Mt.Shasta Hotlum/Wintun - 24 Hours on Snow

**guermo** · 06-20-2006, 01:18 PM

Hit the Hotlum/Wintun route on shasta on June 17-18th with Split-It and Will. Report was that brewer creek trailhead was snowbound six miles out , but we decided to go for it.
Driving up the forest service roads , caught our first glimpse of our route:

We were pretty bummed to find the road impassable at six miles out - at 5,800 feet. That meant 8,362 vertical feet of hiking to reach the summit. Oh well , it was near 6pm and we strapped on all our gear and went for it with the goal of camping near treeline (~8,000 feet) by nightfall.

We decided to make a beeline towards the mountain instead of following the road , which turned out to be a great decision as we saved tons of miles and effort. The climb started on dirt and shrubs , but we soon put our skis on and started making our way through the mix of snow and dirt. Made for some interesting skinning!

**guermo** · 06-20-2006, 01:51 PM

We were so stoked to see the mountain had no tracks and was really smooth even at low elevation.
We were getting close to treeline and camp near nightfall.

Made a sweet campsite at 8000 feet and settled in for a few quick hours of sleep before a 330 am start.

Woke up easily at 3am and started out in the dark. The snow was really firm and icy.

Around 4am we started getting a little sunrise action behind us. It is such a surreal scene being up there watching the sun and moon interact.

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise!

We were nearing 10,000 feet at like 6 am so we were really ahead of schedule , but we kept at it.

We were so stoked to see the quality of the snow - so smooth!

The sun came up and we continued our climb making great progress. It was softening up too.

Put away the poles and switched to ice axes for the headwall ascent.

Climbing that last 1500 feet from 12,500 to 14,000 is always so so tough , this time was no different!

Ahhh the Summit finally! So glad to be there - near 11 hours of climbing from the car. Ran into some Avalanche Gulch climbers/skiers on top. The avalanche gulch side looked like west face at squaw , tons of bumps , sastrugi , and wind destruction- I was so glad i was going to ski the east face!

Finally time to ride , the snow was perfect corn and it was time to go! Split-It drops in.

Will gets some perfect steep corn turns near my track

Me getting some with Mt.Lassen in the background

Will

check out the smoothness!

Me getting some down lower

The descent seems to go for ever and ever - we were going to get 7,000 vert to the camp , before boarding another grand out the bottom. The snow was so so smooth even down low

First Tracks on perfect corn for 7000' was one of my best runs ever.

Will getting some way down low , with the summit chute visable in the background

Almost to camp!

Made it back to camp and it was absolutely brutal to have to put all that weight of the tents and bags and camping stuff back on the back! But we did and started boarding and skiing out towards the car.

One last look before entering the treeline

Had some really interesting boarding and skiing down low , with tons of debris , tons of weight on our backs and tired bodies. Here , Split-It keeps on movin

When the snow finally ran out we still had about 1.5 miles back to the car - talk about pain! Look how much crap is on Will's back!

Made it back to the car! All in all we did around 16,725 feet of vertical up and down and had been up for 24 hours when we returned to the car! First thing done was to put Split-Its shitbag on the roof for our drive out.

What an ass kicker - but the single best corn run i've ever had!

Hopefully Split-It will post up some of his pics here soon!

**enlosandes** · 06-20-2006, 02:03 PM

Nice one! When you get the Wintun Hotlum in perfect conditions like that, there isn't a better run in the lower 48. And to be that smooth doesn't happen too much or for too long, well done!

**ski_rick** · 06-20-2006, 02:06 PM

Nice job, looks freakin' amazing!!

**Sierra Cement** · 06-20-2006, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by guermo

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**bcrider** · 06-20-2006, 02:10 PM

I'm sold!

ps. nice work, pics, and report!

how'd the splitter work?

**The Dad** · 06-20-2006, 02:19 PM

Wow. Excellent stoke.

Believe it or not, my daughter heads up to camp on Shasta this weekend. Too bad she can't take her skis.

**mmcpheet** · 06-20-2006, 02:43 PM

**Squirrel99** · 06-20-2006, 02:54 PM

so many quality pics! quality effort, too!

and I thought our weekend on Adams was long

**Eldo** · 06-20-2006, 02:58 PM

Oh yeah! Awesome TR and photos.

An 8,000+ vertical climb makes me tired just reading about it.

