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Volcano skiing is just a short road trip away |
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Written by David Bunker/Tahoe World
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Monday, 03 July 2006 |
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 Summer comes late to Lassen.
That's all I could think about as I strapped on my snowboard and made deep, slushy turns down the flank of the 10,456-foot volcano.
The mid-June snow was delicious. Soft but not sticky. After a month of trail running, hiking and stretching out on Donner Lake’s edge like a beached Walrus, the turns felt heavenly.
But three hours before hitting Lassen’s sunny and calm summit, things didn’t look so rosy.
I awoke from a fitful sleep, bleary from a night of intermittent naps against a backdrop of the incessant flapping of the nylon walls of our tent.
Tahoe World online editor Paul Raymore, Sierra Sun Photographer Ryan Salm and myself had rolled into the high elevation parking lot under the dark of night after the windy drive up Highway 89 from Truckee.
We met up with two of Raymore’s friends Doug Roosevelt and Jordan Degen, on their way to Mount Shasta, and quickly retreated from the howling wind into our respective tents.
The wind roared all night in fits and starts.
If anything the morning was equally windy as the night. But as the sun warmed, and we kick-stepped our way up the south side of the volcano, it died to a whisper, until as we neared the summit we were all down to one thin shirt.
 Cresting the summit ridge, we took in magnificent views of Mount Shasta, snow-clad and solitary against the blueish haze of the surrounding valleys.
From the summit, we navigated to a notch Roosevelt had spied on the ascent. We picked a line through two towering, volcanic spires, and rode the corn in long sweeping turns back to the road.
Back at the cars, shirtless and oblivious to the sun searing our winter-white skin, we cracked up a few beers and enjoyed the warmth.
If you go:
Some slopes on and around Lassen Peak still harbor enormous amounts of snow. The past winter was so heavy that the road through the national park has still not be cleared entirely.
 From Truckee, Lassen is a good three-hour drive up Highway 89 north. But unlike many road trip routes, the route to Lassen takes you through spectacular scenery that includes the Sierra Valley, through the Feather River watershed, and past Lake Almanor.
Lassen, and its volcanic neighbor Mount Tehama, are the southern end of the Cascade Mountain Range.
To check on road conditions at the national park, or for more information, go to: http://www.nps.gov/lavo/.
 
Photos by Ryan Salm & Paul Raymore
From top: Mount Lassen from the parking lot. The hike to the top. The view from the summit was spectacular on this clear summer day (with Mount Shasta clearly visible in the distance). Ryan and David on the summit. Jordan Degen prepares to cross a scree field. Finally back on snow and making turns.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 07 July 2006 )
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