Oct/090
Still White as a Winter Moon?
Despite a couple lean snow years, Shasta’s glaciers bucking global warming trends – so far
Story and photo by Renee Casterline
With its summit soaring 14,162 feet, Mount Shasta stands imposingly over the surrounding landscape, alone in its claim as the dominant peak of northern California. Unlike the highest peaks in the Sierra, Shasta has no peers on its flanks. It’s an absolute brooding, uncontested loner – a mountain “as lonely as God, and white as a winter moon,” as the poet Joaquin Miller memorably put it.
It is this solitude, this unrivaled claim on your attention, that brings into sharp relief just how barren the usually white-cloaked mountain has looked this spring and summer.
In mid-May, considered one of the prime climbing and skiing months, guides and rangers were bemoaning the summer-like conditions as the snow pack rapidly receded under the blowtorch of a week of 90-plus degree days. Looking up from the town of Mt. Shasta, narrow bands of snow were all that remained amid
thousands of feet of scree.
The scene was especially disheartening for climbers and skiers. It was easy to think global warming might be to be blame for the sorry conditions.
But you can’t draw conclusions from one season, of course, or even two; remember, last season’s snowpack was even worse. Indeed, things may not be as bad as they seem on California’s most prominent volcanic peak, where each year thousands of folks are introduced to the world of alpine mountaineering or come to earn their last turns of the season – sometimes six to seven grand of them in one epic run – on what many consider the best ski mountain in North America.
Glacial Enhancement?
According to a recent study by Ian Howat, a doctoral student in earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, the Whitney Glacier on Shasta’s north slope, California’s largest, is, in fact, growing – not shrinking like most of the rest of the world’s glaciers.
By comparing photos and reviewing historical data, Howat and a team of four others arrived at the conclusion that the Whitney Glacier, the largest of seven on Shasta, has seen a 30 percent increase in size in the last 50 years.
But, as noted, you certainly wouldn’t guess that from looking at the mountain this year or last. And direct on-the-mountain observations indicate that, in last couple of years, annual glacial melt may be headed for the red.
As lead climbing ranger for the U.S. Forest Service in Mt. Shasta, Eric White spends more days on the mountain than not. He says last season the rangers saw creeks running later than normal despite the well below average snowpack, indicating increased glacial runoff. Perhaps just an anomally amid the overall growth of Shasta’s glaciers? Or perhaps a turning point followed by more lean years, rising temperatures and accelerated glacial receding? Impossible to say for sure.
But Howat’s team theorizes that the mountain’s glacial growth is likely a short-term phenomenon, the result of increased precipitation in the past half-century overcoming an increase in temperatures. With global warming, higher temps will eventually outpace precipitation, decreasing snowfall. This could result in near complete loss of Shasta’s glaciers by the end of the century, the researchers conclude.
Another Dry Year
Regardless of the bigger picture, a dry mountain makes climbing more hazardous, not too mention unpleasant. “This is the kind of mountain that you want to climb on the snow, because it’s all loose rock underneath,” says White, who’s also an avalanche specialist for the Forest Service.
This year’s snow stats have been far from encouraging: In May, after the driest spring on record, the snowpack at treeline was a paltry 51 percent of normal. And the upper slopes of the mountain were in even more dismal shape, according to Leif Voeltz, owner of The Fifth Season outdoor store in Mt. Shasta, which maintains a daily-updated mountain report (530-926-5555) for climbers and skiers, covering most routes and trailheads.
The big storms that hit early last winter were unusually cold, he noted. While they dropped lots of dry snow, the low-moisture content and high winds combined to leave the top portion of the mountain scoured. That has meant strikingly less snow on steep upper slopes for climber’s crampons to bite into and for holding loose rock in place.
Altered Routes
The fast waning conditions, estimated at least a month ahead of usual, were forcing guide outfits to alter their typical spring and summer climbing routes, veering away from some altogether.
