Lesser known lines on the Cal/Neva Border
I’m sitting here at Bunny Flat Trailhead waiting to ski Mt. Shasta (CA) tomorrow with Fred, Lisa, and Dave. The objective is to climb Casaval Ridge and then ski down via the west face. This is the first stop on my Cascade Volcano ski tour, Saturday I will be meeting Hank to ski Mount McLoughlin (Southern Oregon). So needless to say, I am very excited. South of here, the season has pretty much ended, but we were able to squeeze the last of the juice a few weekends back on Mount Patterson in the Sweetwater Mountains along the California/Nevada line.
While driving down 395 South, I have always looked to my east and thought the large faces off in the distance would be a nice spot to ski. Well of course, Connor has been thinking that too, and he was able to do some recon/exploring in these mountains while on a field work mission with his fiancé Lacy. So, also needless to say, he had the trip-plan dialed, and when he asked if I wanted to to join, it was an immediate yes.
I met Connor, Fred, Johnny, and Will at our campsite and we had a nice banter and hangout before passing out quite early. Connor, Fred, and Johnny had skied Boundary Peak that day so they zonked out early. I stayed up a little later and reminisced on a fun season. Even though the snow was low this year, it was still great, and I still got to ski many fantastic peaks. Most importantly, I feel like I advanced my skill set, which was the main goal of this years high alpine season.
My alarm went off early, about 4:30am. I knew they wanted to sleep longer, but I also know it takes me a minute to get rolling. So I got up before everyone, watched the sunrise, made coffee, and was ready to go (hopped up on caffeine!) by 6:00am sharp. Once everyone got up and ready, we all piled into Freds new truck and drove our way up a rough dirt road, hoping to knock off a few miles of walking in ski boots. We noticed a couple other crews along the way which was interesting because of how remote this place is. I guess all the Tahoe area closures really did drive the crowds to these more obscure places like the Sweetwaters.
Once we got moving, I just knew it was going to be a good day for me. I was well rested, well fed, and just very happy to be here in these mountains. We walked in ski boots for about 3 miles before hitting snow and making our way up a very beautiful drainage before arriving at the base of the Patterson Cirque. What an amazing view from below. Here we had great views of all the potential runs down the many different faces that encompassed this bowl.
We originally wanted to ski quick and get out, having a shorter day. However, the snow was still damn near bullet proof on the north aspect that we wanted to ski; so we instead climbed the east facing bowl first, and ended up skiing a short but very sweet line, corn snow and all, then headed back up for the main objective. This ascent was beautiful and we pretty effortlessly got to the top and about 11:00am. The view from the top of Patterson is just incredible. You can see all the way from Mount Rose in Reno down to the Morrison Couloir in Mammoth, about 200 miles of Sierra views.
We took off one by one from the top of Patterson, all skiing the same north facing gully. This line was great, about 2,300vft, and we all skied it like heroes without stopping, because well, Fred had his drone out! You just can’t stop when you’re being followed by the drone, that would be lame. Anyway, we all skied the line and said the same thing at the bottom, “wow, that was a thigh burner!” Finally, after everyone safely gathered at the bottom, we made our way down the drainage for one more ascent and descent. Three lines, one day, good thing I brought a lot of snacks!
As we started to ascend the third line, a north facing slope, we definitely noticed that the snow was beginning to soften up more, but not rapidly, so we pushed forward. Zig-zagging up the face, we finally reached the top at about 1:00pm, and after Connor and Fred did a little recon, we skied a beautiful line, all corn snow, about 2,000vft, back down to the orginally drainage that we skied up. This was really just a beautiful day, and I am so glad that I got to experience it.
While the skiing was great, the eye-candy and company were even better. The red rock just vibrantly illuminated on the hillsides, and the striped rock left me in awe (like a mini "Painted Desert"), all while out in the distance the sage ran on like an ocean. It was like no place I had ever skied before and I was also able to ski with new company, who I will be skiing Shasta with tomorrow.
Skiing is great and life is too, very much looking forward to closing this years ski-mountaineer season in the Cascades!