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.

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.