Headed up north to Lassen Volcanic National Park for a fun day of Volcano skiing with Patrick. We drove up Friday afterwork and got our first view of Lassen in the full moonlight. Because Lassen is an active volcano you can actually smell the sulphur before you get a good view. She blew her top in 1914 and gave the surrounding area a moonscape makeover. In the bright moonlight it was a pretty awesome sight.
Not sure if all volcanos are like this but Lassen had a similar energy to Shasta. She's alive, and like many hippies, I too believe there is some cosmic stuff going down up there. But I digress.
After a nice nap under the stars we woke up at 5AM and geared up for the climb. The first 1500 feet were spent bushwhacking through the pines until we found a tongue of snow to start skiing up. We dropped skis for the last 2000 feet, taking turns kicking steps up the face. It was a nice climb and the snow was just soft enough to kick big stable steps but not too soft that you were post-holing. The last 500 feet gets pretty steep and on an icy or firm day I would definitely recommend crampons, although I'm sure most people do it without them.
Up top you find an oddly phallic communications cone that I'm sure got some chuckles from the engineers that designed it.
Before you get skiing there is the fun task of putting on your skis on a tiny little ledge. The first few turns are the steepest and I quickly realized I needed to pay attention to the sluff that was coming down behind me. It was fast and heavy enough to knock you off your feet and send you sliding down the mountain. I soon realized if I just skied slightly to the right the sluff would run like a river to my left and I'd be all good. Patrick cruised down and we traded turns down the volcano. Overall, really fun skiing from top to bottom. My only advice is get to the summit by 11 at the latest, maybe earlier or else you'll be dealing with some heavy snow.
We ended up skiing and climbing 4026 feet over 7 miles. Good fun!
Not sure if all volcanos are like this but Lassen had a similar energy to Shasta. She's alive, and like many hippies, I too believe there is some cosmic stuff going down up there. But I digress.
After a nice nap under the stars we woke up at 5AM and geared up for the climb. The first 1500 feet were spent bushwhacking through the pines until we found a tongue of snow to start skiing up. We dropped skis for the last 2000 feet, taking turns kicking steps up the face. It was a nice climb and the snow was just soft enough to kick big stable steps but not too soft that you were post-holing. The last 500 feet gets pretty steep and on an icy or firm day I would definitely recommend crampons, although I'm sure most people do it without them.
Up top you find an oddly phallic communications cone that I'm sure got some chuckles from the engineers that designed it.
Before you get skiing there is the fun task of putting on your skis on a tiny little ledge. The first few turns are the steepest and I quickly realized I needed to pay attention to the sluff that was coming down behind me. It was fast and heavy enough to knock you off your feet and send you sliding down the mountain. I soon realized if I just skied slightly to the right the sluff would run like a river to my left and I'd be all good. Patrick cruised down and we traded turns down the volcano. Overall, really fun skiing from top to bottom. My only advice is get to the summit by 11 at the latest, maybe earlier or else you'll be dealing with some heavy snow.
We ended up skiing and climbing 4026 feet over 7 miles. Good fun!
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