Mt. Shasta: Avalanche Gulch 5/15/12

Mt. Shasta was my first introduction ski mountaineering in 2007. While I had been skiing all my life, I had never hiked for my turns. On that trip, I carried a heavy pack, had only a vague idea of how to self-arrest, and wore way too little sunscreen. In other words, it was a steep learning curve for me (pun intended). Ultimately we turned around only a few hundred vertical feet below the summer due to high winds. Walking away from my first summit was one of the best things that could have happened to me--since then it's never been about the summit. Ski to live another day.

That being said, the summit of Mt. Shasta had been on my radar ever since. I earned my ski touring chops following the Mt. Shasta trip, spending a season living and skiing in Alta, UT in 2009-2010.

After finishing my second year of law school, it seemed time to give Mt. Shasta another shot.
 Our objective was to hike and ski Avalanche Gulch. Avalanche Gulch, despite it's foreboding name, is the popular, south facing route on Mt. Shasta.  It is non-technical, and if you hit it right, the route can offer close to 7000 feet of primo corn skiing. 

Jake and I loaded the car with our gear, and headed down I-5 from Eugene to Mt. Shasta City. We picked up our climbing permits, sorted our gear, and finalized our game plan. Threat of afternoon thunderstorms lead us to attempt the summit it two days rather than three (our original plan). We started from Bunny Flat (~7000 ft)  and camped at Horse Camp (~7800 ft). 

Originally we planned to make our start at 3:30am. However, due to what sounded like high winds and laziness (mostly laziness), we didn't hit the snow until nearly 4:30am. The wind was still howling, but we went for it anyway. We arrived at Helen Lake at around 7:00am. Neither Jake or I were in particularly good climbing shape. By Helen Lake it was becoming clear that it was going to be a long, slow slog to the summit. 

The climb was cold and windy, but clear. Our lack of acclimatization (or fitness) hit us right as we were passing "the heart." From that point on, it was a process of counting steps, one at a time, until we finally reached the crest of Misery Hill. Somewhere along the ascent, (shortly after the above photo was taken) I lost my camera. Too tired to look for it, I kept slogging toward the summit. We finally reached the summit at around 1:00pm--the last ones up there for the day. 

After a long break in the sun, it was time to ski. We had left our skis below Misery Hill, so we had to walk down the first 800 feet of the potential ski descent. Given the chundery, icy conditions up there, it was just as well we had to walk. We dropped into the bowl above Redbanks, and saw nothing but 3000 feet of perfect corn turns all the way down to Helen Lake. Jake and I took turns skiing the bowl, enjoying each sweet, soft turn in perfect corn snow. To make things even better, I found my camera on the ski descent, and Jake snagged this photo:

We arrived back at camp at around 3:30. We each enjoyed a celebratory PBR and a nap. Then we packed up our backpacks and skied down to the car. Five years later, I can finally checked Mt. Shasta off my list. 

The Route:

Start: Bunny Flat
Ascent: ~ 7000 ft. From Bunny Flat, ascend through the meadow and find the drainage leading up the mountain. You will hike around 2 miles/800 feet before you reach tree line. If it is not obvious, poke around in the trees near tree line and you will find the Horse Camp cabin and Composting Toilet. Continue up the drainage toward the summit. When you reach Helen Lake (it will be the last flat spot before you begin ascending the main bowl) continue up the gut of the bowl. Ascend climber's right of the red cliffs ("Red Banks") and follow the ridge to the flat area above the cliffs. The final push is up the steep snowfield affectionately known as misery hill. From the top of misery hill cross the summit plateau. The summit pinnacle is about half a quarter mile across the plateau.
Descent: Typically the ski down Misery Hill is as miserable as the climb. Many folks choose to ditch their skis below. There are a myriad of lines down Avalanche Gulch ranging from the open main bowl to the tight and technical Trinity Chutes (skiers right of the gut). If you can hit the snow right, no matter where you go, you are in for a couple thousand feet of epic skiing.