**Pow4Brains** · 06-20-2006, 03:48 PM

FKNA!!!!! Please send some of that over to CO........way to get it.

**Split-It** · 06-20-2006, 04:10 PM

single best run of my life with a total of 7300 vert from summit to dirty snow line, 6000 ft of quality. my first 14er attempt and success. i give big props to both will and guermo for keeping the spirit up, even through the last few hundred vert of the headwall....BRUUUUUTAL!!!!! guermo was sick all week and was stoned on benadril. what an animal. we ended up packing our crap (literally) and heading all the way back to tahoe to get back at 2:30 in the morn. 24 hours of stoke. i'll get some pics up soon. wish you all could see the vdo footy!!!

**alpinepronghorn** · 06-20-2006, 04:19 PM

wow.

That is pretty sweet. Best thing on this board in a while. Nicely done, nicely done, nicely. fucking. done.

**GreenRun** · 06-20-2006, 04:24 PM

SICK!

Question - on the shot w/your tracks heading up the mountain. Do you come down lookers left or lookers right of the rock ridge in the middle. It kinda looks like you came down lookers left....but the lines to lookers right (at the summit) also look sweet.
How much time did the approach take?

**jrredho** · 06-20-2006, 04:41 PM

Hell yeah, boys!

I remember going to Shasta a few years ago from the Clear Creek
trailhead, and I was totally heartbroken when we got to the summit and
saw the line you guys skied; it looked incredible, and we weren't going
to ski it.

Right off the summit feature to the camp is a dang fine way to do it, and
you boys laid some dang fine turns down in the process.

cheers,
john (oh, and I think that all the east side routes entail 8k+ feet
of vert before the roads melt out---when the skiing is best;
awesome job)

**Alpine Dreams** · 06-20-2006, 04:52 PM

Sick! Great trip report! Shasta's been on my list for a long time.

**Split-It** · 06-20-2006, 05:26 PM

Here's more photos to add to the TR spring stoke:
...and going for the first descent on a Thermorest

we stopped for a while to catch some pics of the sunrise since we were making such great time

we were getting closer to the headwall...doesn't look like like 1500' vert to me?? f'n liers

turns out the headwall has its name for a reason. 1600' of 45 degrees from 12,500 to the summit of 14,160'. nuff said.

now, for the goods...
guermo attacks the descent...

like butta'...

willy, takin' control of the lower headwall...

here's my line after about 2000+ feet of vert. forgive me, for i had to stop from shear exhaustion...with several thou' left. the light reflected our tracks so perfectly...

first TR for myself....had to do something respectable. and with over 7000' vert of fresh purrrrrfect corn turns on untracked face, i was fully stoked.

**iskibc** · 06-20-2006, 05:58 PM

Very nice. Coverage up around your parts is much better than around here. Things are starting to get runnelled and sun-cupped around here. The snow in your pics is super smooth. Good stuff.

**wolfs** · 06-20-2006, 06:01 PM

mmmmmmmm
So tasty.
FWIW that line lookers right would go, but ... from personal views and photos I have seen, that line starts to show hard blue ice through it kinda early, long before the typical HW finish (wide chute/face that lines up above the Wintun) shows even a hint of glacier character. So I think you'd have to hit it early in the HW season. Even in these photos there's possibly a rock band or schrund in it already.

**3snowboards** · 06-20-2006, 06:05 PM

unreal! thanks for the stoke.

**freshies** · 06-20-2006, 06:13 PM

nice work lads - congrats! that last slog out always kills you mentally, seems my friends and I always end up bickering as everyone is wasted at that point, etc. seeing your pics of bush whacking down low brought that all back...again, congrats and thanks for sharing the stoke!

**The Dad** · 06-20-2006, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Split-It

Jeeeezus, that's some purty porn.

**wandering-willy** · 06-20-2006, 06:32 PM

No doubt about it the single best corn run in my life. Epic quality in epic proportions! Mad props to Split-It and Guermo for putting the hammer down. Especially Guermo after being sick a week, loosing a pole a 1/4 of the way up, getting blown over and being jacked up on Benadryl the whole hike....Then getting locked out of his house at 3 am when we got home after the long day

great riding with guy's that shred the goods and aren't afraid to work for it. No artificial flavors here, just ripe for the picking and fresh off the stalk - natural butter perfectly added - Amazing trip