Mt. Lassen Ride

Made it up to Mt. Lassen in Northern CA last weekend for some late-spring snowboarding. The road through the park had opened relatively late this year, but the snow was still quite nice, as far as June snow goes.

Our crew was 7 deep, so 2 cars got us up from Reno Saturday night in time for a couple restless hours of sleep in the campground near the park entrance.

Memories of Mt. Whitney still strong in my frontal lobe, I dragged the group out of bed quite early Sunday morning with hopes of avoiding our inevitable midday thunderstorms and other meteorological malfeasances.

I'll spare the turn-by-turn narration, as it's a pretty straightforward run. Long story short, though: When the road opens, it's easy to run a shuttle that allows us to hike 2000 vertical feet and ride 4000' vertical feet. The hike is short, about 2 miles, and easy as far as these things go.

As soon as the sun warmed the earth in the morning, moisture rushed up to form volatile-looking clouds, so it was certain that rain would be a factor at some point during the day; we were officially racing (OK, not racing, but aware of) the clock.

The ride down the northeast face is great; it's quite steep at the top, maintains healthy steepness most of the way down, and really only gets flat near the very bottom. There's good terrain if you know where to look, but the spring sun melts the snow back from the edge of all the rocks, so there's no real cliff fun to be had.

I dropped in first to set up for some photos, and we all leapfrogged each other down the mountain, waiting at safe spots, as spring snow will still slide and cause Bad Days for those caught in it.

The later that spring wears on, the more the bottom of the run melts out, necessitating a moderate walk across mostly flat ground back to the car at the bottom. It's an easy walk out, though, and a small price to pay for the turns!

Photos shall tell the rest of the story. Enjoy.


Charlie preparing for the ride


Boards ready to go


Cayla above Lake Helen


The group resting on the hike (photo credit: Norm)


View of tasty goals for next winter


Our first look at nearly 4000 vertical feet of soft spring snow


The assembled gallery awaits Norm's first turn


Norm


Norm picks the board up


Norm


Norm


Christian


Christian (photo credit: Norm)


Charlie


Charlie


Charlie (photo credit: Norm)


Zeb


Zeb


Zeb


Zeb


Cayla


Cayla (photo credit: Norm)


Mallory


Mallory (the camera catches everything, kiddo!)


Mallory (photo credit: Norm)


Most of the group at a stopping point and quite stoked


Norm


Norm


Norm artfully roosting Zeb


Christian


Charlie


Charlie doing his best Sonic the Hedgehog impersonation


Mallory


Mallory


Norm


Charlie navigates the suncups (photo credit: Norm)


The group near the bottom (photo credit: Norm)


Cayla at the end of the road


Mt. Lassen from the end of the snow


Landscaping by Avalanche and Co. (tm)


Bunch of hooligans and up-to-no-good-niks


Norm putting zee leezard to sleep


Zee leezard awakes


Crashed back at the EuroVan


Mud at Sulphur Works


Chalky creek at Sulphur Works

Sure enough, the rainclouds that had been threatening since the first minutes of our hike let loose shortly after we got back to the van, entirely quashing my hopes of doing some short side-hikes for the highly accessible and eminently entertaining terrain near the summit parking lot. Oh well.

So that's it. Back in Reno less than 24 hours after we left, with solid turns under our belt and happy memories all around. It's certainly not extreme terrain, but there's a reason that Lassen is on the annual checklist for many skiers and boarders, and that's the near-guarantee of a great day.

In the Red Corner... (updated with more photos)

...Mt. Whitney and Mama Nature...In the Blue Corner...Us...

Well, long story short, I spent Wednesday and Thursday as part of a 5-person permit to overnight Mt. Whitney. The rest of the group included Ed, Joe, Norm, and Sebastian. Norm and I had hiked Whitney on separate occasions, but it was new territory for the rest of the group. The plan was to hike to Trail Camp at 12000' Wednesday, spend the night there acclimating, then make an early (4am) push to the summit Thursday morning before breaking camp ahead of the thunderstorms and hiking back down the hill.

Being June, we obviously packed all sorts of cold-weather gear.

The weather forecast, while slightly ominous, wasn't too bad, and we arrived expecting variable and only partially heinous conditions. Little did we know...


