Thumb, Redbanks area. This slide is a good reminder of the potential for large avalanches on Mt Shasta during heavy winter storms. Slides like this can easily extend into runout zones on relatively flat terrain...ground that one might travel on and think they are not in avalanche terrain. Always know what slopes are above you and travel with caution even when below treeline. You may be in a runout zone.

Just think about that ... likely started way up by Thumb/Redbanks, jumped the lake, and then continued to run well past Horse Camp. That's like a 1.5 mile long track, over 4000' vertical.

Shasta sounds like fun this time of year but I'm not sure I'd want to put myself into the gut of any capture drainage, like Cascade Gulch, with that much overhead exposure.

[~mikey b]

Rod you sure ask a lot of questions. Just go and figure it out for yourself.

[rod9301]

Thats fair,i guess I was looking for shortcuts