Drove in late Sunday to coquette falls trailhead. Bit of snow on the road in and 4wd was required in the jeep, also a tree blocking the road about 200 yards down from where the road ends.

Healthy mix of snow/rock all the way to the bottom of Bolam glacier. Winds were a bit much though and couldnt go any higher. South side looked WAY less snowy thats for sure and your pictures sure show it.

Cant wait to get back out

Funyan005 wrote:Cant wait to get back out

Let me know if you ever need a place to crash.

Anyone done Casaval lately? Conditions?

Whatever conditions someone may have to report are fixin' to change. A storm is brewing as I write this and is supposed to continue for the next two days. I reckon there is going to be a healthy pile of snow on the mountain come Thursday.

Here is another image of the mountain from this morning, if anyone cares:

Bubba Suess wrote:Here is another image of the mountain from this morning, if anyone cares:

This is great picture!

SenadR wrote:

Bubba Suess wrote:Here is another image of the mountain from this morning, if anyone cares:

This is great picture!

Thanks you very much. I really appreciate it! You never know what you are going to run into out there. I caught this one on the way home from picking up my jeep at the mechanic and I had two kids waiting for me while the engine was running. It was about 27 degrees when I shot this but the mountain was glorious.

Drove by Shasta near sunset on 11/30/13 and snapped some moving pictures (sunset at sea level was ~4:41). Not much snow visible, but NWS forecast indicates an 80% chance of several inches today ...

The storm blew through yesterday but it did not have much to it. Still, there is a thin new mantle of the white stuff on the mountain, which is better than nothing. It did make for a great sunrise.

I hope things improve for this weekend!

That's some damn fine photography Bubba Suess!

jibmaster wrote:That's some damn fine photography Bubba Suess!

Thanks a lot! I've just been timing it right lately.

It has been COLD here in Shasta the last couple of days. It got down to 5 degrees at my house last night. A couple of days ago I took my family up to the headwaters of the Sacramento River to cut a Christmas tree. The river was flowing free. I went back to cut another tree for our guest house and the river had frozen over completely. Snow is coming tomorrow but conditions should be good by Monday!

Well I don’t suppose anyone is looking for a conditions update this time of year, so I guess this is somewhat more of a trip report…

Last Monday after waiting out the worst of the cold storms in Mount Shasta I decided to give December an attempt as part of my effort to climb Shasta in every calendar month of the year (December was the only month I hadn’t climbed it in yet). Spent a few excellent days relaxing in the warmth of Bubba Suess’ place. This… not the climbing… was the highlight of the trip.

Regardless, at 6:30 AM I began dragging my butt up the mountain. As you can see, the forecast on Monday did not look good. But this was no surprise, and it was far better than the previous few days. -38 deg wind chill!




Though I had wanted Green Butte, I selected Avalanche Gulch solely for the likelihood of being out of the wind for as long as possible. Nothing else was really a consideration.

And I originally wanted to start early, but determined it was better to hike in the dark in the warmer evening than for hours before sunrise. And if I had to turn back I at least wanted to see some of the mountain. I nearly did turn back within an hour, my hands had gotten too cold from lacing my boots up, I was tired, and it was just generally unpleasant. Still, I managed to push on until at least sunrise, and nearly turned back again before forcing myself to at least go to Helen Lake. I knew then I might be in too deep.

Myself a bit after sunrise. I was beginning to feel better, but wasn’t having a great time.




I then made it to Helen Lake, which was now a frozen pond. I felt ok until I got to 11,500 feet when I took a break and my hands again got too cold. Thought I was done but eventually managed to warm them back up and push on. It was becoming more of a physical challenge than a mental one at this point… which was probably good.




Looking down from 13200 or so at the Red Banks and Thumb Rock. I went left of The Heart, again not based on terrain conditions but solely to avoid as much wind as I could.




Then finally up Misery Hill and the view of the summit plateau. I had been wearing 8 layers since reaching 13,000 feet, and 4 layers on my hands. I knew if I needed to tie a shoelace or take a leak that would be it… no way I could do that in my mittens without taking them off, and if I had to remove them I might as well start heading back down.




The summit plateau was a solid ice sheet. No snow was blowing at all as it had already been removed from the mountain. Most of what was visible was remaining from last winter, with a bit of very windpacked snow from the last storm.




The sun began to set as I was on the summit, though I made it to Helen Lake before it got dark. The walk out was brutal… cold, dark, and frozen pebbles on the talus than only gave way once you depended on your weight being on it.




But it was a successful summit! Good to get this one in the bag, and a good challenge both physically and mentally. My thanks to Bubba Suess for this one… even though I was solo on the mountain I certainly wouldn’t have made it without his help.

Nice. Congrats on reaching your goal. I have some free time 1st week of Jan- was thinking of heading down there with my brother for one of the ridge routes maybe. But Shasta is hurting for some snow.