[Baaahb]

Well, that was awesome. Lots of snow at Lassen and full season of conditions. Saturday was mild winter conditions, Sunday was typical clearing spring storm snow turning quickly to cement and today was a UV bake fest.
Kudos to Bobs and that other couple for hanging tough with the four year olds during some wet camp conditions. Good seein ya, Marty.
Loren, we saw another dog there but not Rowdy and yeah, dogs and National Parks do not mix well. PS who is Rowdy?

It should be great corn later in the week...and no suncups and few runnells.

Lots of folks there on Saturday; we slummed it and hung at with a crowd from that other ski forum. Cheers to Eric, Sunnyvale, Northstar and the girl-who-somehow-ended-up-on-a-TGR-camp-trip.

Twas so good, thinkin' of doin it again.
_________________
Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.

[bobskiing]

Yeah, as I was telling Baaahb, we seemed to get more stormage than was said to be our due. We had fun, mostly doing kid stuff, since it's hard to do the "see you in 2 hours and then I'll take care of him" routine when it's wintry out. The turns were fine when we got 'em, and it's always great to be out on a hill in late spring.

[twopass]

Cakifornia is broke. How can they affords snow?
_________________
DUCKBILLS FOREVER!

"Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal."

[fogey]

So no one can say this thread is worthless without pictures, here's an account of our Lassen Memorial Day.

Saturday, drove to the road closure, got out of the vehicles, watched the hardy souls heading off into the wind and blowing grey matter, and by unanimous consent got back in the cars and headed back down to Sulphur Works, where we could see around us and were (mostly) out of the wind. From there a good time was had by all, up past Ridge Lakes, over the saddle (in the wind), down through the trees, back over the saddle and down the bowl and the creek, with two surprisingly good bonus N/NE powder runs off the ridge skier's right.

Sunday, the sun and camera came out. Lassen at 9-ish:



Around 10:30, gravity called me out of the conga line headed up the peak. By then, the sun was in hiatus:



The snow, however, was as good as this misbegotten California season has offered:



I never did get to the peak, but with untracked runs at hand, it was worth paying the price in spousal aggravation.

The sun played hide and seek.



Monday, we returned to the Saturday plan (keeping an eye out for you, Baaahb, after you, Marty and I talked the afternoon before). The forecast full-on sunny day quit early (Brokeoff Mtn at the back in the clouds),



but the snow did not disappoint.

[B]

Cool cloud cap

[mjg]

Nice pics Fogey, but the thread is still worthless! Just kidding. More pictures from Fogey's trip, starting with the Sunday before Memorial Day, 2012

Lassen Peak from Bumpass Hell parking area.



Partly cloudy on the way up



Skinning up the spine. Pleased to report that there two distinct tracks up: one for skinning and one for booting.



Getting near the top


Summit plateau



Met up with some of the folks we met a few years back when Larry passed away on the summit. Had a solemn moment of silence in his memory. The new snow made it possible to skin to the true summit (as reported to me by one of our group). There was some new snow to ski down, but it was pretty heavy by the time we hit it. Ran into Baaahhb on Lake Helen or Helen Lake on the way back to the parking area. Hardly recognized him without Daisy, his dog!

On Memorial day, we skinned up and over ski Heil Peak, down into a bowl, then up to Pilot Pinnacle.

At base of bowl beneath Ski Heil. Heavy tracks on steeper part of slope are not ours; we got there too early and the snow was too firm.


Skinning up toward Pilot Pinnacle



Pilot Pinnacle; Nice corn on the way down. A tad sticky on the flats.


Skinning out; Pilot Pinnacle (left of center) and Diller Peak (center). We spied someone setting a skin track up Diller.



Diller and Pilot Pinnacle from Ski Heil Peak

[fogey]

[bobskiing]

Nice shots, guys. Love the cap-wearing Lassen; I think during that morning clearing it was still socked in below at camp where we still were.

[Wildflower]

Anybody been on the northside lately? If so, how much snow at the Devestated area?

[B]

It has been a few weeks since I was there but I did go through the Devastated area. I doubt you can still be on skis/snow from the gate, it was pretty thin when I was there down low. The steeper ski terrain on Lasssen itself was fat and should hold for a while yet (definitely worth some dry hiking to access). Your best bet for early snow down low is to walk down the road past the gate (south) for a few hundred feet or so before turning toward the mountain.

[Baaahb]

road supposed to open tomorrow
_________________
Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.

[Paul Lutes]

Thinkin' about Saturday .... weather's being a little coy though.

[fogey]

Just curious: has anyone done the shuttle and skied the peak south to north before the road opened all the way? If so, by what route and how long did it take? Jibmaster? Being a lazy old guy, I could see doing some additional driving to ski before the snow melts and avoid carrying skis.

[Baaahb]

[bobskiing]

Fogey, I have a bunch of times.

One way is to just climb up from the south, ski down the north, and climb back up to ski down the south or west to get back to the car. Keep in mind that the south ascent is only 2000' or so, and pays off with another descent, unlike the hour or so spent crossing Devastated Area back and forth.

Another way that I've done is to climb up from the south, then descend the NE, and then right around the time that the gradient starts to mellow, contour around the peak's east side, 8400'ish. Done right, it doesn't take very long and you only have to climb a few hundred feet to get back to the south slope. Granted, it can get funky in a few spots, but hey that's backcountry.


Edit: Oh wait, you mean the driving shuttle? Yeah, did that once (not as a shuttle, but because I was with people who changed their minds about where they wanted to be for the 2nd day). Via Manton. About 2 hours (one way). Better to do the "shuttle" on skis.