[TR] Shasta - Hotlum Glacier 5/28/2012

[burchey]

Trip: Shasta - Hotlum Glacier

 

Date: 5/28/2012

 

Trip Report:

There aren't very many trip reports for the Hotlum Glacier Route on Mt Shasta.

 

Why? Is it garbage? Is it really challenging? Maybe a little boring?

 

We decided to find out. 4 not-so-young-gents dragged ourselves up to northern CA for an attempt on the Hotlum. Weather forecast leading up to the weekend were a little iffy. Reports of snow conditions were a little inconsistent. The usual. We allowed 3 days on the mountain to allow for some rescue practice and weather fluctuations. Good times were had by all.

 

Saturday: Tom flew into Oregon and drove down to meet us in Shasta. The rest of us crammed in the Corolla and drove 12ish hours North. We inhaled sandwiches at the local subway after we tracked down Tom, made fun of some oddballs in the parking lot with their "tradeable crystals", and headed back up the 5. The roads to Northgate TH off the turn towards Military Pass were a little bumpy but mostly clear of snow (completely clear on the way out). Both compact sedans made it up with little/no damage. Slept by the parking lot in the shallow snow there. We opted for this TH because the road to Brewer was supposedly pretty snowed in still, but we were able to make it all the way to the parking lot at Northgate.

 

Sunday: Shared gear was split up between fools and crammed into packs. There was enough snow to take the direct route up the drainage past the left side of Northgate instead of the much longer zig-zag trail. It was warm, but the snow was pretty good under our boots as we tromped up to around 8800 feet. Traffic went right, but we knew we wanted to camp more toward the toe of the Hotlum with an intended descent on the Hotlum-Bolam ridge. Steps were easily kicked as we turned left and headed southeast towards the ridges of moraine near the bottom of the HB ridge. The summit came in and out of view, but we could see that there was still a lot of snow on the upper portions of the route, and didn't anticipate that we'd run into much ice or open crevasses. The route flattened out as we traversed around the mountain east towards the Hotlum, and we realized that this TH was pretty far from a proper start on the glacier. Lunch went down fairly easily as we scouted a good spot for base camp, and we managed a flat spot just over 10,000 just east of the HB ridge among the rocks. Snow was stomped into platforms, tents were stretched between piles of rock anchors, and spirits were high as we tossed around ideas for our short excursion the following day to train and acclimatize. Weather updates came via Verizon data signal, and since Tuesday looked great all day, we felt safe "taking it easy" on Monday. The cold chased us into our bags around 8 pm or so - hot nalgene bottle for the foot of my bag - the lows at night were well below the supposed limit of the thing.

 

 

 

Monday: We took our time roping up and heading out in the morning. Plan was to scout the first portion of our summit push towards the Hotlum, and try to find some open crevasses for z-pulley practice, maybe climb some seracs up higher to help acclimate and have some fun.

 

 

We didn't realize how far over we still were from the eastern portion of the Hotlum glacier where the icefalls and route-proper were. On our journey over that way, we stumbled upon a down jacket, presumably blown away from an unlucky climber that weekend. I stuffed it in my pack and we continued on our way ( owner was found on summitpost through the forums). We ended up traversing all the way over to the longitudinal crevasses on the lower portion of the Hotlum, which were all but completely covered in snow. The sun beat down and back up off the ice at us, and the sunscreen did little to protect the pasty white husk of our 4-man rope team. Climbing tape in spots around the glacier glasses helped to block the bouncing rays, and there was no shortage of ridiculous head wear.

 

 

We decided to head up the slope between the seracs on the lower icefall - the going was easy and at the crest of the ridge around 11,000 feet, we found a good spot to pound in some pickets and hop in a crevasse. The weather flip-flopped between blue skies with burning rays, and cold misty clouds with poor visibility. The wind picked up a bit as we hammered in the second picket, and we wasted no time knocking out the extra loose snow on the lip of the crevasse before systematically lowering bodies in - testing our ability to quickly and safely yank them out.

 

 

 

The Victim in each case took time to look around, explore the innards of the gaping ice mouth of death. I quickly became bored and asked to be lowered farther in, taking advantage of the overhanging far wall for some ice climbing.

 

(lowered down in and then climbed out)

 

The fragile lattice of snow found at staggered depths inside the crack did little to inspire confidence, often disintegrating when weighted or smacked with a tool. This was not a place you'd want to end up alone in. Amazing stuff - big mountains.

 

Our descent back to camp was a more direct line and had us skirt a long crevasse - possibly the berg on the Chicago glacier. I'm not that familiar with Shasta, and all the late-spring snow blurs the lines and boundaries, making it tough to tell exactly where you are in relation to each glacier. We navigate by ridges and headwalls. The weather was perfect and we were tired but happy to have found a more direct route to our summit for the following day. We'd be skipping the very bottom of the Hotlum on the way up to the summit, but had already traveled it this day. It was just a basic snow walk anyway. We melted snow in the little kitchen while planning our morning exit from camp. We weren't getting up extremely early, but didn't want to waste time melting too much snow or organizing gear in the early hours before we left. That night was warmer than the first, and to my knowledge we all slept well in the light winds.

 

Tuesday: Awake before 4 am, we strapped on harnesses and hats with groggy enthusiasm, the red of the rising sun was a nice reminder to hurry as we left camp a little later than we probably should. Based on the conditions we'd seen the prior day, our visual inspection of the upper elevations on the glacier, and the words of the rangers on the current situation concerning snow, we opted to save weight and carry less gear - mostly in the way of leaving behind a few axes or opting for the straight axe only in the case of Tom. This would prove to be a mistake, which cost us quite a bit of time as we couldn't move very quickly in the unexpected icier conditions on the chute between the Berg and the Summit. We made great time up and around the mystery schrund, cresting the ridge that borders the eastern portion of the Hotlum glacier.

