kaiman

Mtguide - I won't argue with you on the usefulness of USGS 7.5 Quads. It is true, they can be quite useful and I have numerous ones for sections/parts of ranges in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California and other places where I have been climbing/hiking off trail or in areas that weren't covered on other, broader maps. That being said, as a first time visitor to the southern Cascades, I will be climbing established routes and am looking for more of the broad overview maps that also show access roads, etc., and are updated more frequently then the USGS ones. My argument was simply that I am surprised that there are no maps by Trails Illustrated for Mount Shasta and the southern Cascades (Three Sisters) given their popularity, particularly when the northern Cascades are covered so well by TI (Rainer, Baker, Crater Lake, Glacier, the Olympic Peninsula, etc.)

Yep it's strange that greentrails.com requires you purchase the maps six at a time although I am guessing they are looking to sell directly to gear shops, etc. and not casual users. I spotted that Three Sisters map on Amazon too and think I will get it. I was a bit concerned about it being paper, but it may have to do. I will see what I can find on REI's website. I have a store near my area so I may be able to order the maps from them via the Oregon stores. I am surprised that there are no Trails Illustrated maps for Shasta at the very least. Oh well. obwan, if I lived in the area I would order the topos but they probably won't do me much good if they are outdated. Thanks for the help though... kaiman

Great, Thanks for the advice everyone! It's nice to see such a responsive group of folks helping us out of state climbers out. obwan - Water mentioned greentrails.com in his response as well and I have their site bookmarked. It looks like they only sell a minimum of 6 maps at a time though which is way more then I need. Do you know of any other Online distributors of their maps, or if I wait, can I find them in outdoor stores in the area? Thanks again to everyone for all your help! kaiman

Thanks for the replies Water and skibum14. Water I will look for the snotel links to see if I can get some better snowpack/weather statistics for June and July before making my decision. Out of curiosity, if I wait until early July for the trip, do you think I run the risk of facing scree climbs on any of those mountains versus snow climbs? I ask because I would rather do snow climbs (I can always get my share of the loose stuff here in Colorado ) Also, can anyone recommend any maps for the areas mentioned as a quick search on Amazon didn't reveal any Trails Illustrated maps with coverage of those mountains. Thanks again for the help, kaiman

Hi Folks, First time poster here so go easy on me... I am planning a 10 day climbing trip to the southern Cascades this summer from Colorado and am looking for input from the California and Oregon folks on this site as to when to expect the best weather for climbing Shasta, Lassen (if the route is open), the Three Sisters, and Thielsen (and possibly some others). I have climbed Mount Hood via Pearly Gates in June but the northern Cascades seem to have an entirely different weather pattern from those in northern CA and central OR hence my question. As far as my experience goes I have climbed a number of CO 13ers and 14ers year round so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect conditions wise. We will have standard snow/rock gear, but I am wondering when the best summer weather windows are in the area? Has that area received as much precipitation as the northern part of the range? My schedule is flexible so any comments or suggestions are welcome. Also if anyone has any links to weather/statistical data for that area, they would be appreciated. Thanks, kaiman