Drove to Brewer trail head on Friday June 22, hiked two miles to snow line and set up camp. A pre-dawn start with skis on our backs and crampons on our ski boots we headed up the Hotlum/Wintun route. The wind kicked up making it challenging to stay on our feet with the ski sails on our backs, but the snow was firm and the sky was clear. Several other groups were heading for the summit, all with skis or boards and hiking on crampons. All but one couple that is, who attempted to skin up. The girl was having trouble and kept slipping backwards, obviously not having fun. After a couple large traverses, they took off their skis and continued up on foot.
We took a break around 12k where we decided to start our ski descent. The surface had an inch or two of soft snow, but was far from sooth, but skiing down was way better than hiking down. We packed up camp, hike out and were eating burgers in Mt. Shasta by 5:00pm. A good workout on a beautiful day.