Hike Mt. Shasta

Amazingly, Mount Shasta has been receiving a fair amount of snow since August. However, between the heat of summer and the strong winds of autumn, not much snow has been able to accumulate on the mountain. That has all changed with this past storm. It was sustained, had a lot of precipitation and it was cold. It snowed all the way down to 3,500 feet. My house had a couple of inches of snow, though most of it melted off when the precipitation turned to rain. Needless to say, Mount Shasta got a lot more than that!

Though it was overcast most of Friday, the clouds broke just before sunset and revealed Mount Shasta finally laden with a deep blanket of snow. Given the temperature, and the large storm that is incoming in a few days, this snow will not be blowing away or melting. Instead, it will get buried under further layers of snow, deepening the snowpack and seeing the sun again until summer.

Cloud cover was the forecast for Saturday but the morning was just clear enough to make a good sunrise on Mount Shasta possible. These are just about ideal conditions. I like it when the trees at the higher elevations have snow on them but the rocks and crags of Mount Shasta don’t. The latter condition really allows the geography of Mount Shasta to be highlighted. This was certainly the case Saturday morning, with the crags lightly frosted but generally brilliantly exposed. Snow banners sailed off the high slopes in grand fashion, propelled by strong winds and highlighted by the pink light of the rising sun. Whether snow on the mountain, clouds in the sky or snow thrown of slopes, the air just seemed to glow around Mount Shasta.

Not to be left out and indicative of the onset of true winter conditions, Mount Eddy and Black Butte also had varying, though notable, amounts of snow as well. Interestingly, the snow on Black Butte appeared tilted to the east, as though the storm was more severe on that side or the temperatures were lower. Mount Eddy looked to have settled comfortably into winter’s embrace and glowed in the morning light.

These conditions on all three peaks are fleeting, as the incoming storm looks to potentially drop a few feet of snow and last for the better part of a week. We’ll see what things look like on the other side.