Lassen Peak

Quick report

Highway 89 between Sulphur Works and the Lassen Peak parking lot is currently closed to cars but open to bikes. It appears to be plowed beyond the parking lot to somewhere west of Reading Peak. We heard rumor that the road may be completely plowed within a week or two, and open to cars shortly thereafter. Snow surfaces at >8500' (likely lower too) had a solid refreeze last night. By 10am snow surfaces in the SE bowl of Lassen Peak had softened considerably, progressing to borderline unsupportable by 11am. I would estimate ideal corn snow skiing conditions occurred between 9-10am in the SE bowl. We were able to skin all the way to the summit plateau via the SE ridge from the parking lot. Ski crampons were helpful both for still frozen snow on shaded aspects and for a bit more purchase on soft loose corn encountered near the top of the bowl at 1130am. Took a look at the NE bowl from the summit at 12pm. The chute off the summit pillar had soft heavily tracked transitional snow. More easterly aspects appeared to have somewhat softened corn, while more westerly aspects appeared to have a combination of still frozen corn and transitional snow. Debris from several wet loose slides was present, though none appeared to have happened today up to this time. At 1245pm we skied down the gully on the west side of Lassen Peak. Snow surfaces were smooth with near perfect corn conditions down to the bottom of our descent at 8700'. Transitioned to skinning and traversed to the south face, which we descended from 9200' at 140pm. Snow was unsupportable corn, generating some roller balls on a 30deg slope. We observed D1 wet loose avalanche debris on this aspect (30deg slope angle) that appeared to have been caused by rockfall prior to today. Clear skies, temperatures in the 50s to 60s on Lassen Peak. No wind.