The Big Dipper from the parking lot at Whitney Portal, el. 8360'


Massive granite wall at the Portal

After camping in the Eurovan Tuesday night, we awoke Wednesday morning to unusual cloud cover; the weather pattern had been clear mornings, midday thunderstorms, and then blustery to clearing in the evenings and overnight.


By 9am, already into some precipitation and at the base of the clouds, approx. 9000'

Before too long, some snowflakes visited us and the temperature dropped as we pressed higher.


Norm crossing the logs as snow develops in the higher elevations

Not too concerned by this forecast precipitation, we continued into the storm until the bout started with...FLASH...one-one-thous-...BANG!


Minutes before seeing lightning and hearing thunder a moment later

Still below treeline, we sought some shelter and decided to hunker down if there were any more strikes. Fortunately, that was an isolated incident, and we continued towards Trail Camp, ready to turn back to Outpost Camp (10360') if conditions worsened.


Sebastian, before the cold and wet set in


Looking up towards the peak, our only clear-ish view of the day


Joe wondering what the immediate future holds


Mirror Lake, besieged by storm

As we reached higher elevations, more and more old snow appeared on the trail, but the falling snow wasn't really sticking. Passing above 11000', however, it did start sticking, and the visibility dropped below 1/4 mile and stayed there. We reached Trail Camp at about 1:30pm in a howling blizzard. Round 2 of our Battle Royale included "selecting" a campsite, launching the tents as quickly as possible, and diving in.


Around 2pm, setting camp at 12000'

Expecting the storm to pass eventually that afternoon, we warmed up as best we could. However, our visions of a lazy afternoon acclimating at 12000', making side hikes, and hanging around outside gradually disappeared as evening came on and the storm angrily persisted.


Whiling the afternoon away

The snow, constantly sloughing of the tent walls, built up higher and higher, and the wind proved to be persistent. As the evening's light gave way to darkness, we hastily cooked dinner in the vestibule, and no one from either tent would get to socialize with the others until morning.


Cooking in the vestibule

The storm pretty much wailed on us all night, the snow pushing in against the tent walls until Ed and I were shoulder-to-shoulder. Finally, at about 4am, the storm cleared and the wind died, but the damage had been done.


Camp Thursday morning, after digging out

We were prepared for intermittent wintry conditions, from both hiking and camping perspectives. The foot (yes, foot) of snow we got overnight squashed any hopes of making a bid for the summit. Our gear simply was not up to the task, and pushing any higher would have been foolhardy. While the infamous 99 Switchbacks had been obvious even with poor visibility Wednesday afternoon, they were barely discernible with stellar visibility Thursday morning. And while the chute to looker's right of the switchbacks would have been easy work with crampons before the new snow, wind-loaded snow on top of an ice layer would have ensured some terrifying and likely lethal slides into the rocks below. What made the situation even more difficult is that the storm had cleared, leaving us with truly perfect summit weather.


Whitney with morning light


Sunrise delayed by clouds


Another sunrise shot

So while the current weather was exactly what we had hoped for Thursday morning, the intense storm the afternoon, evening, and night before precluded any plans we had, and that was the end of the story. So it turned out to be a lazy-ish morning around camp as we forlornly stared at the ridgeline and the deep blue sky above.


Ridgeline from Trail Crest (left) to Mt. Whitney (right)


Our motley crew

Oh yeah, and when I finally looked at the thermometer at about 7:30am, it had warmed up to 15ºF. Yep, 15.

We broke camp and headed downhill, chatting for a moment with the only other party that had spent the night at Trail Camp. No one made the summit Wednesday, and it was looking doubtful that anyone would summit Thursday unless they brought full winter mountaineering gear.


Tramping through the snow


Consultation "Lake"

We stopped to refill our water below Consultation Lake and a couple other times for snacks, but more or less got off the mountain as quickly as possible.


The stream below Consultation


Mirror Lake under better conditions

The trail on Thursday was a different monster altogether, with significant snow and ice over most sections above 10000'.


Snow-plastered granite

When we got back to Whitney Portal, the weather was still essentially perfect, but it soon clouded over and started to look stormy again, likely dashing summit (or even hiking) hopes for most permit-holders for the coming days.

