SFDukie Posted May 30, 2007 Posted May 30, 2007 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. A bit of snow between Horse Camp and lower Hidden Valley. Didn't see any parties headed for Casaval Ridge. 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. 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. 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. 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. Gear Notes: Helmet, crampons, ice axe. One scary rock came hurtling down in the afernoon. Approach Notes: Snow melting fast at lower elevations. Quote
gapertimmy Posted May 31, 2007 Posted May 31, 2007 Nice!!!! Looks like a pretty low snow year down there. Quote
SFDukie Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 Nice!!!! Looks like a pretty low snow year down there. Yea, verily. Shasta river basin snowpack was 57% of normal in early April, and I imagine end of season measurements were even worse. Quote
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