Trip Report

Four of us left Eugene early Monday morning and met former Obsidian Rich Peevers for breakfast in McCloud. We then drove to Brewer Creek trailhead and hiked 3.3 miles to our campsite at 9,800’. Our climb began the next morning at 2:20 AM. We started out with crampons as we ascended the snowfield above our camp. When we reached the lower end of the Hotlum-Wintun Ridge, we put crampons away and began scrambling over larger rocks with a few sections of scree. The weather was very nice. It had dropped down to the low 40s, but warmed up considerably. The sky was clear and there was no wind on the east side of the mountain. As we hit the higher elevations, some of us experienced nausea resulting from altitude exposure, but we pressed on and reached the summit at 10:30. A stiff, west wind was blowing in from the other side, so we huddled below the summit ridge, signed the summit register, and enjoyed the views for the next hour. We had the entire summit to ourselves and saw no other climbers, except for what looked to be a guided group of about 15 near the 13,000’ level on the south edge of the Wintun Glacier. Our descent took us down the steep slopes of the Wintun Glacier. At lower elevations, the snow was just soft enough to ball up on our crampons, giving us self-arrest practice whenever we slipped. We removed our crampons and traversed the rock ridge to complete our descent on the snow field above our camp. Total time for the descent was about three hours. After packing up tents and sleeping bags, we hiked out, bid Rich goodbye, and stopped in the city of Mt. Shasta for dinner before the long drive home. We reached Eugene at 12:45 AM. Thanks to Randy for sharing the driving.