Title: Yosemite Adventures

Author: Matt Johanson

Year: 2014

Where can I get it? Your local book store, online, or as an ebook.

Let me start this review by stating that I have not spent enough time in Yosemite. On one occasion, driving back from the bay area, I visited the park and did what I could within a day- which meant I spent too much time in the car, although I did do what most visitors don’t- I did a few short hikes. On another trip, I skied Mount Dana and Ellery plateau, which I wholeheartedly recommend. So with that disclaimer out of the way, on to my review…

The subtitle of the book is “50 spectacular hikes, climbs, and winter treks”, and that is exactly how this book is split up. The ski trek section is exactly as it sounds. These are ski tours of the touring variety, many of which could be completed on cross country skis or even snowshoes- not the kind of skiing that we typically do but fun nevertheless. Don’t let this fool you, however. While many of the tours are short and suitable for a family outing, there are also a number of longer overnight tours and even a tour covering several days and nearly 40 miles. This is a common theme throughout the book- all ability levels are included.

The hiking section also includes semi-technical peak climbs, including Mount Dana that I mentioned earlier. The hiking in Yosemite is certainly varied, from waterfall hikes to giant Sequoias to slabby granite climbs that Yosemite if famous for. Throughout the book, each outing is accompanied by a map, though only the shorter outings have a usable scale. The book is also filled with over 100 color photos.

Finally, there is the climbing section. While I climb, I’m not good at it so I was thrilled to see several top-rope opportunities that would be right up my alley if I were visiting the area. Once again, however, the book also has more difficult options, such as the multi-pitch Snake Dike route on Half Dome.

These days, one can find so much information on the internet. I’m sure many of these hikes, climbs, and tours could be found with some searching. But for me, that isn’t the point of a guidebook anyway. A good guidebook is meant to inspire, in my view. This book succeeds on that front, and I have a new-found appreciation for the Yosemite area and a desire to return. If you’re hoping to find your own Yosemite inspiration, pick up a copy of this book.

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This season on Shasta has not boded well for snowfall. We knew that coming in to Shasta. We’d heard that the south face was skiing particularly poorly, but other routes were skiing okay. We kept our fingers crossed for West Face conditions to be holding up well. According to sources at Fifth Season, it was skiing well. Shasta’s West Face, seen from Shasta City.

Last year in June, I skied Shasta’s Trinity Chutes and Shastarama Point with my friend Kim. But, we both knew we would be back to ski more lines on Shasta and set our sights on Shasta’s West Face. Unfortunately, Kim was unable to join us this year. Pam and I set up camp at Bunny Flat and enjoyed the view over dinner. Quite a bit less snow compared to last year, but still amazingly beautiful.

Knowing the snow was a “summer snowpack” and that the weather was supposed to remain a little cool, we decided a 3 am start was not necessary. Instead, we started at twilight.

We took the Avalanche Gulch cutoff and found snow in the gully within a mile of the trailhead.

The lower part of the south side was very bumpy. But, the Trinity Chutes still looked nice and smooth!

As we climbed up toward Red Banks, we encountered some of the most horrendously bumpy snow I have ever seen. Suncups does not describe the snow properly. They were more like sun-craters, and each crater was filled with stones which had likely blown in with the 70 mph winds that had occurred earlier in the week. Both Pam and I were happy we were not descending this route. One one narrow snow chute led through Red Banks.

As we rounded the top of Red Banks toward Misery Hill, we found it devoid of snow.

After much discussion, we decided not to continue upward. The West Face could easily be accessed from the top of the Trinity Chutes and we did not actually need to summit. We both had summited Shasta in years before and decided to avoid the extra misery that could occur on Misery Hill if we had to descend it sans snow. Climbing nearly 6500′ to 13,384′ would have to be good enough Pam and I ready to ski on the top of the West Face.

Pam dropped in first. Notice the climbing party in the background below her.

Me on the upper part of the West Face.

The upper part of the west face didn’t quite “go”. We found ourselves working our way over a few feet of rock where the snow had melted out. Furthermore, to find better snow, we traversed skiers left over a rock band. Conditions were a bit mixed. Some parts were a bit bumpy, some parts were very smooth. Either way, the West Face was in considerably better condition than most of the south side.

