Shasta is still in great shape so I headed up again with some company this time – Glen (switchtele) and Too Tall Terri from Tahoe joined me. We headed for the north side.
From just past the railroad tracks on Military Pass Rd.
Glen’s Subaru Forester was about to be tested on the road to the Coquette Falls TH. This is the same place I was at back on May 2nd. The snow had melted on the road and I wanted to see how close we could drive to the Wilderness Boundary.
Road map to
Coquette Falls TH.
(click to enlarge)
This trailhead is the place to go if you’re looking to hit the north side. I decided to call it the Coquette Falls TH. The road called Bolam Logging Road, or road 42N33, heads for the Wilderness Boundary and is perfectly positioned to allow direct access to the bottom of the Bolam Glacier. It is also a great way to access the north side of Shastina.
Drive in to the North Gate TH on Military Pass Rd.(43N19), stay right onto 42N16 – the way to North Gate. But turn right onto 42N34. Head up and around the large moraine on 42N33, also known as the Bolam Logging Road.
This is where the road gets a bit rough. Glenn drove like a pro and his Subaru Forester made it.
Subaru Forester on the Bolam Logging Rd.
The road makes a beeline for the Wilderness Boundary with excellent views.
View from Jibmasters Jeep.
The road gets pretty rutted with some big rocks. A few rocks were moved and lines were scoped out, but the Subie was able to keep on truckin’.
Coquette Falls TH camp.
We drove to about 7300′ and the road at this point got to be more of a drainage or creek with deep ruts and really loose sand. I opted to hike up the road and see how far we could drive. The Jeep could have gone on farther, but the Subie would have had trouble, so we decided to call it for the day and set up camp. I took another hike over to the right to check out the Bolam Creek drainage.
A deep canyon, probably about 500 feet deep that reminded me of Mud Creek Canyon, but not as deep. We were camped about a five minute walk from the Bolam Creek Canyon.
Mt. Shasta's northern slopes at sunset.
The deep sand made for a nice camp site and we prepared dinner and were crashed out just after sunset. The next morning, we set out up the road. The deep ruts soon ended and the road smoothed out. I saw a road taking off to the left on my hike the evening before, but we didn’t see it in the dark on our way up in the morning. The road soon turned into a trail that leads to a smaller washed-out creek that parallels the Bolam Creek Canyon. We hiked up this drainage and soon got to a sign that stated that we were about to cross over into the Wilderness Boundary.
My original plan was to try and head over to the main route coming up from the North Gate TH. But we were too far to the right. A few visuals showed that we were still right next to the Bolam Creek Canyon. Studying the map and Google Earth over the past several days, I was intrigued at the possibility of heading to the right and accessing the bottom of the Bolam Glacier.
We were so close to the north side of Shastina, we considered heading over there as well.
The rising sun lights up the Bolam Glacier.
By now we were committed to the right side of the large moraine and the bottom of the Bolam Glacier. A bit of bushwacking through the small trees gets us closer.
The head of the Bolam Creek Canyon - a dried up waterfall.
…more good photos as the adventure continues on the next page (2)…
© 2012
Skiing Mt. Shasta’s Bolam Glacier
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Getting closer, but still not to snowline.
"How close are we jib?" - "Almost there..."
About 2 hours from the vehicles brings us to snow line. We hiked up and around to the left. The first snow field was steep enough to put our crampons to use right away. It was hard to tell which way to go. We didn’t want to head too far left, as that would take us up the large central moraine. We kept looking for a route through to the right. I was having trouble with my right crampon. It kept coming off. So I stuck to the mixed snow and rock to the left of the snowfield until it topped out. A bit of duck tape took up the slack in my crampon and we continued.
Cool clouds
Looking back to get oriented for our return.
We crossed over and hiked down a bit to just below the base of the Bolam Glacier.
The slope was not as steep here, so we went to skins. Kind of strange to crampon first and then go to skins, but I’ll take it.
Skinning up to the base of the Bolam Glacier.
The Coquette Falls TH drops you off directly below the Bolam Glacier and we gazed up five thousand feet to the summit. What a nice line! We could head to the right or the left. The slope was perfect for skinning. We took a break at around 10,000′ and discussed our position. Unbelievable views of the fall line right off the summit!
Lots of options.
A bit rough on skiers left (climbers right).
It was warming up fast. Probably a bit too late for a summit bid, but we were stoked to have so much ski terrain all around us. We opted to skin up and to the right. Heading left would have put us at the base of The Step, on the main route from North Gate. We skinned up and attained the ridge line.
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© 2012
Skiing Mt. Shasta’s Bolam Glacier – 30may12
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Contemplating the world below.
Terry wasn’t satisfied with the view, so she skinned up a bit farther and skied back down.
Too Tall Terry tearing it up!
By now it was around noon. Time to ski!
Looking back to our tracks
We skied down to where we crossed over from the first snowfield. The snow was amazing! Very smooth. We couldn’t tell if the snow continued and hooked up with the first line that we had cramponed up earlier that morning. So we traversed over the rocks and dropped the second snowfield.
My new skis, the Voile Vectors skied very well. The brand new Plum bindings were nice as well. Especially appreciated that set up when it was on my back!
We hiked down through the little trees and found a gully that held snow for quite awhile. Real simple getting out of there. Just follow along to the right of the Bolam Creek Canyon.
Got to watch several folks dropping off the top.
Busy day on the Bolam Glacier.
It looked like they all headed back to the North Gate TH. And missed out on the last several thousand feet of epic corn! The North Gate TH is over rated. Too much weaving around to get back. Next time you hit up the north side of Shasta use the Coquette Falls TH. You won’t be disappointed.
Or you could use this TH to access the north side of Shastina. These guys had to skin/hike back up to get back to Bunny Flat.
Shastina's north face slayed by some locals
Back up they go
Made it back to the vehicles in just over an hour from snowline and drove out.
I was wanting to take road 42N18 on the way out, but missed it. So we were committed to the Bolam Road exit. Took 42N33 to 42N21 (the road to the Bolam TH), which led us right to highway 97.
Looking back to our route from where Bolam Glacier Logging meets Hwy. 97.
Got dinner at Lola’s in Mt. Shasta where we met the boys that had dropped the north side of Shastina. They were Shasta Guides on their day off. They said they had left Bunny Flat around 8am. We watched them ski Shastina at 1pm. They said they had skinned back up the north face and ended up booting the last part and went back to Bunny Flat. We met them at the restaurant at 4:30. Nice job guys!
It was an awesome day. Really good to meet you Glen and Terri.
The Coquette Falls TH is the only way I’ll be accessing the north side from now on. It provides DIRECT access to the bottom of the Bolam Glacier with a straight line to the summit from there. The road isn’t that bad. Glenn proved a Subie can make it. It does take awhile however. Our drive time from Mt. Shasta City to 7300′ was two hours. Totally worth it! Still some time this spring to head on over there.
Full set of photos:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=11744399@N08&q=Coquette Fall TH
Related Posts
Shasta the Masta
Sick trip the Shasta’s N Side
W-Face of Shasta
© 2012