Shasta: May-June

[Deb]

Wow! So glad me and Blair put Shasta on the back burner this weekend. Sounds like a not-so-fun place was to be had there.

[Blair]

seriously...

[rhyang]

Saw this on the climbing advisory -

Update 10 pm, Sunday, June 13: Several more accidents today, mostly from falling ice. Risks in climbing the mountain are higher than normal right now due to heightened icefall, especially on routes which funnel falling debris into the main route area. When you are climbing and you see a lot of ice or rock fall around you, that is a good signal to turn around so you can climb another day. We still have a fair amount of ice on the outcrops and cliffs above 12,000 ft. and I would expect more ice fall over the next few days. Rescues are costly and put many people at risk and usually take several hours or days. Might be best to give the mountain another couple days to peel off the ice chunks before climbing... Wear a helmet and practice with your ice axe.

It seemed pretty windy in the Sierra on Saturday too -- much calmer on Sunday.

[Pantilat]

I also avoided most of the icefall by staying to climber's right and heading toward Thumb Rock. The stretch between Helen Lake and the top of Red Banks is indeed extremely firm snow/ice, which allowed for fast cramponing on the way up but a very slow downclimb for a few hundred feet before things started to soften well below Red Banks. It's currently snow covered all the way from the parking lot to the summit, which is in stark contrast to the previous few years at this time of year.

Sunday was a beautiful day on the mountain with brilliant sunshine, excellent clarity, relatively warm temps, and light winds up top. 7:45 roundtrip starting at 3:48 am from Bunny Flat and finishing at 11:33 am. The ascent was 4:24, 30 minutes on top, and 2:51 down.

Some photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 84bb880461

[Blair]

Actually rhyang, saturday there was little wind to speak of. Low temps under uncertan skies, but no wind really.

Sunday was a hell of a nice day to be in the Sierra

[rhyang]

Northgate Trailhead- Hotlum/Bolam Route
www.mountshastaguide.com/funblog

Nice !

Actually Blair, it was fairly windy on Saturday around Matterhorn Peak. NWS said Mono county could expect 65mph gusts over ridges, and to the north there was a lake wind advisory for Tahoe. Nice to know it was calmer down south though ! Good luck on WFG whenever you get to it .. tends to be a far less crowded route (less chance of noobs dropping stuff on you).

[alexsuv]

I also avoided most of the icefall by staying to climber's right and heading toward Thumb Rock. The stretch between Helen Lake and the top of Red Banks is indeed extremely firm snow/ice, which allowed for fast cramponing on the way up but a very slow downclimb for a few hundred feet before things started to soften well below Red Banks. It's currently snow covered all the way from the parking lot to the summit, which is in stark contrast to the previous few years at this time of year.

Sunday was a beautiful day on the mountain with brilliant sunshine, excellent clarity, relatively warm temps, and light winds up top. 7:45 roundtrip starting at 3:48 am from Bunny Flat and finishing at 11:33 am. The ascent was 4:24, 30 minutes on top, and 2:51 down.

Some photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 84bb880461

Recognized your face, you passed me by near the red banks and asked how I was doing. Great time from Bunny flat, but not the best on record

[Pantilat]

Recognized your face, you passed me by near the red banks and asked how I was doing. Great time from Bunny flat, but not the best on record

Not the best conditions for records! The super fast 1 hr, 39 min from Horse Camp to the summit must have had a nice boot pack the whole way up.

[powderjunkie]

I was with a group in avi gulch on Sunday. As we approached Helen we noticed how the line of climbers below red banks stopped, huddled, then almost everyone retreated. As we got above Helen we saw SAR lowering the broken leg victim and spoke with a broken arm victim from the ice fall.

Everything became somewhat surreal as ice balls started whizzing past us. We started thinking of probabilities and decided to hang a left up Casaval and around to west face. Should have stayed way right like others up the gulch but we were still a little low and Casaval seemed like an interesting option. West face also had some falling ice but way less.

Great snowboard turns down Trinity Chutes.

I've never seen that kind of ice fall before and never seen that many people on the mountain or cars in the BF lot.

Other observations - a guy in jeans, someone with no axe, an uncontrolled tumbling glissade in avi gulch; a skier slide out and brake a pole and another skier take a long slide down west face.

The mountain was calling the shots this weekend.

[jibmaster]

Nice job! Got pics dude?

[littlefrantz]

How's the snow? It was suncupped like nothing else in Tioga this weekend and we're thinking of heading up to Shasta this coming weekend.

[powderjunkie]

no suncups - not even at the bottom. and you can ride to the lot - doesn't get much better right now for skiing.

[gphillips]

Ended up heading down to CA after avalanche danger in the Oregon Cascades forced us to reevaluate our weekend plans. Went in to about 9,000 ft. on Saturday evening and climbed Casaval Ridge on Sunday with two friends. The route was in good shape and firm. Took a small ice chunk to the hand, but otherwise was able to avoid the bigger bits. Climbed rather slowly and reached the summit around 1300. We ended up helping with a rescue while descending the West Face. A climber had fallen at around 12,000 ft. and caught a crampon, injuring his right lower leg. Two rangers came up from Helen Lake and we moved him down to a reasonable landing zone around 10,500 ft. The injured climber was leading two newbies, and my partners took them down. I ended up post-holing quite a bit in soft conditions due to the delay, but made it back to our 9,000 ft. camp on Casaval at around 1900 and was eating at Black Bear Diner by 2130.

[Deb]

bump and recent beta on WFG?

[Deb]

www.mountshastaguide.com/funblog

Still lookin' pretty good. What's the latest on snow coverage at Bunny Flat? I was hoping to wear ski boots the entire ascent of WFG on 26 June.