Olancha Peak Dayhike

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Near Olancha Pass

Olancha Pass

After driving up from Ridgecrest, Brian Veit, Brian Choragwicki and I set out from the Olancha Pass trailhead at the end of Sage Flat road around 6 a.m. The driving and hiking directions on climber.org were right on and we had no problem finding the junction between the trail and the "cow driveway". Brian Veit had hiked up the pass previously so he was also able to offer some insight. We chose the "horse/hiker" trail and headed up the switchbacks toward the pass. 

Around 7:15 we got to the saddle below the false pass and took a short break. We were at the pass by 8:30, 2.5 hours from the car. From there we descended to the PCT where found a good deal of snow covering the trail. It had been a pretty dry winter, but a small storm had come through a few days prior. We knew there would be some snow at the summit and that there was a slight chance of more snow in the afternoon. We got to "cowboy camp" 30 minutes from the pass. 

Snow along the trail

Cowboy Camp

Summit in view

We navigated the semi-confusing network of trails in the area and continued along the PCT passing some buckets of water that we figured were placed for thirsty PCTers. We climbed back above treeline near 10,000' and reached a saddle from which we caught our first views of the summit covered in a dusting of snow. We walked for another quarter or mile or so then left the trail and headed up the class 2 slope. Brian V. turned back shortly after we left on account of snow and the fact that he was wearing trail runners and shorts, but Brian C. and I continued on. A thick mass of clouds swirled and lingered just east of the summit. Views to the west were mostly clear. The ~1 foot layer of snow didn't cause too many serious issues besides slippery rocks, and we summitted at noon, 6 hours from the trailhead. 

Looking north from the summit

Looking northwest from the summit.  Langley pictured.

Looking northwest from the summit.  Kaweahs in the distance.

Looking west from the summit

Looking southwest from the summit

Looking south from the summit

Starting back down

We sat and ate at the top for 20 minutes or so then retraced our steps to the PCT. I picked out Langley to the north. The descent was slippery and tedious. We expected to meet Brian V. along the PCT about 1/4 mile from where we left the trail for the summit, but he was nowhere to be found. Brian C. and I decided to continue on figuring that he had gotten cold and decided to keep walking toward the car. We passed another party heading for the summit and they claimed not to have seen Brian V. based on our description. We passed a solo hiker who also hadn't seen him, so we got a bit nervous. We wondered if we had missed him sitting along the trail somewhere but continued on and eventually found Brian V. sitting by the Lowe's water buckets. We all sat for a few minutes and compared notes about the afternoon then continued on toward the car. 

We got back to Olancha Pass around 3:30 p.m. and got back to the car at 5 p.m. 11 hours and 22 miles round trip.

Mt. Shasta

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John, Juli, Brielle, and I climbed Shasta via Avy Gulch. We decided to do it as a 2-day trip, camping at Horse Camp so that we could cut 2 miles off the distance on summit day. The reduced distance was nice, but probably not completely necessary. 

Camp at Horse Camp

On Friday a.m., Juli, Brielle, and I left SLO around 6 and made it to Mt. Shasta by mid-afternoon. We made a random stop at Poncho & Lefkowitz's gourmet hot dogs and mexican food stand then headed to The Fifth Season to pick up rental gear. The guys at the stop advised me that avy beacons were completely unneccesary because it had been a few weeks since there had been any snow, and everything was completely consolidated. By 3:00, we had driven up to the trailhead, packed up, and started walking. The two hour hike to Horse Camp took us about 1.5 hours. We followed the "winter trail". John hiked in that night to meet us. We made a camp marker and texted him a picture (we had intermittent cell service) so that he could find where we were. The spring had been dug out from under a few feet of snow, so we were able to get fresh water without having to melt snow! So nice. 

Walking up the lower part of the mountain early in the morning.

Almost to the top of the Red Banks

The next morning we were up and hiking by 1:15 a.m. There were quite a few climbers out at that point, so the routefinding was trivial: just follow the lights up the hill. We stopped at Helen Lake to put on crampons then continued up into the gulch. After much suffering and feeling like the red rocks were never getting closer, we reached the top of Red Banks at 6:00. I never felt nervous about the steepness of the slope 35+ degrees feels pretty comfortable, a lot like walking up a black diamond ski run. We left the top of Red Banks at 6:45 and headed for the summit. As we had been sitting, I watched clouds collect onto the route ahead. We hiked up into them and noticed that many parties stopped to see what would happen, and one or two even turned back. We just continued on at a steady pace and within 30 minutes it was perfectly clear again. All in all, we had amazing weather. There was almost no wind and the temperatures were pleasant. Apparently there had been 100+ mile winds the previous weekend and no one summited. We were lucky. We got to the top of Misery Hill around 7:45 then stopped for another break. Brielle wasn't feeling great, so she and Juli sat and waited while John and I hustled to the summit; about 20 mins. from the top of Misery Hill. After that, John and Juli summited while I sat with Brielle. 

Taking a break at the top of the Red Banks

Climbing up above Thumb Rock

The weather rolled in

Climbing up Misery Hill

Up Misery Hill

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Summit in view

John and me at the top

Looking north from the summit

Back at Thumb Rock

We enjoyed a leisurely walk / glissade back to camp in the perfect weather. Juli and Brielle turned out to be natural glissading pros. When we got back to Horse Camp at noon, John took a nap while we packed up camp, then we walked the 2 miles back to the car the same way we came. 

We spent that evening in the town of Mt. Shasta at Juli's Aunt and Uncle's house. They were kind enough to make us dinner and put us up in their guest house.