Lake Helen and Lassen Peak

When: 2017-03-10 to 2017-03-12

This trip started off with an overnight stay in the parking lot on Friday night. The alternative was to have an early start on Saturday from the Bay Area, but the drive followed by the approach would have led Saturday to be more tiring than necessary. For Sunday, we had an alpine start for the summit bid of Lassen Peak. Following that, we would pack up and head back home.

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Approach

Along the early part of the trail, you go through what could be considered a large switchback or U-turn, up toward Diamond Peak. Here, we can see the earlier portion of the trail.

A large group, beginning their adventure.

Rather than following the road around the south and east faces of Diamond Peak, we gained a ridge along the west side as a shortcut.

Lunch on the ridge, before we descend back to the road.

Lunchtime view of Lassen Peak.

Emerson and William during our lunch break.

Francisco and lox.

After the descent from the ridge, we follow the road a bit more until we come across another possible shortcut. Rather than going through the switchbacks of the road, we were able to cut across another hill before joining the road once more.

William and Emerson on a direct route to the road.

Snow patterns.

Upon joining the road, once more, we continued up at a gentle slope. At the last stretch of this portion of the road, the trail suddenly shrunk to the width of two snowshoes. Here we went single file before topping out.

Francisco managing the traverse along the slope.

After the traverse, we were greeted with a large meadow; albeit, covered in snow. Walking further in, we decided to stop at the other side of Lake Helen due to my own exhaustion.

Francisco and Emerson crossing the frozen Lake Helen.

Finding a campsite on the other end of Lake Helen, Emerson and William both setup their respective tents while Francisco and I started to dig our own individual shelters. With a forecast of clear skies, there was no reason to employ the bivy or tarp. For the wind, we stacked blocks of snow on the sides. During this process Ricardo, one of our late party members, was able to join up with us.

Emerson at dinner.

As the evening became cooler and the sun was setting, we were starting to turn in for the night. Setting our alarms, specifically for 9 hours after 6 P.M. due to Daylight Savings, we all got ready to get some rest.

Francisco in awe, sporting four jackets.

Mountain Hardware Direkts.

Lake Helen in the evening.

Brokeoff Mountain the distance.

Summit Bid

After gaining the first hill near our camp, we headed to two small trees which signaled the start of the summit trailhead.

Francisco making his way toward the base Lassen Peak.

Upon reaching the summit trailhead, we were immediately tasked with ascending a moderately sized hill. While I initially attempted to go straight up, Francisco's idea to cut across the hill proved to be the more viable option.

Francisco alone with slope.

Emerson, William, and Ricardo along the meadow.

Francisco moving toward Lassen Peak.

Hiking up by moonlight.

Before the climbing became too serious, we swapped out the trekking poles for the ice axes and snowshoes for the crampons. After a quick lesson on the French Technique, we made our way up.

Lassen, moonlit.

Francisco on Lassen Peak.

Sunrise on Lassen Peak.

Halfway up, I ended up with a headache. Without being positive of whether the cause was due to my helmet or the altitude, I decided to head down. Francisco descended with me, giving up his opportunity at the summit, to help with the navigation down.

Looking back at the peak.

Looking down.

Thanks to Francisco for setting up this trip and the others from the meetup group who joined us. Hopefully the next trip to Lassen Peak will have better results.