The whole trees that were the roof rafters in the 1970s and before were replaced at some point. (not sure exactly when (as they aged) so that metal rafters were brought in likely by helicopters to replace them so they could carry the snow loads of 20 to 50 feet (if that happens still there) during global climate changes.
The first time I made it up there hiking up from Bunny Flat to Horse camp was likely 1953 when I was 5 years old with my father and mother. I likely was carried part of the way by my father at that time.
I think they called it Horse Camp because originally for mountain climbers people rode horseback up this far and left their horses here to finish the climb upwards because a good part of most years it is snow above Horse camp or even Horse camp can have snow there I have seen in June, or July or August of some years and some years the snow never melts off (even though that isn't common anymore).
Even at Bunny Flat below I have personally skied on 40 feet of snow there at one point. I'm thinking this might have been the year that 12 feet of snow fell in Mt. Shasta and roofs were collapsing then in town that this happened which would have been the winter of 1992.
The snow was so deep that you Only could see the tops of the tallest trees. My friend Anton and I skied from Bunny Flat that year down to 7 mile curve on the mile marker of Everitt Memorial Highway located in Northern California, USA.
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That particular day of skiing was exciting and enjoyable except if I had been skiing alone it is doubtful
that I would have survived it. We were skiing over the tops of the tallest trees and I wasn't thinking too
much about the 3 foot meltout that trees make around them when they are adults on Mt. Shasta because
most of these were covered up by snow drifts. So, when my friend who isn't as tall as I am skied close
over a tree top he went over fine but I'm taller and weigh more than he so when I followed his tracks
this time the snow broke through and I'm not standing down about 6 or 7 feet below the snow level
looking up and standing on a limb of a very tall tree. And looking down I could not see the bottom because
it was at least 30 to 37 feet down from where I was standing on this limb with my skis on.
I called out to my friend for help and luckily he heard me. I took off my skis one by one carefully so I didn't
fall down the tree well through the many branches of the likely pine or fir tree I had fallen down to the first
limbs on. So, I handed him my skis one by one and then my ski poles and finally he extended down a hand t
help me up out of there. Without his help I'm not sure I would have survived the day because snow boarders
often die of this problem when they hit the tops of trees and fall down into the tree well and can't get out in
deep snow around the world. So, I was very lucky indeed to not be skiing alone this particular day. It saved my
llife.
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