Darl58
Active member
A good friend lives in Redding, CA and has wanted to climb Mt Shasta but didn't have the mountaineering skills to attempt it, so he invited me out to guide him. (1st class ticket was included in the invite)
I read up a lot on the climb and decided that Avalanche Gulch was very doable with him. It's a lot of steep climbing but nothing too technical.
We drove up on Sat late morning so we could hike part way up and I could check it out and also acclimate some. We stopped at the Mt Shasta Ranger station for our permits and wag bags,...(target included) and they showed us a powerpoint show and told us of the current conditions and easiest route up.
We hiked up only a little past Horse Camp which is at about 7950 ft.
I had him practice climbing in crampons, self arrest and he was doing great and enjoyed it. We hung out for a few hours letting our bodies acclimate at the higher altitude then headed back to Redding for a few hours sleep for our attempt the next day.
Dinner and backpacks ready to go, off to bed at 7:30...up at 12:30am and a 1.5 hr drive to Shasta. Gave me coffee time and my body time to wake up.
We arrived and was ready to start at 2:30AM from Bunny Flats. We hiked in only by moonlight, it was a full moon!
Arrived at Horse Camp and filled our water up, bathroom stop and off we went. Soon after Horse Camp we were able to boot/crampon up and hike up the snow fields instead of the scree...we had worn trail runners up to then.
The climb was steady and got steeper as we got to Helen Lake 10,400 ft. We took our time letting our bodies adjust and kept hydrating.
As soon as we arrived at Helen Lake area we could see lots of rockfall, time for helmets and ice axe out!
We continued up Red Banks, steeper and keeping an eye up for any falling rocks. I kept my eye on Mike's progress and he was doing fine and feeling good.
As we got above "The Heart", I noticed some clouds moving our way...not a good sign! We kept moving up and arrived at the Chute to climb up to Misery Hill. At this point the clouds were right above us and it started to thunder. It wasn't quite 10:00am.
I had to make a decision...and it wasn't too hard! The storm looked nasty and the weather prediction was for it to come in later, but here it was..damn!
The summit is not worth it if you don't make it down to tell about it...so crampons off and windpants on for the glissade of thousands of feet!
A ranger came up just before we started down and reported that severe lightning was on it's way...just reinforced my decision. All of a sudden lots of hikers were coming down making the same choice as we had. My friend Mike had an amazing adventure and learned a lot and can't wait to try his skills out some more!
It is a beautifull Mountain and I look forward to climbing it again maybe next year! It was a great training climb before I leave for Nepal in Oct. It's always a good day when you're on a Mountain and we managed to get to just about 13,000 ft, just had a little left to go. Misery Hill and then the ridge. It will be waiting for me til next time!
Rest of pics: Still need to tag and thin them down....
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/MtShastaClimb02?feat=directlink
I read up a lot on the climb and decided that Avalanche Gulch was very doable with him. It's a lot of steep climbing but nothing too technical.
We drove up on Sat late morning so we could hike part way up and I could check it out and also acclimate some. We stopped at the Mt Shasta Ranger station for our permits and wag bags,...(target included) and they showed us a powerpoint show and told us of the current conditions and easiest route up.
We hiked up only a little past Horse Camp which is at about 7950 ft.
I had him practice climbing in crampons, self arrest and he was doing great and enjoyed it. We hung out for a few hours letting our bodies acclimate at the higher altitude then headed back to Redding for a few hours sleep for our attempt the next day.
Dinner and backpacks ready to go, off to bed at 7:30...up at 12:30am and a 1.5 hr drive to Shasta. Gave me coffee time and my body time to wake up.
We arrived and was ready to start at 2:30AM from Bunny Flats. We hiked in only by moonlight, it was a full moon!
Arrived at Horse Camp and filled our water up, bathroom stop and off we went. Soon after Horse Camp we were able to boot/crampon up and hike up the snow fields instead of the scree...we had worn trail runners up to then.
The climb was steady and got steeper as we got to Helen Lake 10,400 ft. We took our time letting our bodies adjust and kept hydrating.
As soon as we arrived at Helen Lake area we could see lots of rockfall, time for helmets and ice axe out!
We continued up Red Banks, steeper and keeping an eye up for any falling rocks. I kept my eye on Mike's progress and he was doing fine and feeling good.
As we got above "The Heart", I noticed some clouds moving our way...not a good sign! We kept moving up and arrived at the Chute to climb up to Misery Hill. At this point the clouds were right above us and it started to thunder.
It wasn't quite 10:00am.
I had to make a decision...and it wasn't too hard! The storm looked nasty and the weather prediction was for it to come in later, but here it was..damn!
The summit is not worth it if you don't make it down to tell about it...so crampons off and windpants on for the glissade of thousands of feet!
A ranger came up just before we started down and reported that severe lightning was on it's way...just reinforced my decision. All of a sudden lots of hikers were coming down making the same choice as we had. My friend Mike had an amazing adventure and learned a lot and can't wait to try his skills out some more!
It is a beautifull Mountain and I look forward to climbing it again maybe next year! It was a great training climb before I leave for Nepal in Oct. It's always a good day when you're on a Mountain and we managed to get to just about 13,000 ft, just had a little left to go. Misery Hill and then the ridge. It will be waiting for me til next time!
Rest of pics: Still need to tag and thin them down....
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/MtShastaClimb02?feat=directlink
