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Mount McLoughlin, OR – 9,495 ft

Mount McLoughlin is a must ski.  Put it on the list!  It’s my favorite volcano we have skied so far on the Volcano Tour.  I began with low expectations for multiple reasons: the lack of beta about the peak, the road closure, and the exhaustion I felt from skiing Mount Shasta the day before were definitely on the list. But I had – we had – an amazing day. The adventure, the perfect snow, the competition-worty terrain … it all came together for us on Day 3 of the Volcano Tour.

“Mount McLoughlin is the highest peak in southern Oregon, a beautiful near-symmetrical volcanic cone. Despite being the highest point in a 200-mile stretch of the Cascade Range between the Three Sisters and Mount Shasta, McLoughlin is relatively unknown and often overlooked. The Northeast Bowls of Mount McLoughlin are easily the finest ski descent in Southern Oregon, with a sustained 45-degree pitch in the upper sections and nice open cruising below.” www.skimountaineer.com

Mount McLoughlin was the first volcano to test the team logistically.  Doubt was creeping in through the windows of the Land Yacht.  Dav, feeling deflated due to the lack of beta said, “We need to be prepared for the possibility that we don’t ski all of the volcanos.  I thought weather would be are biggest hurdle, but logistically McLoughlin might not work out.  Maybe we should just head to Theilson?”   Luckily, Daron had spent the previous three hours on his GPS and felt confident that he could navigate the forest.  The only other deterrent was that the road to the trailhead might still be covered in snow.  There was only one way to find out!

I went to bed feeling exhausted from Shasta and a little wary about the next day’s adventure.  The road to the trailhead was covered in snow, which meant we would have o hike in an additional three miles before we even began the ascent.  And we weren’t totally sure we had the correct road to the trailhead.  Daron had plotted a route on his GPS, but the road we planned to follow didn’t match the road on the GPS.  It was going to be an adventure.

Dav’s alarm went off at 5:30 am which is a later start than we had wanted – we decided that trying to navigate the thick forest in the dark would be futile, but we hoped the sunlight would give us a little advantage. A quick breakfast was in order due to our late start. We whipped up some Hulk Smoothies which are quickly becomning a favorite breakfast item for the team.

Whole Foods Hulk Smoothie Recipe

• 1 cup spinach
• 1 cup kale
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp Maca Powder (the secret weapon)

At 7:00 am, we headed up the forest service road, not sure if we would find the trailhead.  The morning was gorgeous; even if we were on the wrong road and didn’t find the peak, it was worth the walk.

Three miles up the forest service road we came to a small, non-discript sign.  We were all hoping the sign would say “Mount McLoughlin this way,” but we weren’t so lucky.  Daron to the rescue!

Luckily, we found the trailhead.  But we still needed to find the peak. We quickly changed out of our shoes into our boots.  Next step, navigate the forest.  The trees were huge and the only thing we could see was blue sky.  Suffice to say, without Daron and his GPS, we may not have skied McLoughlin today.

After an hour of skinning through the trees, we caught our first glimpse of Mount McLoughlin.  We were stoked to say the least.  Afterall, it looked like we were going to ski McLoughlin today.  I knew Dav was excited because he doubled his skinning speed, and we were off.  Around 8,000 ft., we skinned above treeline and saw our first view of the area.

The view was spectacular.  We could see Shasta to the south and Theilson to the north.  It is very unique to be able to see where you’ve been and where you are going from where you are presently – that’s something we’ve all enjoyed on this trip. From the summit of of McLoughlin, I could see Shasta to the south and Theilson to the north.  How great would it be to have that clear perspective on life?

Not only was the view fantastic, but the terrain of the East Face looked sick!

Once we cleared treeline, the rest of the approach was a breeze.  There was a perfect ridge to skin all the way to the summit.  There is something rewarding about skinning to the summit.  The skiing was as good as it looked!

McLoughlin should be at the top of your list of ski mountaineering destinations. I would go right now.  The snow is awesome.  It is warming up, so plan to ski early.  It took us five hours to reach the summit.  I wouldn’t call it a slog, but I would bring a friend who knows the way of a GPS to help navigate the forest.  And I would highly recommend a “quick” dip in the Lake of Woods to cool off after your ski.  The water is a refreshing 32 degrees!

2012 Ring Of Fire Tour

Blog Post May 5, 2012 Written By Chris Daventport

Lassen Peak, CA 10,457’

Our first ski experience of this project couldn’t have gone much better.  Daron, Jess and I have been so excited to get this trip underway, and now that we have our first peak under our belts, we are thrilled.