Pam.

Me.

Pam on the lower part of the West Face.

Looking back at the West Face.

After reaching the flats of Hidden Valley, we climbed a col, per the recommendation of our friend. On the other side of the col should be a snow-filled chute which we could ski instead of walking the actual trail from Hidden Valley. But, we arrived to find the chute with not enough snow worthy of a descent. So, we skied back down to Hidden Valley, found the trail, and descended through miles of dry and rocky terrain back to Bunny Flat. I am not sure of the exact distance, but I estimate it to be 4 miles between Hidden Valley and Bunny Flat.

This year was certainly not the year to be on Shasta. While Pam and I enjoyed our climb and ski on a perfect windless bluebird day, we didn’t think conditions were worthy of sticking around to try other routes, which was our original intention. So, we headed north for better conditions and more adventures

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: Shasta’s West Face (14 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Lassen Peak:

I took a brief stop at the Great Salt Lake Desert to admire the salt flats.

It was around that time that I noticed I had dust particles inside my lens. Not outside, but inside. Granted, I was using my secondary camera, which was my backup for my primary camera. Perhaps it was fortuitous that I dropped the camera only a couple of hours later, bringing this fine piece of technology to it’s final death. After a quick stop in Reno to pick up a new camera, I was on my way again.

Nevada can be beautiful in places.

But, the wind blew horrendously across I-80. I spent an hour driving through a dust storm, eventually to find its source:

This 2×2 mile area was creating a dust storm that trailed for about 100 miles.

That night, Pam and I camped in the beautiful California forest. Home for the next couple of weeks:

Lassen Peak is popular among tourists, but it still stands in the shadow of Mount St. Helens. The St. Helens eruption of 1980 was recent enough for most people to remember. And many forget that Lassen had its own series of eruptions from 1914 to 1917. These eruptions were historically photographed by B.F. Loomis:

That being said, Lassen Peak is being loved to death. Last year, Kim and I tried to ski Lassen, only to find that it was actually “closed” due to trail reconstruction. This year Pam and I hoped to beat the closure of the peak which typically happens after snowmelt. Information on this peak closure was hard to find and inconsistent – even speaking from one ranger to the next. A ranger Pam spoke with on the phone said the closure didn’t really apply to skiers if they stayed on the snow. Yet, another ranger who emailed us after we had skied Lassen said that it was closed to all travelers.

I am not sure if our ski was actually “legal”. There was a trail crew arriving as we were packing up from the ski. We did ski it long before the trail crew arrived. In my mind, the park service needs to have a more clear message for skiers about the actual closure of the peak. We were not the only people skiing it that day.

Lassen peak receives epic amounts of snow and is noted for often having snow depths around 20 to 25 feet. However, this year, with California’s drought, that was not the case. As we approached Lassen in the morning from the south, we wondered where all the snow was.

We drove around to the southeast to take another look. Ah, there’s some snow after all!

From the trailhead parking lot, Lassen is an easy climb. We found ourselves up at the summit in no time. The summit crater:

Pam on the summit block.

On the summit:

Our original plan was to ski the north side, then climb back up and descend the SE side. Pam looking down the north face.

The north face looked skiable, certainly. But, it didn’t look fantastic. Knowing that conditions were definitely sub-par, we decided to save the north face for a better year and save our energy for Shasta the next day.

Looking down the north face. The dirtiness of the snow and the runnels half-way down does not show:

The southeast line.

Shasta, peaking in and out of clouds.

The ski down the southeast was actually pretty good. Pam.

Me:

In fact, we were able to ski about 2000 feet down and wrap around on snow all the way to the parking lot.

On the way out of the park, we stopped to take another look at Lassen’s north face. Can’t wait to ski this all the way to the road in a better year!

Although we didn’t ski the north face, we still enjoyed turns on the SE face. Lassen was a short but sweet success and a great way to start off our trip. Next stop, Shasta!

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post Lassen Peak (13 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.