This is a link to a webcam it shows a real time view behind the visitor center on the south side.
I usually check it when I plan to go back country skiing over there. There is a lot of snow accumulated in last a few weeks.
It is probably better to be very careful to go back country skiing next a few weeks. I should be better to check all warning information in the area. The forecast is all snow next several days.
I think the amount of snow would be the most within a several years!
The other thing I am interested in using amateur radio is APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), especially GPS information. There are many similar system using the mobile network. However, there is still a lot of area in mountain where any network is not covered. Using amateur radio to sending out the location information and tracked by somebody else. I think it helps rescue in case something happens during hiking and back country skiing.
Since I sometimes went hiking / skiing alone and avalanche beacon might not be very useful if anybody does not see the accident. However, this APRS GPS information might help to find out a rough location where the accident is. It might be too late to rescue a person......
Based on my research recently, there are a couple amateur radio hand held transceivers which can support APRS with GPS information. The price is a bit expensive with the feature, but I am really interested in the feature. So I am considering to get one some time and tried how it covers in areas I often go. There is some digital transceivers made in China have GPS feature, but it is not very clear if they ca support APRS. Some articles on the internet says it works, but it is not very clear it is really works. The price for those Chinese transceivers are not very low cost like BAOFENG analog transceivers I got. So I might need to do my research more. Please advice if anybody has a better experience to use the location service with APRS.
It has been constantly snowing this winter in California. It was dry winter last a couple years and there was not much snow. This year, there was a lot of snow in Lassen Volcanic National park as well. I went back country skiing last weekend.
For back country skiing, Lake Tahoe area is also a good area. However, it usually very busy area due to many ski resorts. There are so many cars on the major roads and I prefer Lassen Volcanic NP area. It is quiet area and there is no traffic jam even in weekends. The last a couple weeks, it was snowing over there and it was not a good time for back country skiing. Finally, the weather forecast would be good last weekend and decided to be there on Saturday, January 28th.
The original plan was climbing up to Mt. Diller. However, it was really warm day and it is good just T-shirt during ascending. The snow is really wet and sticky. Thus, there was a lot of snow on the climbing skin and I took more time than I originally thought. I decided to turn back at Ridge Lake instead.
The snow was wet, however I enjoyed ski down from there. Even without climbing skin, a lot of snow still stick to the skies when I stopped and I had to take it off before next move.
There were many families to play with snow near the parking lots at the south entrance. However once people away from the area, it was really quiet and nice.
I will probably be there for skiing a few times this season.
I went backcountry skiing last weekend, April 3, 2016. Here is the report:
Brokeoff Mountain (2814m / 9239ft)
Elevation Gain / Loss: 823m (2700 feet)
Ascend Time: 2:30
Descend Time: 1:00
Round trip: 9.2km (5.7 mile)
Total: 3:50
About Brokeoff Mountain
Brokeoff Mountain is the second highest mountain in the
park, next to the Lassen Peak.While the
approach to Lassen Peak is long in the winter closure, Brokeoff Mountain is
really short approach from the south entrance of the park.It allows us to make a day trip, actually a
half day trip to Brokeoff Mountain in a reasonable condition.
Starting location
Typically, people who are heading to Brokeoff Mountain start
right before the source entrance.There
is a small parking space before reaching the park entrance on CA-89.However, I tried to approach from the parking
lots after the entrance in front of the visitor center this time.So that the starting location is the visitor
center.
In the beginning, toward north from the visitor center for a
few minutes.There is a wide open slop
on the northwest side (on the left side of CA-89 with facing to north).From the south end of the slop, I got into
the forest toward Brokeoff Mountain (toward to west).Small creeks were covered by plenty of snow
and the route was across small creeks without hassle.After thirty minutes to one hour, the summer
trail is merged and gets into a really nice slope on the east side of Brokoff
Mountain.There is very few trees and
wide open slope.
East face of Brokeoff Mountain
The route is diagonally up toward left side (south side of
the summit).Based on the map, the
summer trail is on the lower part between trees.In a good condition of the snow, we can climb
above the tree line to short cut.When
we traverse the base of the east face of Brokeoff Mountain, we need to be
careful to watch the east face side, avalanche, falling rocks and so on.
The last section of ascending toward the summit
Once we reach to the ridge toward to the summit, there is
another wide open slope on the southwest side of the mountain.The slope is getting a little steeper, but it
is probably nice slop for skiing down.On the ridge, it may be getting windy and people need to wear a
jacket.This time, the southwest slop
got wind slab and the right below the summit was getting heard and icy.I left my backpack and skis right below the
summit and wore crampons to climb the final steps to the summit just in
case.
Right below the summit
East side is very steep and west / south west side is a nice slope for skiing
A nice view from the summit
(Lassen peak is on the center and Mt. Diller on the left)
After taking photos and videos, I descended where I climbed
up.Although the snow condition around
the summit was icy, once descended a little bit, the snow is getting corn snow
and it was easy to ski overall.I did
ski down following the ridge toward south.The view is spectacular, the sky is really blue, mountains and hills
which all covered by snow.I wore an
action cam recorder and I can share the view as a Youtube Video.
Youtube Video
It is a nice slop along the ridge, but to back to the
visitor center we need to turn left (or toward to east) somewhere.This time I turned left where the summer
trail turns left based on my GPS map.Probably we can turn left a bit higher location to get into the nice
slop on the east side of the Brokeoff Mountain.
Lassen peak on the south ridge
There is not many trees on the slop along the creek near the
summer trail.However, to back to the
visitor center where I parked, I had to get into the forest and traverse.Probably it might be good to start at the
summer trail head next time, then we can follow the creek and enjoy skiing.This time, there was enough snow and I still
could ski between trees during the traverse.Then the last slop toward CA-89 was not too bad.But due to high temperature at the day, the
snow was getting wet and heavy.
This was my first backcountry skiing to Brokeoff
Mountain.It is nice route for
backcountry skiing in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
