Lassen Volcanic National Park ~ There is a lot of snow due to storm last a few weeks

Caution! There is a lot of snow due to storm last a few weeks!

https://www.nps.gov/customcf/webcam/dsp_webcam_image.cfm?id=81B46270-1DD8-B71B-0BE9D202820A8990

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.

There are some observation of avalanche in Lake Tahoe area as well.
https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/observations

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!

Lassen Volcanic National Park ~ Ridge Lake back country skii

Back country skiing  ~ Round trip to Ridge Lake

   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.

Hiking this summer ~ mountains around 10,000 ~ 14,000 feet elevation

Lassen Peak & Lake Helen

   This summer I went hiking to Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet / 4,421m), Lassen Peak (10,457 feet / 3,187m) and Mt. Dina (13,061 feet / 3,981m).  Unfortunately, I did not wear the heart rate monitor when I hiked to Mt. Dana.  Therefore I did not really detail comparison.  But based on the elevation gain, distance and duration, I compared the three cases.

   For fair comparison, I use a data between Trail Camp and Trail Crest.  Since this section is a similar elevation as Mt. Dana.

	Elevation Gain (Vertical speed)	Distance (Speed)	Ratio (Elevation/Distance)	Duration (H:MM)	Elevation
Mt. Whitney	6,100 feet 1,900m	11 miles 17.5km			14,505 feet 4,421m
(Trail Camp to Trail Crest)	1,700 feet 518m (4.8m/min)	2.2 miles 3.5km (32m/min)	0.15 (8.5 degrees)	1:49	13,700 feet 4,176m
Lassen Peak	2,000 feet 609m (6.8m/min)	2.5 miles 4.0km (45m/min)	0.15 (8.8 degrees)	1:29	10,457 feet 3,187m
Mt. Dana	3,108 feet 947m (6.4m/min)	2.9 miles 4.7km (32m/min)	0.20 (11.6 degrees)	2:28	13,061 feet 3,981m

   They are different elevation, Trail Crest on Mt. Whitney Trail is the highest, Mt. Dana is the second and Lassen Peak is the last.  The average slop for Mt. Whitney (Trail Crest) and Lassen Peak is a similar and Mt. Dana is the steepest.  All cases has a similar weight on the backpack for a day trip.  Obviously, data for Lassen Peak is the fastest.  I did not really see much impact for the altitude.

   Mt. Whitney (Trail Crest) and Mt. Dana is a similar elevation, although Trail Crest is a bit higher than Mt. Dana.  Overall speed is almost the same.  But Mt. Dana is steeper, if we look at the vertical speed, the vertical speed for Mt. Dana is much faster than the vertical speed for Mt. Whitney (Trail Crest).  This indicates, the steepness is the reason the walking pace is slower.   Since the vertical speed for Mt. Dana is close to the vertical speed for Lassen Peak, I think there might not be much impact for the altitude in Mt. Dana case.   It could be possible I was acclimated after Mt. Whitney Hiking.   However, it was 2 weeks after Mt. Whitney hiking and I only stay there for 2 days.  It might be hard to believe I did.   So my opinion, since Mt. Dana hiking is short and I was able to push myself and I could make faster pace without much problems.  Although I did not have heart rate monitor, I believe I managed my heart rate / walking pace very well except really last portion of the summit.  I did not feel any obvious symptom of high altitude sickness when I hiked to Mt. Dana.

   It might be hard to tell if hiking to Mt. Dana helps the acclimation to the altitude or not just from this data.   For this conclusion, I need to collect more data to see if there is any data point to indicate the acclimation.

Mt. Whitney Hiking Guide “Hiking the highest mountain in California”

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(Or you may go to your local Amazon site and search “ASIN: B01IFSFBV6”)

Lassen Peak Hiking data analysis

Brokeoff Mountain

   As I post a few days ago, I went hiking to Lassen Peak.  Lassen Peak is 10,457 feet (3,187m) elevation.  I took about 1 hour 50 minutes for the round trip from the trail head.  The elevation gain from the trail head is about 624m.  I also did the data analysis for this hiking as well.  Since the highest elevation is less than 3,200m, therefore I did not get any problem with the elevation this time.   The walking pace is about 20minutes / km and I do not see walking pace is slowing down.

 Walking Speed

 Average Heart Rate

   Even if I did not get any symptom of high altitude sickness, I also managed the walking pace based on the heart rate.   I set the maximum heart rate to 155bpm for this hiking.  Since this hiking is relatively much shorter than Mt. Whitney, the heart rate during ascending is almost constant and the walking pace is also constant as well.  With this given pace, the hiking itself is fairly easy for me.   I might be able to walk faster for such short hiking.   However what I might get is probably 10 to 15 minutes faster or so.   Then I did not feel it might not get any benefit for me.  Hiking is not a race, therefore, the pace I did is just right I think.

   It is not clear if I have acclimatization or not since just a week before this hiking I went to Mt. Whitney for 2 days.  I did not have any other data to make this judgment.   However, even if I did not go there, I do believe I do not have much problem with this elevation.   Since this trail is just very short and it can be done with having a lot of problem.   Descending might take less than 2 hours as well.  Just a few hours hiking, I might be able to push myself without much problem.   However, I feel like the pacing method with the heart rate would help for easy hiking.