gapertimmy Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 Climb: Shasta-Hidden Valley Date of Climb: 6/6/2004 Trip Report: gaperfest04 I knew that we were in for an -epic- when i began hiking out of bunny flatz. I was immediately intimidated by the alpine prowess of my fellow climbers on the south side of Shasta... they were obviously more prepared than I for the ojbective hazards of the approach hike... not taking any risks what-so-ever on the firm morning snow: crampons, axes, camo pants, jean shorts, and helmets protected them from the dangers that lurketh around each bend of the trail. But it wasn't just the gear that set them appart, it was the Tom Petty sing-a-long, their battle cry! "NOW I'M FREE, FREE FALLING", the cadence kept them out of harms way as well. A bit shook up, i slogged on, feeling a bit insuficient with my minimal gear, and naked without a full goretex suit on. Quickly i skinned on into the trees towards Hidden Valley, quickly, as to get away from the sneering glares of the well equiped alpinists. Alas, I should have heeded the warning signs as our attempt to ski the west face of this fine choss pile was thwarted by the infamous winds of mt. shasta. 70+ mph gusts on saturday night blew a slew of sand into our tent, and shook our already fragile psyche. Sick lines stared at us from the west face as we skiied out sunday morning, taunting gapertimmy, snickering at my lack of gear, giving me corn blue balls. I will be back, and next time I'll have my COREtex. jlag escaping the south side West Face from Hidden Valley even without the climb and ski this was a great trip. looks like the face will be in for a few more weeks, suncups low on the south side already. go get some Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 ha cool! Hidden valley looks sweet! Did you make any turns? We were two of those gapers on the south side...although we forgot our camo...and our REI koflach Verticals...we didn't fit in at all. Hidden valley looks much prettier then Lake Helen. How long did that approach take you? Seems worth it. Also, where did you hear 70+ mile an hour winds Sat night, a guess or was that confirmed? Sure felt like it... Hotlum Bollum this weekend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 9, 2004 Author Share Posted June 9, 2004 the approach was pretty quick, 2.5 hours i think? But forgot the watch. Turns on the way back to the car only. there are some sweet tight little lines off shastina into cascade gulch, those look hella fun, as well as the obvious bigger lines off the top of the west face. as we chatted about, i think the best option would be to bivvy at the TH, go up the dog route early, and ski down the west face. You can traverse over to the bottom portion of casaval above hidden valley, drop back onto the SW side and have an easy traverse back to bunny flats. Lots of elevation, but light n fast, and gaper-ific! when i go back to hidden vallye, it would be best to have at least 2 nights/3 days to spend over there to really explore shizzy. ranger that was camped at lake helen was the one who reported the gusts 60-70+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 That Hidden Valley/tent picture is awesome! Nice color too. Film or digital? (Not that it matters on my shitty CRT monitor.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snodger Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Oh man, my panties are damp just thinking that I was so close to the gaper-god last weekend. We must have passed like the proverbial ships in the night as I headed into hidden valley on sunday. We got a late start after a descent route finding malfunction on Mt. Mcgloughlin the night before and left the bunnyflat zoo at about 2:30. We originally planned on going over to the east side and doing Hotlum-wintun route, but our zest for route finding though the trees and skiing over the road to the trail head had been tempered by the day before, so we headed to hidden valley after the climbing ranger in shasta city mentioned that it should be 'pretty fun'. The trailhead was quite a scene, best people watching in a long time- I too noticed the large number of red koflach rental boots, helmet wearing in the lot, and serious hardshell usage. Although after talking to a dude who summitted I gave them the benefit of the doubt for the shells- he said he crawled up the summit with 80 mph gusts! The weather on monday was very different. It was partly cloudy and way cooler. The snow conditions were very aspect dependant. Wasn't feeling up for the summit (should have been training more recently) and was watching rain brewing across the vally to the west so we skied different shots in the bowls above the valley. As you commented some of the lines on shastina looked nice and I sure was tempted by the the west face snowfield. So how far up did you guys ski before leaving? I saw a few recent tracks and even found a huge bivy platform cut into the bowl under Casaval ridge at about 10,500'. As the the storm across the valley was obiously dropping pre-cip we decided to bail. As we got back to the tent a squall blew around the shoulder of the mountain and nailed us with pea sized snow pellets and the a bit of snow as we busted down camp. But as we skied out it cleard up and our last view of the mountain that evening had us wondering whther we should have stuck it out. All in all a great trip, in a awesome setting. Until I saw your post I wasn't going to post