Mt. Shasta: Hotlum-Wintun Route 6/15/13

In the Cascade Range, there is not really a ski season per se. If you want snow bad enough, you can find it no matter what time of year it is. Well, we wanted it bad this weekend, so we headed down to Mt. Shasta to check out the Hotlum-Wintun route.

The Hotlum-Wintun route is on the NE side of Mt. Shasta. Starting from the Brewer Creek Trailhead, it ascends nearly 7000 feet along the snowfield between the Hotlum and Wintun glaciers to the summit. Above 10,000 feet, the pitch is a consistent 40 degrees or higher, and wide open. It is one of the truly legendary descents in the Cascades.

The trip down to Mt. Shasta was in the works long before I became involved. David, Pete, and Galen had been planning this climb for months. After skiing with that crew all winter, I got the invite to come along. 

The Hotlum-Wintun Route

David and I left Eugene at 5:30pm on Friday Afternoon. We arrived at the Brewer Creek trailhead at around 11:00pm. Pete and Galen were already there. We organized gear, hammered out a game plan, and were in bed by midnight. Two hours later, we woke up and got ready to go.

Pete skinning sun-cups at sunrise

It was nearly 3:00am before we started hiking. We had to hike on bare trail for over 45 minutes before we finally hit the snow. At first, we were relieved to be skinning. But that relief quickly turned to frustration as we began to encounter larger and larger sun cups. It had been a cold night, and the snow had frozen solid. The slick snow combined with the heinous sun cups forced all but Galen to start booting at only 9000 feet.

Sun-cup City

At just under 11,000 feet, altitude sickness hit me like a ton of bricks. We took an extended break at 11,000 feet. After some rest, food, and water, I started to feel better. I’m no stranger to altitude sickness, having suffered AMS numerous times over the years.  I have always been susceptible to altitude sickness for some reason. Some people can just cruise up to 14,000 feet with no problem. For me, it seems no amount of cardio conditioning can replace a day or two of acclimatization.  

After the break, we continued booting up the snowfield on our way to Lunch Rocks. Lunch Rocks are the group of rocks along the ridge that mark the point where one traverses from the Hotlum-Wintun snowfield to the snowfield that hangs above the Wintun Glacier. The snow was starting to turn soft by 9:00am, and at 10:45am—when we finally reached Lunch Rocks—the corn snow was approaching prime. We were still 1800 feet from the summit. While Galen and Pete were still going strong, David and I were struggling. Pete and Galen decided to keep pushing toward the summit. It seemed unlikely that David and I would be able to make it to the summit by our 1:00pm cutoff time, so we opted to start skiing down. While disappointed we couldn’t summit, we weren’t that disappointed because we were hitting the corn snow at its prime.

David on the Hotlum-Wintun snowfield

The group went its separate ways. Galen and Pete continued toward the summit, while David and I deskinned and prepared for our 4000-foot ski descent. We started skiing at around noon and the corn was fantastic. Few things are better than soft corn on a consistent 40-degree slope for 2000 feet. At around 10,000 feet, the the sun cups forced us into survival ski mode. We did our best to stay on the North facing aspects of the gullies, which were still holding decent snow. But, below 10,000 feet, anything not North facing was pretty hard to ski.

 As I descended, I could feel the oxygen pouring back into my bloodstream. Despite the fact that we had been climbing for over 8 hours, I was feeling stronger than I had all day. We followed a ribbon of snow until it terminated. After a short search, we found the trail and began hiking back to the car.

David sporting his new skis from Deviation!
deviationusa.com

Around an hour after David and I reached the car, Galen and Pete came stomping down the trail. Unfortunately, they were not able to summit either. They were too high when they crossed the ridge to the Wintun snowfield, and they would have had to descend a couple hundred feet to get back on Route. Instead, they decided to continue up the Hotlum-Wintun snowfield, and skied from 13,000 feet. We packed up and grabbed a burger at The Goat in Mt. Shasta city on our way back to Eugene. The trip was 30 hours door to door. 

If we were to do it again (which we will), I would probably leave more time to acclimatize. I think David and I were feeling a little cocksure after our ascents of Hood and South Sister (among others) this year. But, Shasta is a big mountain: bigger than anything in Oregon by 3000 feet. So, it’s not just about having the fitness to climb the vertical, but the ability to breath while doing it. I would also try to get more than two hours of sleep.  

Update: For more photos and another account of the climb, check out Pete's blog, The Oregonist