Stephanie and I had another Cascade volcano adventure on Friday, this time closer to home. Last weekend we visited the Ridge Lakes climbed Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
This time we explored the dirt roads and steep trails of the Old Ski Bowl on Mount Shasta’s south face. We started at the upper parking lot and began a steep and steady climb below Green Butte. In this picture you see Stephanie making her way up the Old Ski Bowl, with Shastarama Point and Sargent’s Ridge to her right, and higher reaches of Mount Shasta far above her.
Hiking a trail in Mount Shasta's Old Ski Bowl. Note Shastarama Point on Sargent's Ridge to the far right. (Photo by John Soares)
Glaciers carved this huge depression out of Mount Shasta’s flank. Skiing enthusiasts were ecstatic when the Old Ski Bowl was in operation, but in January 1978 a snow avalanche from Green Butte swept down and destroyed the Green Butte chairlift. In January 1997, another snow avalanche began near Shastarama Point and tore 2.5 miles downhill. Of course, there’s no snow in this photo. The mountain is as bare as I’ve ever seen it, and long-timers around here say it’s been a long time since it looked this way. Oddly enough, even though we’ve had several drought years, Mount Shasta’s glaciers are getting bigger, in stark contrast to the vast majority of the other glaciers in the world, nearly all of which are shrinking due to global warming.
Mount Shasta is a composite cone (stratovolcano) of the Cascade Range. Like all composite cones, it’s a crumbly pile of rocks that drops boulders and pebbles downhill at an alarming rate. There’s lots of rock, shattered and otherwise, cloaking the mountain’s flanks. Some of this is the work of long-gone glaciers, but some of it is rockfall. I’m always a bit on edge when I’m on Shasta.
We finished our trek at about the 9,600-foot level, exhilarated by the sharp ascent and the views. Smoke from the various wildfires burning to the west and southwest prevented the clear views of Castle Crags, McCloud, and the Lassen Volcanic National Park region, but we were content with our accomplishment.
Read more about Mount Shasta here. And about the recent Mount Shasta elevation increase here. Old Ski Bowl trails are the subject of Hike 51 in my book 75 Hikes in California’s Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic National Park Regions, revised edition, 2006.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
John, Thanks for the history of why the ski bowl was closed. That big slippage must have been horrific. Also, I understand, the snow pack would go from too deep to too thin in too quick a time to have a resort there. South faces of mountains for ski resorts, not a good idea. Bye, Ronald
Twitter: @TheJohnSoares
Hello Ron,
The Old Ski Bowl area has slopes with very steep sides, and I think this is likely a more critical factor than south-facing or north-facing, although that too is important for rates of snow melt and the triggering of avalanches.
The avalanches in the Old Ski Bowl show the importance of taking the long-term persepective of physical geography when planning anything.
Is this a good trail from which to start in an attempt to reach the summit?
Thanks
Twitter: @TheJohnSoares
Yes it is, during the proper hiking season of early to mid-summer, depending on snow.
It’s not a common route, but you hike the dirt road where it ends, then take a mostly cross-country route over the ridge above Green Butte, and then ascend along a slope to Lake Helen.
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