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A couple friends and I are going to give Mt Shasta a try between Nov 18 - 23. We have glacier travel experience / crevasse rescue training as well as ice climbing experience. We are looking for a challenging route, but November is a tricky time of year. I'm looking for some advice regarding routes. Any input is appreciated.

If you find anything elsewhere please post it. I am a bit interested in this as well.

A call in to the ranger station might yield something. They are generally pretty informative in that area.

I called the rangers a few days ago and they said that the Clear Creek route would probably be a good one. After reading about that route, I don't think that it's something that we're interested in.

After I made the original post, I saw a link for a related post below - "Shasta in fall". That post states that the Hotlum and Hotlum/Bolum routes may be OK in Sept. and Oct. I don't know if that will hold true for mid/late November.

I see you are from New York. In California we have gotten a ton of snow over the past winter, if those route ever hold out until November this would be the year. The latter route could have some icy patches between on the ramp up to 13,000 feet, or at least it does in low snow years.

Clear Creek would be nothing but scree and sand. Wintun Glacier or Wintun Ridge are better options, but not as technical as Hotlum Glacier.

telewoman wrote:Last year we were skiing Oct. 26. It is being said that next snow season is suppose to be more of a winter. Access may be difficult on the east side if the snow does come early.

What do you mean? Like more wintery, as in even more snow than last year? That's cool with me!

mrchad9 wrote: The latter route could have some icy patches between on the ramp up to 13,000 feet, or at least it does in low snow years.

Are the ice patches that you are speaking of anything to worry about? Generally, I don't mind ice, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

I'll check out the Wintun ridge and Wintun glacier routes a little further.

How difficult do you think the access may be on the east side? We have 4 days scheduled for climbing, which would include the hike to and from the car. We wanted to have plenty of time in case the weather / conditions were not perfect.

Thanks for all of the input everyone.

JoshWood wrote:

mrchad9 wrote: The latter route could have some icy patches between on the ramp up to 13,000 feet, or at least it does in low snow years.

Are the ice patches that you are speaking of anything to worry about? Generally, I don't mind ice, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

I'll check out the Wintun ridge and Wintun glacier routes a little further.

How difficult do you think the access may be on the east side? We have 4 days scheduled for climbing, which would include the hike to and from the car. We wanted to have plenty of time in case the weather / conditions were not perfect.

Thanks for all of the input everyone.

Sorry I don't have much info about the fall situation beyond my previous post. I just know in low snow years Hotlum/Bolum Ridge can get some big icy patches on the ramp, so likely the same in the fall. The is a crevasse a good bit below where they would form.

I do not know when the trailheads would snow in, but would feel confident that 4 days is enough no matter what (unless the weather itself actually keeps you from the summit).