Mount Shasta- Avalanche Gulch

The volcanic crown of Northern California: Mount Shasta. Sitting at 14,180’ above sea level, Mount Shasta is one of fifteen mountains above 14,000’ in California and the only one in the greater Cascades. Shasta can be seen from hours away due to its prominence compared to the surrounding terrain.

Mount Shasta is an essential first step for Californian mountaineers with aspirations for larger, more technical peaks. From Rainier to the Himalaya, Mount Shasta is a perfect training ground due to its variety of terrain, accessibility, and, of course, its elevation.

In March of 2022 myself and two other partners decided to go for a ski descent on the Avalanche Gulch route. With a rather stable weather window and all our gear lined out, we drove up to the town of Mount Shasta the day before we began our hike to be as fresh as possible before our adventure. The atmosphere in the town is unique to say the least. There is lots of folklore about the origins of the mountain and its meaning. The history and the culture of this town is almost as interesting as the climbing experience.

With our bellies full from some Indian food, it was time to sleep as we had a true alpine start the next morning. Since none of us had climbed/skied this route before, we had an extremely conservative timeplan. Arriving at the trailhead around 5:30 am we had ample time to get to our camp for the night. The route from the Bunny Flats trailhead to the Helen Lake area is fairly straightforward and generally has a well defined path, even in the winter. This route traces the the summer trail all the way up to Horse Camp where a water spigot, pit toilets and a small stone structure for shelter built by the Sierra Club Foundation can be found. After taking a short rest here we realized we were crushing our timeplan and would have ample time to hang around camp and to go ski.

Below Left: First Stop near Horse Camp, Bottom Left: Low Snow coverage

Below Right: Second major break before Helen Lake

Below: Final pitches before Helen Lake

Top photo shot by Nina Bridges

Around 10:15am we reached Helen Lake where we would be camping for the night, and to our surprise we were the only party on the route that day. Once we had setup camp and ate some snacks, Nina and I decided to hike up another 1000’ or so to sample some of the corn snow that was developing since it was gorgeous and sunny out.

“Have you ever taken a naked ski lap?” I asked Nina, “No” she replied

“Do you want to? I think I’m going to”.

Before we know it we are both butt naked making fast GS turns back down to our campsite. Such a fun and liberating feeling to be skiing naked on a mountain notorious for tough weather. Once we had our clothes back on we basked in the sunshine, ate some food and prepped for our summit attempt the next morning.

Left: Getting camp dialed

Below: Feeling small at camp

Left: Redbanks and our ascent for tomorrow

Below: Nina relaxing after day one

Following a very windy night, we arose nice and early to have a strong start to our day. We were met by a few other parties on the mountain, coming into view from their small glow of their headlamps. We proceeded uphill towards heart rock which divides the gulch into climbers left and right. We opted for the right option which would put us on top of the Red banks feature sooner, a less exposed ascent compared to climbers left. Once on the Red Banks we climbed until we made it to the base of Misery Hill, a false summit that fools many climbers into thinking they are close to the summit. At the base we had a decision to stash our skis and splitboards as the condition of Misery Hill was variable to say the least. This slightly bummed me out as I love to ski objectives from the summit but the mountains always write the rules. We climbed up Misery Hill in what felt like 45mph winds and finally felt some relief once we reached the summit crater. From here it's a short flat walk to the final climbing section to reach the summit. Making it to the summit was a real delight, mainly since the summit crater was spewing sulfur making it so much harder to breathe up there than anticipated. At the summit we took in some water and took photos of course. Making our way back down to our gear we all shared one common thought: “what is the ski quality going to be like?”.

Below: Big break above Helen Lake, Below Right: Nina making her way up the gulch

Below: Top of Redbanks, bottom of Misery Hill

Below: Summit Selfie

Once at our gear it was a short flat skin over to the entrance of the Avalanche Gulch. Having skied many bulletproof slopes before, I opted to drop in first to give a quality assessment for Tristan and Nina. It took some coaching and reassurance but we all made it down the steepest and exposed headwall at the top of the gulch. This descent is not to be underestimated. Most skiers, even backcountry skiers, have never encountered such terrain. Seeing nearly 7000 vertical feet fall below you is not something a normal feeling for most folks.

Left: Me before our descent (shot by Nina Bridges)

Once we dropped about 2000 feet or so our confidence rose along with the conditions. From here we were all making large swooping turns back down to camp. While we packed up camp we noticed another team had returned to their camp with skis. I went over to talk with them about their day and our plans turned out to be the same. They opted to be conservative with the increasing winds throughout the day so they backed off from a summit attempt along with not skiing from the top of the gulch. In hindsight, they probably made the right choice as if one of us was to take a major fall it would have had serious consequences. Camp was packed and we made our way back to the trailhead. Fortunately for us we were able to ski quite a bit before we had to sling our skis and boards onto our packs to walk out the last little bit.

Below: Final section to the parking lot

Back at the parking lot it was sunny and beautiful, a perfect exit to a nearly perfect outing on Mount Shasta. Only a few weeks after our summit, I was a guide on a ski mountaineering trip with Alpenglow Expeditions on Shasta. My appreciation for this mountain and the memories created on it only grows stronger and stronger each year.