Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta (Siskiyou County) · near Mount Shasta · Shasta Cascade
Backcountry Skiing · Stargazing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 7200
- Best season
- April–June (spring consolidation essential · Mid-winter conditions can be severe and unstable · The mountain produces its own weather — check forecasts obsessively)
- Best season
- Summer–fall for Milky Way & upper access; snowy much of the year
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Summit Zone Permit REQUIRED (above 10,000 ft): $25/person through Recreation.gov or at Mount Shasta Ranger District. Fire restrictions apply above 10,000 ft (no campfires). Bunny Flat trailhead (Everitt Memorial Highway) free parking. Mount Shasta Ranger District: 530-926-4511.
What is here
- Highlights
- milky-way · astrophoto
- Landscape
- volcanic
- Amenities
- Majestic 14,179-ft volcano foreground · Dark far-north skies · Bunny Flat & high-country viewpoints · Nearby campgrounds & town
- Best for
- Milky Way over a majestic volcano
- Features
- Towering volcano foreground · Dark far-north skies · High, clear mountain air · Accessible viewpoints
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Boot crampons (mandatory) · Ice axe (mandatory) · Ski crampons · Rope (10mm × 30m minimum) · Harness · Crevasse rescue gear · Satellite communicator (cell service ends at trailhead) · Helmet · High-SPF sun protection (altitude UV is extreme)
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Tent for Helen Lake camp · Stove and fuel (no water above treeline — snowmelt required)
- Hazards
- High altitude on the upper flanks — cold, thin air · Some light from the town of Mount Shasta & Weed · Mountain roads snowy much of the year · Fast-changing mountain weather
- Beginner friendly
- Yes
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- SWS Mountain Guides · International Alpine Guides · Shasta Mountain Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- 14,179 ft · California's Premier Ski Mountaineering Objective
- Directions note
- Park at Bunny Flat (6,950 ft) — plowed all winter
- Ates
- complex
- Tour types
- ski-mountaineering · multi-day
- Summit
- 14179
- Approach
- 10–14 miles round trip · ~7,200ft gain from Bunny Flat trailhead (6,950 ft) · Two-day recommended with camp at Helen Lake (~10,400 ft)
- First timer with guide
- No
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Shasta Avalanche Center · shasta.avalanchecenter.org
- Signature lines
- Avalanche Gulch (Standard Route) · Casaval Ridge · Hotlum-Wintun Route
- Intl tip
- Mount Shasta town, at the base of the volcano, is one of Northern California's more unusual communities — a blend of outdoor athletes, spiritual seekers (Shasta has a specific spiritual significance in several traditions), and longtime locals who've built a genuine mountain town culture. The Black Bear Diner, one of the original locations of a beloved NorCal chain, is the traditional pre-summit breakfast spot. The drive on I-5 with Shasta increasingly filling the windshield over the final 30 miles is one of California's most dramatic approaches.
Stargazing detail
- Designation
- informal
- Reach
- easy
- Darkness
- 4
- Sky notes
- California's great solitary volcano rising 14,179 ft over the far north — its flanks and the surrounding high country offer dark skies and one of the most majestic natural foregrounds in the state for the Milky Way
- Stats note
- ~Bortle 3; 14,179-ft volcano as a majestic foreground; high, clear air
- Campground
- Yes
- Intl tip
- California's great solitary volcano, rising an astonishing 14,179 ft over the far north — one of the state's most majestic Milky Way foregrounds. From viewpoints like Bunny Flat and the surrounding high country, the galaxy behind the snow-streaked cone is awe-inspiring, under ~Bortle 3 skies in clear, high mountain air. Some glow from the towns of Mount Shasta and Weed; mountain roads snowy much of the year (summer–fall best); high altitude (cold, thin air); fast-changing weather. Majestic scale and grandeur.
The guide
Mount Shasta is one of the great ski mountaineering objectives in North America — a 14,179-foot active stratovolcano in the sou…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mount Shasta — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.4092, -122.1949