"We should ski Mt Shasta."
I'm pretty sure we've said this every May for the last five years. This spring we finally made it happen. Maybe there was a little extra motivation: after a month of being chased out the mountains by thunderstorms, it was finally starting to feel like classic spring skiing weather.
A day before the summer solstice, we made the long dusty drive up to the Brewer Creek trailhead. After a 3:30 am start and a short approach hike, we were watching the sunrise from the Hotlum/Wintun snowfield. Straddling the bowl between heavily crevassed glaciers, this snow field is a skiers paradise. With the right timing, it's possible to ski 7,000' of vertical from the summit of Mt Shasta back to the car. That's a bit more than your local resort. We hoped our legs were up for the challenge.
Despite making good time, by the time we reached 12,000' it was starting to get hot. A few scattered clouds were building up around the mountain. Shasta makes its own weather; clouds will form out of a clear sky and obscure the summit by early afternoon, making an ascent dangerous. Fortunately, the clouds seemed to be staying below us, so we continued up the Shasta Stairmaster.
The summit was an amazing site. The low cloud layer obscured much of the lower mountain; we were on an island of snow and rock high above the sea of clouds. After food, photos, and iced coffee, we transitioned our skis. There was a perfect break in the clouds on the line we planned to ski, so we dropped into the cloud world below.
We skied a few thousand feet of perfect corn snow until we finally reached the clouds. Venturing inside the mist was like skiing into the steam room at your local gym. We came out the bottom feeling well moisturized. A few thousand more feet of decent turns and we finally ran out of snow. I was glad to see my hiking shoes and a cold beverage waiting at the snowmen. My legs were completely done. Where else can you ski 6,000 feet on the last day of spring? Shasta is truly amazing.
