Lassen Volcanic National Park
Mineral / Manzanita Lake · near Mineral (south entrance) / Manzanita Lake (north entrance) · Shasta Cascade
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 2000
- Best season
- February–May · Park road (Hwy 89) closed through the park in winter — ski/snowshoe access only from the ends
Permits and booking
- Permit
- NPS fee: $35/vehicle (7-day pass) or America the Beautiful Pass. No additional backcountry skiing permit for day use. Overnight: wilderness permit required. Manzanita Lake Visitor Center for current conditions and access status.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins · Crampons (summit slopes can be icy) · Helmet · Navigation
- Gear worth bringing
- Ice axe · Airbag pack
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- SWS Mountain Guides · International Alpine Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Directions note
- Winter access from the Kohm Yah-mah-nee visitor center at the southwest entrance
- Ates
- challenging
- Tour types
- day-tour · ski-mountaineering
- Summit
- 10457
- Approach
- South entrance (Mineral): 6–8 miles RT to Lassen Peak summit · North entrance (Devastated Area): shorter tours on north aspects · Brokeoff Mountain: 7 miles RT from southwest entrance
- First timer with guide
- Yes
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Northwest California — monitor local avalanche bulletins; Shasta-Trinity area forecasts most relevant
- Signature lines
- Lassen Peak Summit (10,457 ft) · Brokeoff Mountain (9,235 ft) · South Entrance Mini-Golf Terrain
- Intl tip
- Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the least-visited national parks in the contiguous US — it receives roughly 500,000 visitors per year compared to Yosemite's 4 million — which means the backcountry skiing here genuinely feels remote. The volcanic thermal features (Bumpass Hell, Sulphur Works) are accessible in winter by snowshoe, making a non-skiing day in the park equally worthwhile.
The guide
Lassen Volcanic National Park is the most geologically unusual backcountry skiing venue in California — a young active volcano …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lassen Volcanic National Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 40.4882, -121.5056