anything about hiddden valley, hoping to avoid a stampede, but since you put up such a nice picture (got to show my wife where I spent the weekend- thanks) I figured the cat was out of the bag. The real crazy thing about the west face is that just over the ridge is the trade route with hundreds of climbers! I can't imagine what the lake helen camp is like on the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted June 11, 2004 Author Share Posted June 11, 2004 damp panties? when it came time to climb out of bed at odarkthirty, neither of us were stoked to crawl up the west face with boards on our back. so we slept in (had driven from bend at 4am sat morning), and skied out. I don't think the west face is any secret, there were ~20 people camped there fri/sat night. But definately the difference from the south route to the west is amazing, almost a wilderness experience... much like dropping the chutes off pikers peak on adams... so close, you so many gapers os far away. maybe next time we can do some syncro-corn-eights.... oh i think the bivvy high on casaval was from a couple waiting for teh winds to calm down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snodger Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 yeah I realize the west face isn't secret its just the feeling that just thinking, let alone talking, about it might tip the hordes off that theres another way. It was interesting to talk to the climbing ranger. He mentioned that at one point they were thinking of putting in quotas for routes and decided that they wouldn't for two reasons: first to keep the masses in one location would make their job easier and second to protect the wilderness experience on other routes - for that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 yeah I realize the west face isn't secret its just the feeling that just thinking, let alone talking, about it might tip the hordes off that theres another way. It was interesting to talk to the climbing ranger. He mentioned that at one point they were thinking of putting in quotas for routes and decided that they wouldn't for two reasons: first to keep the masses in one location would make their job easier and second to protect the wilderness experience on other routes - for that For good policy! Hope the folks down at Mount Hood RD are listening to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambone Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 damp panties? I don't think the west face is any secret, there were ~20 people camped there fri/sat night. But definately the difference from the south route to the west is amazing, almost a wilderness experience yeah, the Ranger counted about 80 people on Sat night at Lake Helen, I lost count at around 30 tents... He also said there are ussually twice as many on the weekend. I think most people are just to lazy to hike over to Hidden Valley, or wouldn't be able to find it....did you guys see those choppers looking for laost hikers in the woods?....sheesh. Seems like Avy Gully has alot more objective hazard then the WF with all of the choss rock right above the route...tons of big boulders all over the snow field. Hey Snodger, do you live in Southern Oregon?, I'm looking for partners... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snodger Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Sorry Lambone, I'm in portland. Grew up and have family in the bay area so I pass through a couple times a year. This past McGloughlin/shasta trip has been on my mind since getting 'oregon descents' a few years back, and I definitly liked both mountains and will be back , maybe next time we could do something. I'd like to hit the north or east side on Shasta next time like we originally planned for this trip. You ever been out of the brewer creek trailhead? We were wondering how hard it is to find your way out through the forest, sounds kinda bad before the snow melts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfs Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Maybe old news but, FYI, it is not hard to fine one's way through the forest at Brewer before the snow melts, at least when I did it w trailhead no more than 1.5 mile away. Just take a reverse sighting of where two prominent buttes on the horizon are (or better yet a compass read) as you cut the switchbacks on the way up and then do the equivalent on the way out. As of now, that trailhead is melted out. Probably TOO melted out, still skiable but wouldn't be nearly as much bang for the buck. Here's some recent TRs for out of Brewer one mine one from Amar: http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0406;action=display;num=1088623455 http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0406;action=display;num=1087109828 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snodger Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Good to hear from you wolfs. We had heard from a couple of sources that it s easy to get into the wrong drainage once below tree line. But it sounds like its not a real dense forest? Usually I feel pretty comfortable with route finding, but on our first leg of our trip, on Mt Mcgloughlin, I ignored my spider sense and followed my buddy too far right and we ended up hiking a few extra miles to the car, hence the reluctance on Shasta. But anyway it was nice getting to hidden valley, and next time I'll try Hotlum-Wintun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.