Background

As I drove north back to Washington from my two weeks in the Sierras, I wanted to hit Shasta on the way. Years prior I had climbed Shasta with my younger brother, but I’d never skied it. Seemed like a perfect way to break up the drive.

Trip Report

I slept in the Bunny Flat parking lot, amongst many other climbers. Given that it was a Saturday and good weather, I knew it was going to be crowded. I started at 6 AM, figuring the 7,200′ climb would take me ~5 hours at a reasonable pace. As I began, I saw hoards of people ahead of me, many of them nearing the climb to the Red Bands.

The skinning was simple, firm, and easy. I listened to podcasts and tuned out the morning hours as I climbed up. I switched to crampons at Lake Helen and booted the rest of the way to the summit. I ended up passing most of the other people, who seemed to be waiting for corn’o’clock. I wanted to just get up-and-down, as I had a lot of driving left to do.

I reached the summit in 4hrs45mins. I quickly tagged the top, transitioned, and began the ski down. The summit was firm, Misery Hill was a mix of firm snow and rocks. On my way up, I spotted interesting looking chutes that entered the wide Avalanche Gulch. I figured these would be an interesting alternative to the low-angle, wide Avy Gulch. I had no idea what they were called, but figured they’d be neat.

Looking up at the Trinity Chutes.

Turns out they are called the ‘Trinity Chutes’. I saw another group waiting at the top of them, presumably waiting for them to soften. I didn’t waste time, dropped in and they were firm but edgeable.

Looking down the chute I skied.

Some fun jump turns through led me to Avy Gulch, where it was indeed corn’o’clock. Ripper corn back down to the car put me at a round trip of around 5.5 hours. Great solo mission as I drove back to WA.