Shasta’s most popular route by far is Avalanche Gulch. Sitting at the top of the Everitt Memorial Highway, the only paved road to treeline, Avy Gulch is easily accessible and technically easy.
“There is a reason that Avy Gulch is the number one route,” says Styles Larson, owner of Shasta BaseCamp and former guide for Shasta Mountain Guides (SMG). “It’s a gulch – you go in the gut and you come out the gut. It’s pretty hard to get lost.” Shasta’s total number of climbers has fallen back from the boom of the late 1990s when 10,000-12,000 attempted the mountain annually. The number of summit permits issued now averages 7,000-8,000. But the bulk of the
climbers, upwards of 80 percent, still head up the Gulch. If conditions like this year’s and last year’s persist, that may have to change to some degree. In mid June, the Gulch was in poor shape. Most climbers were taking an alternate route up through the Red Banks cliff band and even earlier than usual summit-and-descent times were recommended. By July, Voeltz said it would likely be completely cooked and off the list of wise options, leaving fewer routes for beginning climbers. (For more experienced climbers and those with a guide, Voeltz predicted the north side routes would be “fabulous with good, hard snow” through summer.)
Increased Rockfall Danger
Despite being less technical, Avy Gulch is highly prone to rockfall, as a group of 35 climbers with the Breast Cancer Fund’s Climb Against the Odds found out last July when they had to dodge a VW-sized boulder careening down, sending climbers scrambling and diving out of the way. Luckily, a smashed ice ax was the only casualty.
This year, Shasta Mountain Guides chose to stop taking trips up the Gulch by the end of May. “The Gulch is the most direct route, not the easiest, but it sees 90 percent of the traffic,” says Chris Carr, co-owner of SMG. “It’s a huge irony: it’s the most popular route on the mountain, but also one of the most hazardous.”
Shifting the Mess
In choosing to move their trips to other, less accessible routes on the mountain, the guide companies initiate a pattern of use that draws private climbers to those other routes like the West Face, Clear Creek on the east side, and glacier routes like Hotlum-Bolam. The climbing shops in town start telling independent climbers about those routes, shifting that traffic away from Avy Gulch. The Forest Service climbing rangers follow the climbers to routes on the east, west and north sides of the mountain.
David Cressman, a guide for Sierra Wilderness Seminars, worries about the stresses this dispersal of climbers to other routes puts on the mountain. “We’re going to see more impact as climbers spread out to those other trailheads,” he says. Maybe so. But as Mount Shasta’s veteran ranger, White says that cleanup on the mountain has greatly improved. With the instigation of the human waste pack out system in 1994 and efforts to educate climbers about Leave No Trace ethics, climbers are doing a much better job of leaving only footprints.
Some 2.5 tons of human waste are now hauled out to trailhead collection disposals annually. “Back in the mid ‘80s you could literally smell Lake Helen (a popular base camp in Avy Gulch) long before you got there,” recalls Voeltz of The Fifth Season, a former guide. There’s Always Next Year Crap is one thing we can control. Crappy snow is another we can not. And as any veteran mountain climber knows, weather and snow conditions are a bit of … well, a crapshoot.
SMG’s Carr isn’t convinced that the past two years of low snow indicate a new trend. He’s seen heavy snow years followed by dry seasons, followed by heavy snow years again. “If you look at Mount Shasta historically, we go through micro cycles of drought and then glacial growth,” he notes.
White also isn’t ready to start reformulating his approach to Shasta’s season yet. Under the increasing glare of global warming, Mount Shasta is fairing better than the Sierra, he believes, because the peak’s higher elevations and more northerly latitude offer cooler temperatures. But for how long? He speaks with the optimism of the avid backcountry skier that he is – an optimism no doubt shared by many other skiers and climbers. “I don’t think anyone has a great idea what’s going to happen next year. So I have no reason to believe that we won’t have a great season.”
