Jump to content

[TR] Mt Shasta - Hidden Valley/West Face 5/26/2007


SFDukie

Recommended Posts

Trip: Mt Shasta - Hidden Valley/West Face

 

Date: 5/26/2007

 

Trip Report:

The folks at fifth season in Mt Shasta City were busy with the memorial day weekend hordes, but provided good beta. Drove to Bunny Flat (6900')-only isolated snow patches until Horse Camp (7900'). Parking Lot was a zoo-luckily most headed up Avy Gulch. Weather was flawless.

 

100_2859.jpg

 

100_2801.jpg

 

A bit of snow between Horse Camp and lower Hidden Valley. Didn't see any parties headed for Casaval Ridge.

 

100_2804.jpg

 

Lower Hidden Valley snow was fairly soft by early afternoon. About 15 tents spread about, a few folks skiing down. 9100' or so. There was some meltwater at the lower end of the valley if one didn't want to melt snow. The line up and down the gully was obvious.

 

100_2806.jpg

 

Sunday, snow was firm for climbing the upper headwall of West Face gully even at 1pm. The lower part of the gully was mildly steep initially, then eases, then steepens for the last 1000' or so of the headwall at 13,100'. I only put on crampons for that last bit, as below that there were kicked steps for the most part. Above that, Misery Hill and the summit appeared in view, along with the many folks ascending via avalanche gulch.

 

100_2812.jpg

 

100_2813.jpg

 

100_2814.jpg

 

Misery Hill wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated. Most of it was fairly firm snow, with a few short patches of scree. The sulfur vents near the summit were interesting. Very windy above 13,000', sheltered on west face. Great views of Lassen, McLoughlin and the Trinities/Castle crags to the west.

 

100_2820.jpg

 

Ski/board down was great-4000 feet of vertical limited only by breath! Top of West Face was icy until 1 pm or so. Bottom was soft for the skiers, but still very fun for me on a snowboard at 4 pm. There may have been a "window" of better conditions both top and bottom between 2 and 3, but I didn't talk with anyone who descended then. We rode all the way to our tent.

 

100_2831.jpg

100_2835.jpg

100_2847.jpg

 

 

Gear Notes:

Helmet, crampons, ice axe. One scary rock came hurtling down in the afernoon.

 

Approach Notes:

Snow melting fast at lower elevations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...