Click on the Summer Ice Mount Lassen image to enlarge

Summer Ice Mount Lassen

Summer Ice Mount Lassen is a photograph of a common site at Lassen Volcanic National Park. The area around Summer Ice Mount Lassen receives some the highest amounts of snow in California.  It is not unusual for a view like Summer Ice Mount Lassen to occur after one of the heavy snowpack years.

The most dominant feature of Lassen Volcanic National Park is Mount Lassen.  Mount Lassen is the largest plug dome volcano in the world. Mount Lassen is also the southernmost volcano in the Cascades Mountain Range.

Summer Ice Mount Lassen shows the volcano as it rises above another unique geological feature named Lake Helen. Lake Helen is a glacial lake at around 8,200 feet to the south of Lassen Peak.

Summer Ice Mount Lassen displays Lake Helen covered with ice from the heavy snow that occurs in this area most winters. Ice begins to form on the lake around October/November in the fall and can remain into July/August of summer.

Lake Helen averages 600 to 700 inches of snow every winter and it is considered the snowiest place in California. When California Highway 89 can be plowed, a view like this of Summer Ice Mount Lassen can be enjoyed.

Lake Helen is named after the first woman who ever climbed Mount Lassen, Helen Tanner Brodt. Her ascent of Lassen Peak occurred in 1864.

Summer Ice Mount Lassen was taken in early summer just after California Highway 89 was plowed and opened for the summer season. Lake Helen was still filled with ice and snow, but as the ice water formed a beautiful blue color in the waters.

My newly acquired Nikon D100 digital camera was setup on the tripod with a 35 mm Nikkor lens. The polarizing filter made the high mountain light colorful. Summer Ice Mountain Lassen was the image that was captured on this summer morning.