Oct/090
Endless Winter: A Passion Bordering on Addiction
Story by Seth Lightcap
Photo: Steve Borge
There is a fine line between passion and addiction. Passion connotes a ravenous love, often at the edge of control. Addiction suggests a habitual fixation, usually beyond control. So then, how does one define a love so wildly passionate that your soul abandons all control and drowns in pleasure regardless of sacrifice?
Twenty four months into an ongoing quest to backcountry snowboard every month of the year, my relationship with snowy peaks, scoured ridges and epic drives demands such a cross-examination.
Floating knee-deep turns… Taking flight off cornices… Bonking powder laden trees… Surely passion!
But driving 10 hours round trip from Santa Cruz for every outing… Hiking for hours in loose talus for a 100-yard patch of sun cupped, barely edgeable snow… Addiction?
It’s just something about snow. Powder, slush, wind buff, even breakable crust. I need it. Got to have it. When? Now! Pack the boards, grab the boots, and pick me up. We’re going snowboarding. But it’s August! Fine. Bring some flip-flops for the approach.
Thankfully, I am not alone in my fiendish pursuit. As the northern hemisphere barrels headlong into winter it marks the second complete year that my equally passionate partner, Allison Lipp, and I have fulfilled our craving for an endless winter in the high peaks of the Sierra and Cascades.
Beyond Bounds Training Photo: Brian Bozack
The concept of skiing or riding year round is not a new one. A Pacific Northwest forum called Turns-All-Year.com boasts over 500 members. One skier in Colorado just celebrated his 300th consecutive month of skiing. But we don’t live in Whistler, B.C. or Leadville, Colorado.
Living on the California coast, our quest to snowboard year round has been a daunting test of backcountry strategy. The snow pack evolves so quickly that sometimes we haven’t decided where to go and the car is already packed and running. Should we go to the eastside of Mt. Shasta or hunt for snowfields on Sonora Pass? Should we guarantee success and drive to Mt. Hood? Will it all be bullet proof ice when we get there? Maybe.
In concept, our monthly ritual seems simple… find the best snow conditions possible to hike and snowboard at least 1,000 vertical feet. In the leanest of snow months, we’ll settle for riding at least ten linked turns.
Approaching Sierra gridlock on the Mist Trail, Yosemite.
Photo: Seth Lightcap
Somehow we have managed to pull it off without strangling each other in a Milpitas traffic jam or a loose talus field, but we’ve been close a few months. The sight of snow and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve
completed yet another improbable outing always reunites us.
Our fixation might seem trivial or misguided to the uninitiated masses, but those who have felt the burn and bliss of earning your turns are better able to understand why we stretch our every resource to play this game. When every adventure involves keen exploration, rugged exercise, and the adrenaline rush of backcountry snowboarding, it’s easy to get addicted.
Here’s to a hearty winter and a bountiful harvest come next summer.
Twelve Months of Snow: The Cali Reality
January
“Ski Dreams”Matterhorn Peak • Bridgeport, CA
“Ski Dreams” is a broad but steep ramp cresting the ridge just east of the summit of Matterhorn Peak. Typically tackled in two or three days, the snowfield funnels slightly and then dumps into a massive bowl ringed on all sides by spectacular towers. When filled with milky powder, a descent of “Ski Dreams” is a true wet dream.
February
“Bear Scratch”• East Shore, Lake Tahoe
The “Bear Scratch” is the name for the steep logging flumes that plummet off of Marlett Peak high above Incline Village. East shore descents require a low snow line, so tackle this one after a heaping
helping of snow at lake level. Expect steep technical lines entering the namesake chutes and moderate tree glades along nearby ridges.
March
Sugar Bowl to Squaw Valley
Here’s a fabulous warmup for a big spring tour. The recommended route meanders along the Sierra Crest from the top of Mt. Lincoln at Sugar Bowl to Shirley Canyon at Squaw. Wicked descents of Anderson Peak and Tinkers Knob highlight a moderate tour that even has two Sierra Club huts perfectly positioned along the way. Reservations required.