While it was certainly a disappointment to miss the summit, we chose wisely to stay put with the weather that came in and with the gear we had. It turned into a high-altitude camping trip, and that's just fine, as getting everyone out safe and happy was worth far more than the forgotten summit hopes. We definitely took a few big hits from the weather, but to end our bout without a KO was a good thing. :)

EDIT: Here are some more photos, the first lot from Ed, the second lot from Norm.

Ed's:

Ed's boots vs. my runners...who chose right? (hint: Ed)


Hunkered down as the snow and wind pick up


A bit of exposure


Epic Photo of the Year Award...a June night's worth of snow


Making the trek out

And Norm's:

Another view of our little overhang


Nice view of the goal


Norm and Joe


Into the storm we go


Approaching Trail Camp


Ed looking miserable and happy, all at the same time


Awesome shot in the morning


Norm after we've broken camp


Joe sharing his sentiments


Near the start of our journey out

Sunset Thunderstorm

Friday evening, taken from the tippy-top of Caughlin Ranch:


To the north


Again to the north


Burning bush


To the east a little later


East again

Slaughter at Kingsbury

News flash: As of today, Ethel starts her firefighting job! On to Sports after a word from our sponsor, Dramatic Foreshadowing...

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It could be argued most rough days are a direct result of inadequate preparation. Whether or not we know that we're unprepared for the task at hand really only affects our surprise at the outcome!
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Welcome back, folks. Yesterday marked the first race in the Sierra Nevada Hill Climb TT Series, which is a rather cumbersome and non-descriptive euphemism for "voluntary bicycular corporal punishment." The venue was Kingsbury Grade, the friendly little stretch of asphalt between the Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe. Last September, Kingsbury was the last event of the Series, which really only means that everybody was already in shape. I've only put in about 6 hours (!) on the bike in the last 3 weeks, including yesterday, so my hopes were not high, and I rooted my entire race strategy in "residual fitness," "ability to tolerate long periods of suffering," and "Red Bull." I mean, come on, I haven't even gone for a climb since the day I crashed, what, 6 weeks ago?

Yesterday also marked record high temperatures in many pockets of Northern Nevada, and by the time the first rider went off at 10am, east-facing Kingsbury was smoldering away. About the only thing I really had going for me was that I wasn't the 5th rider off like I was last time, which quickly had me out in front with no one to chase down. I was 27th off yesterday, hopefully supplying me with more people to catch, although certainly not guaranteed with my level, no, trough of fitness.

One unfortunate feature of Kingsbury is that all the free speed opportunities are at the bottom, dictating that those periods of high effort can't be saved for later in the climb (the steepest section is the top, too). Yesterday was only my 3rd time up Kingsbury, and I'm not familiar enough with it to gauge how well my climb is going based on intermediate times or speeds. All I could do was go hard and use riders in front of me for motivation!

My jersey was wide open within the first few minutes, which allowed my heart more room to fervently plan its gleeful escape from my chest. I pushed hard for the free speed sections and kept the effort pretty much pinned everywhere else. I could feel the strength emigrating from my legs to the land of distant memories after about 20 minutes, but it was at least passing through the realm of proper pacing on its way out. (Translation: I hadn't gone too big too early.)

I watched my time from last September tick by with a few hundred meters left to go, and crossed the line about exactly 2 minutes slower (40:18 vs. 38:16). Really no surprise at all, but still disappointing. I'd also say that my effort was higher this time around (if such a thing is possible), as I went a little fuzzy and had to lie down in the shade for a bit.

Last time, Speedy Li'l Max took 3 minutes out of the course record for 35-flat, but he was nowhere to be found yesterday. However, this dude (executive summary: pro rider, "Specialty: Climbing") showed up and took another 2 minutes out of the record, resetting it at an astounding 32:59 and averaging well over 14mph up the 6.1% grade.

Also notable was the dude Alan I mentioned last time, looking trimmer yet, who I don't think had exactly the day he wanted but was still 2 minutes faster than September. Huge props to him for persevering and making the commitment to improve his life.

Therapeutic visits to both frigid Tahoe and delectable In 'n Out followed.

I'll post more soon that includes some photos from the stuff that's made me a stranger to the bike lately ;).