Riding a Volcano- End of the Season Trip Report

[jjue]

My buddies, Bill and Michael , and I decided to end our season on a high note yesterday with a trip the Lassen Volcanic National Park to climb and ride the dormant volcano . Road crews are still battling twenty foot high snow drifts and the park road is not fully open, but IS open to a parking lot at Bumpass Hell which puts us a 1 mile hike away from the summit trail head over dry pavement .

Here is the Lassen road near our parking lot.


My buddies decide to hike in their ski boots... I have a better idea ( or is it ?) and put on my tennis shoes and arrange all my equipment on my pack !


Ok , let me have Bill tell the story from this point .. thanks Bill for shooting the great video . I am glad I did get some video of you skiing the volcano and included that in the final edit of the film . In the video you will see me riding with a shortened ice ax pole in one hand which is de rigeur skiboarding gear on big mountain descents in summer where a fall can cause you to slide out of control .

This has been a most fabulous season out here in the west ,one that will live in our memories for years to come !

Lassen 2010 from jack jue on Vimeo.

href="http://vimeo.com/12886208">Lassen 2010 from jack jue on Vimeo.

[jjue]

A Few more pics

Summit of Lassen with touring binding equpped Condors that got me up there !
Sorry DCox .. I didn't realize that I had put my bindings on backwards on one of my Condors so the graphics don't match !


View of the West face of Lassen , we rode down the south face and then onto the bottom of the west face



View back down toward some of the surrounding mountains from part way up Lassen . Still an amazing amount of snow .

[SBruce]

Amazing that you guys still have that much snow out there. I havent seen snow on the ground since mid-march!

Thanks for sharing!

I'm just going on summer vacation this week and now, because of you I want to ski again...lol

Cheers!

[valmorel]

Awesome! Dont Think Twice.............

[jjue]

Awesome! Dont Think Twice.............

Yes , climbing and backcountry skiing and riding has been called a selfish and useless passion especially with all the more pressing things in the world that need to be fixed , and the people that need to be helped.. but it is VERY hard to pass up another day in paradise , with a couple of friends.......

here are some more pics from Michael .....

summit parking lot , still in the process of being plowed out



I think they need to get the restrooms dug out before they can open !


morning light on the suncupped snow down lower on the mountain



Billy beginning the climb


Billy going straight up the steep section ! Michael and I took a more zig zag route. ..

[DennisEvans]

Your adventures this season have made me realize that I need to consider moving there in a couple of years.

[sempai]

Perfect song choice for that video, Jack. It looks like paradise out there.