April
Mammoth to Yosemite Valley
April usually marks the height of the winter snow pack in the Sierra. Go Big. Cross the Sierra Crest and don’t look back. Last year, we splitboarded the John Muir Trail from Mammoth Mountain to Yosemite Valley, nearly 60 miles, with summit descents of Mt. Lyell and Cloud’s Rest. In the fall I had placed a cache at the Tuolumne Meadows ski hut and so we enjoyed a night feasting on Trader Joe’s goodies and drinking alpine-aged “Two Buck Chuck.” Following our descent of Cloud’s Rest, we rode down to snowline above Half Dome. Hiking down the Mist Trail in our snowboard boots with boards on our backs we drew looks of shocked curiosity from day hikers.
May
Fourth of July Chutes • West Shore Lake Tahoe
Unless an El Nino winter finishes with a bang, May is usually the time to harvest California’s famous Sierra corn snow. Look for the steepest patches you can find. They don’t call it “hero snow” for
nothing. Last year we checked out the Fourth of July Chutes hidden back behind Homewood. We used mountain bikes for the approach, as the access road up Blackwood Canyon was still gated at the lake but dry for a few more miles. I had heard about these chutes in an old issue of Couloir magazine which hyped them up as a place you could ride in July. They look real steep and unmistakably intimidating, but we found three of them to be rideable and wild fun.
June
Red Banks Bowl/Avalanche Gulch • Mt. Shasta
Mt. Shasta could be the greatest ski mountaineering peak in the world. Where else can you bag 7,000-foot runs in a single day! June is prime climbing season on Shasta so avoid the crowds by blasting off light fast in from the Bunny Flat parking lot. Ride gnarly rime from the summit then roll off skier’s right to the entrance of the relatively moderate Red Banks Bowl. Some 6,000 feet of sweet corn lie ahead.
July
Wintun/Hotlum • Mt. Shasta
By July the north and east sides of Mt. Shasta usually have the best snow. The Wintun/Hotlum route follows a snowfield between two crevassed glaciers. Winding up crazy tongues of evolving snow, the ascent and descent are guaranteed to be breathtaking. Time it right and you might be able to ride directly off the summit. This year we found huge sun cups that looked like frozen white caps on a wind-whipped lake. But the sun had warmed them just enough for your board to plow through fluidly. We railed through the sometimes three-foot deep wave crests. By the time we hit the last tongues of snow around 9,000 feet, our quads could barely support a turn.
August
Mt. Adams, WA
August usually marks the beginning of the true hunting season. In years past we have ridden on Lassen and Shasta, but this year we bagged Mt. Adams. Situated two hours from Portland across the Washington border, Mt. Adams holds a huge summer snowfield and several technical snow gullies. The cherry of the peak was far and away the southwest chute. From a distance it looked like a pin stripe on a black tuxedo. Even in late August, we were able to ride off the summit and down the southwest chute, a 35-degree bowling lane of soft snow, for a total descent of over 2,500 feet. The next day we were back at it, this time riding the main southern snowfield and then a crazy steep 45-degree pitch on the Crescent Glacier headwall that hung above bone-crushing talus.
September
Mt. Shasta / Mt. Hood / Sonora Pass
By September, both the Cascade and Sierra snow packs are relatively thin. But don’t dismay, there are still places to ride. Set your sights on hidden north facing snow gullies that often last all year. Start early on a warm day and scour the talus slopes looking for a rideable patch. This year we committed to Sonora Pass after hearing rumors of a 100-yard snow snake alive in a high bowl. Sadly, we got beat back to a small patch at lower elevation by hail.
October
Fresh Snow / Mt. Shasta
October is prime time to pray for snow and set out your food caches. This year, the Sierra got creamed Oct. 17th, answering our prayers and allowing fresh but thin backcountry fun around Mammoth and Donner Summit. No fresh snow in sight? Start packing for a hunt-and-peck adventure amongst blue ice on the east side of Mt. Shasta.
