Shasta Snow Report

 

Below Red Banks in Avalanche Gulch.  See the tiny skier left center?

Looking south from Helen Lake at 6:45am.  Good place to be at that time of morning.  

Red Banks at just below 12,500 feet

Julian Minuzzo reports:

Took Broadway up Green Butte Ridge until tree line then side-hilled into Avy Gulch. Ascended a broad ridgeline in the east side of Avy Gulch and reached Helen Lake at 06:30. Snow in the gulch was good for climbing--firm, icy crust in spots, wind-swept hardpack in others. Ascended to 11,500 by sunrise at 07:15 and considered the route above. Lots of small rocks and ice chunks were scattered throughout the snow and in the fall-line at this elevation. Small (fist-sized) but frequent icefall and rockfall from Cassaval Ridge and Red Banks as the sun began to warm them. Began pushing for Thumb Rock at 08:00. Mix of icy crust and hardpack as we ascended under Red Banks. No noticeable signs of recent ascents. Picked our way around the icier snow to the more stable hardpack and found a nice line to about 12,500', right below Thumb Rock. Above 12,500', snow became littered with large, slick, unstable, chunks of frozen alpine ice. Carefully picked our way through to gain the ridge at Thumb Rock. Lots of large, unstable, slick icy facets below and above Thumb Rock. The snow above Red Banks looked similarly treacherous. Decided conditions were not safe enough to continue and turned back down Avy Gulch at 10:00. Continued small icefall as we descended below Red Banks but nothing of significant size. Snow below Helen Lake was soft slush as we descended. Back to the car at 14:00. Would not recommend an ascent above 12,000' with the current icy conditions.