 

We entered that portion of the Hotlum just below and west of the 1st ice fall, climbing steadily with Casey in the lead up around the 2nd icefall to a resting spot with great views of the 3rd fall and the left-side chute we'd be taking past the headwall.

 

 

We could see long runnels in the area we hoped to climb above the schrund, but it didn't look like icefall or rockfall trails.

 

The snow was good up to the bergschrund, as had been the case the entire trip. It had alternated between walking on top down to sinking to the tops of boots, but was mostly solid snow for climbing. Because we were pretty early in the season, whatever gap that might have existed between the glacier and the slope above was mostly filled in with snow. In addition, the snow on the slope above wasn't rock hard, so picks threatened to rip out if much force was applied. All that said - I think I'd rather lead the crossing of the bergschrund ( and pretty much the rest of the glacier travel ) in september or so when the crevasses would be more apparent and the placements would be sound. The questionable snow underfoot combined with the rippable picks in the slope above made for a spicy high-step to get up and over the edge.

 

 

I placed a picket not too far above and the rest of the crew crossed over with little incident. As we progressed up the slope, we realized that our error in judgement with trying to save weight would cost us a ton of time on the ascent. I had only one hybrid tool, and Tom was carrying just one straight axe.

 

 

Had we all had both tools, we could have zipped up the 45-50 degree slope without stopping to place protection. As it was, with the sporadic occurrence of ice on the route, and the penalty for slipping being a nasty slide down over rocks and such, we opted to pitch it out.

 

 

A couple screws between the rocks brought the team up to the top of the first real pitch, and after some sunscreen and water, I headed up the slope as far as the 60M rope would allow, either tossing in a picket to belay Casey and Tom up, or finding a good perch in the rocks for a hip belay. Mike, who wasn't feeling so hot, opted to come off rope and solo up above us. The steps he kicked would prove to be useful for my left hand as I'd head to the next belay spot with one axe, placing my other fist in Mike's footholes for purchase.

 

(red was our route - blue was more direct finish)

 

 

 

The majority of this portion of the route was nice Neve, and we slowly made our way towards the summit, opting for the more easterly option of the two chutes leading to the summit plateau. The last couple hundred feet before the top were nice, as the angle leveled out more and we could walk on the firm snow towards the rocky finish.

 

 

Because we were so late, we reached the summit alone - views were amazing in all directions, and we took time for a small snack and a few pictures before we looked for our exit.

 

 

Not everyone was feeling so hot, so I offered to scout below us for the entrance to the Hotlum-Bolam ridge descent we had planned on taking. A small deviation in the route east would put us right back at camp. I climbed back up to an area almost level with the summit after realizing I was looking too far towards the Bolam proper, and we found a direct view towards our camp and the ridge west of it that we'd use to navigate by. I had been out of water for a while, and thought I'd let Tom lead the way as it appeared we just needed to walk down and avoid any crevasse we might find. I didn't anticipate much trouble, but the team was tired, so we looked for the path of least resistance. After a visual on what looked like more ice than we wanted to mess with, we traversed a little west to find nice snow leading down to what I believe is The Step on the ridge route. From there a brief traverse east and then easy plunge stepping down to camp at 10,000 feet or so. We were exhausted, and my dehydration got the best of me and I tossed up a bit on the rocky soil above camp. What a treat. We decided we'd sleep there for the night, with plans to get up early, pack it all up, and enjoy the nice hike out with stronger legs below. The next day was uneventful, although with the snow melted out from the lower elevations, the zigzag trip back to the car on the trail proper was a major pain - the direct route down the gully in the snow would have been so much faster. Eh.

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons Learned:

 

Two Axes

 

Hydrate

 

Figure out a time to rise that seems a little too early. Get up an hour before that.

 

Climb this route later in the season. You could drive to the Brewer TH then for a more direct approach, and the route would be more ice/less snow, although I'm told that scree becomes a larger factor later on as well.

 

Edited June 6, 2012 by burchey

[mhux]

any report on the conditions of the hotlum-wintun chute up top? Icy most likely?

[burchey]

any report on the conditions of the hotlum-wintun chute up top? Icy most likely?

 

I'm assuming this chute is a little farther around the east side of the mountain than the red route I indicated? If so, not sure. FWIW, the snow in the upper elevations from the north side around to the west made good steps - not much ice. We traversed around there a bit looking for the best way down. There were patches of hard ice showing through on our chute for several hundred feet above the bergschrund (placed a couple screws for an anchor), but it was mostly avoidable on good Neve.

[123tom]

Nice thanks for the details I plan on doing shasta later this year

[burchey]

Nice thanks for the details I plan on doing shasta later this year

 

No prob, this route is really nice, but I'd prefer it much later in the year...more ice for my face.

[spionin]

very nice, detailed report!

looks like you got a little bit of practice climbing that glacier ice after all!

 

well done!

[burchey]

very nice, detailed report!

looks like you got a little bit of practice climbing that glacier ice after all!

 

well done!

 

Look at you, memory banks! I didn't get anywhere close to enough time on the actual ice, I wanted to traverse back through the ice fall towards camp on our screwing-around day, but the team said "negative". Heading to the Palisades down here shortly for some good alpine ice (hopefully)...Clyde Couloir and the U & V notches

[spionin]

Heading to the Palisades down here shortly for some good alpine ice (hopefully)...Clyde Couloir and the U & V notches

 

 

you lucky sierra-ites!