After a three hour drive from Reno with “Captain” Grant Burrow behind the wheel, we pulled into Lassen National Park and the “Devastated Area” parking lot at 5 pm.  We spent the good part of two hours pulling all our gear and food out of the RV to sort and organize everything.  With two weeks of food from Whole Foods, Bare Naked, and Clif Bar on-board for 5-6 people a day we had a lot to go through.

Although it probably wasn’t necessary to wake up so early for what would be a relatively short climb and ski, we were so anxious that we had the coffee on and were gearing up at 6:15 am.  The sunrise illuminated the grand NE Face of Lassen, the unstable weather having pushed out the day before.

We were skinning through the forest at 7 am and by 8 were above the treeline and climbing steadily.  If any of you have been following Jess’ blog or her tweets (@jessmcmillan) you will know that she has been training like crazy at her home in Jackson, WY, and has climbed almost 75,000 vertical feet in the last three weeks.  I was feeling good as well, having just come back from a wonderful trip to the Alaska Range, and Daron, well, he’s just about as strong as they come.

We hit the summit of Lassen in just under three hours after a straight-forward skin directly up the NE Face.  We ended up boot-packing the final 1000 feet as it was just a bit too steep and slippery to skin, even with ski crampons.  There was a breezy north wind blowing up there, which cools you down quick, especially if your at all sweaty from the effort getting up there.  But our spirits were high and the views spectacular.

Our next objective, Mt. Shasta, shown brightly in the distance as we pulled skins and stepped into our bindings.  *** (Insert Mt. Shasta shot) The NE Face is big and has many options.  Jess dropped in first and went skiers left into a steep and clean gully filled with fresh, wind-deposited snow.  I headed over to the north-facing bowl skiers right and had some awesome high-speed turns on soft snow, and Daron traversed across the upper face and dropped into an east-facing couloir that some friends of our had skied the day before.   The fact that we all skied the face top-to-bottom without stopping was a testament to how great it was!

We regrouped in the basin below the face with big smiles and high-fives going around.  The snow had been safe, soft, and really fun, and the group was truly strong.  We enjoyed a pine-tree giant-slalom for more than a mile back to the parking lot and our waiting Spyder Land Yacht.

Right now we are en-route to Shasta, downloading photos and video, eating mango slices with almond butter, and mentally preparing for our first of two 14ers on the trip, Mt. Shasta, tomorrow.

Stay tuned…

Chris

Week 1: 21,285 Vertical Feet Ascended
Week 2 Goal: Ascend 25,300 Vertical Feet
Day 1: Northeast Shoulder of Teewinot Approx 4,000 Vert
Day 2: JHMR 4139 Vert and Snow King 1571 Vert = 5,571 Vert
Day 3: JHMR 4139 Vert
Total Vert Ascended: 13,710 Vert

Hadley Hammer Earning Her Turns at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

It is still winter in Jackson Hole.  I woke up today feeling super tired after skinning the village, skinning Snow King, and Mountain Athlete.  And to really kill my motivation it was raining outside.  I knew it had snowed up high, but was pretty content sitting by the fire drinking coffee.  I started to do the math to see if I could achieve my goal for the week and take a day off.  I calculated that if I took today off, I would have to ski around 7,000 vert per day for the rest of the week.  That was enough to get me going.  And I’m glad I did.

The skiing was awesome at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.  I may have skied one of my best Rendevous Bowls of the season.  There was 8 inches of pow up high!  Today was a great day of training!

Smooth Turns on Bivy

Today felt a lot like training.  So far I have been lucky with weather and ski partners.  Last week felt like going skiing with friends.  I had a blast and the skiing was awesome.  This week the weather, rain and snow, has made the higher peaks a bit sketchy.  Not mention it’s a little more difficult to motivate when it’s raining outside.

It looked miserable outside when I woke up.  I had made plans with friends to ski the village, but when I called they both said they were 50% in.  After some begging on my part, I finally convinced them that it was a good idea.  Mother nature must have been on our side because when we pulled into the parking lot of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the clouds cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is starting to heal.  The bumps are almost gone and there is plenty of smooth skiing to enjoy.  After we finished skiing, I had 2 hours to kill before mountain athlete.  So I decided to ski a quick lap on Snow King.  There are a few dirt patches on Snow King, but it was still a fun ski.

There is more snow in the forecast.  Hopefully some pow turns are in the near future!