Mount Shasta

Your odds of triggering an avalanche today are low. Assess the snowpack for instability and practice safe travel techniques. If climbing above the treeline, crampons, ice axes, and helmets are a must in order to protect yourself from the likely event of a slip/fall and overhead hazards: rock and rime ice.

Waiting on a low pressure system has been a lot like watching the grass grow in slow motion. A relentless bout of upper level ridging is keeping Mount Shasta and most of the Pacific Northwest high and dry. Regarding avalanche danger, there isn't much to speak of with the last recorded avalanche occurring last weekend in the upper reaches of Avalanche Gulch. The dragon that backcountry users must slay today is icy surfaces.

There are significant hazards for climbers and skiers above 9,000 feet on Mount Shasta. A weeks long melt-freeze cycle has created slide-for-life conditions on steep slopes, knolls, and moraines. Falling in these areas would be difficult to arrest and could result in sliding uncontrollably for hundreds of feet. Additionally, ice fall is a growing hazard as rock outcrops like Casaval Ridge, Red Banks, Sargents Ridge, and Trinity Chutes continue to shed ice.

If you're climbing or skiing on the upper mountain, remember to bring crampons, an ice axe (or two), and a helmet. Even steep slopes below 9,000 feet will be dangerous in the early morning hours, when the sun has not had time to soften the snow surface. Above 9,000 feet, the surface crust is so stout that they may not give way to the potent California sun. For more information on climbing, read the updated climbing advisory.