November
Mt. Rose, NV
By late November a thin snowpack in the Sierra should be established. In the early season, snow depth lives and dies with wind direction so hunt for “deep” pockets on the leeward side of ridges and in protected gullies. With a higher elevation than the rest of the Tahoe area, the quick descents off Mt. Rose are perfect for powder lapping.
December
Mt. Tallac • South Lake Tahoe
Mt. Tallac is one of the finest ski peaks in the Tahoe Basin. The 3,000-foot descent is an easy bag and affords magnificent views of the Desolation Wilderness and Lake Tahoe. Early season it is best to steer clear of the technical rock lines that litter the northeast face and stay in the protected trees along the ascent ridge. An early start allows for two laps totaling more than 6,000 feet.
Brian Bozack just can’t get enough – Donner Summit. Photo: DSTT
Venturing into the solitude of the backcountry is a life-affirming experience. But without the proper knowledge and training, seemingly harmless mishaps or miscalculations can spiral into life threatening situations in rapid fashion. Don’t go unprepared. Reading books, such as “Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book” (see review in this issue) or NASTC’s “All Mountain Tactics,” provides a good background on safe backcountry travel, equipment, avalanche awareness and rescue, snow camping and survival. But nothing can replace the practical experience and skill development you get from taking courses through one of these northern California guiding and instructional programs:
Alpine Skills
International
(530) 582-9170
Started 25 years ago by Bela and Mimi Vadasz, ASI helped create the template for backcountry education in California and beyond. Based in Truckee, ASI offers a complete and lengthy menu of courses for telemark, randonee and extreme skiing; plus ski mountaineering, avalanche skills, mid-winter mountaineering and ice climbing. They also offer guided trips from the Sierra High Route to the European Haute Route, plus steep skiing camps in the Eastern Sierra and on Mt. Shasta. ASI does it all.
Mountain Adventure Seminars
(209) 753-6556
Based in low-stress Bear Valley in the central Sierra, an easy drive from the Bay Area, Mountain Adventure Seminars provides a wealth of winter adventure training. Run by guides Aaron and Kimi Johnston, MAS specializes in telemark skiing and avalanche education, plus backcountry skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. This winter, MAS will also offer lift-access backcountry ski and snowboard courses at Bear Valley Mountain Resort. MAS will also host the 9th Annual Bear Valley Telemark Festival, February 11-13,
which has grown to become one of the premiere free-heel celebrations in the country. Register early, as it usually sells out.
North American Ski Training Center (NASTC)
(530) 582 -4772
Based in Tahoe, NASTC is a high-performance ski school for resort and out-of-bounds skiers that offers clinics and guided trips around the world… from Squaw to Jackson Hole, Chamonix to Portillo, Chile. All NASTC
trainers are members of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) or American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). NASTC offers backcountry and avalanche skills training in Tahoe and elsewhere in the Sierra. Courses/trips include: Introduction to Backcountry Skiing Skills (Tahoe), Overnight Ski Mountaineering Adventure (based out of Tioga Pass Resort, Eastern Sierra); and a spring climb of Mt. Shasta.
Sierra Wilderness Seminars
(888) SWS-MTNS
SWS is one of the only companies permitted to operate year-round on both Mt. Shasta and Mount Whitney. Boasting nearly a quarter century worth of instruction in backcountry, SWS offers everything from randonee and telemark lessons to “a selection of classic ski tours through some of the finest alpine wilderness terrain in the United States.” All guides are AMGA and Wilderness Instructors and Guides Association (WIGA) certified.
Outback Adventures
(408) 551-0588
A growing Bay Area retail, rental and guiding outfit, Outback Adventures offers courses in introductory snow camping (Lassen National Park), backcountry snowriding (skiing or boarding, Lassen), and single- and multi-day mountaineering courses (Shasta or Lassen).
