Mt Shasta Climb
06/03/07 04:32 PM *Adventure
About
time: After living here for a quarter century I
finally climbed Mt. Shasta yesterday. Bob, who's been
up it several times, took Stu and I on the 7000+ foot
vertical climb to the summit at 14,262. We got up at
2AM after being awakened by other groups beginning as
early as midnight. You need to start early as it
takes most people 8-12 hours to summit from Horse
Camp (where we camped) and it's best to start heading
down by noon as the snow starts to get real slushy
and the chance of thunderstorms increases in the
afternoon.
Our route, via Avalanche Gulch, is visible in both these pics. The arrowhead-like rocky section in the middle is called "the Heart". We went up the snowchute to the right of the heart, through a gap in Red Banks (above the heart) and then left up Misery Hill to the summit.
Due to a dry winter there wasn't much snow this year. The plastic boots I rented weighed about 400 pounds each (conservatively) and were as uncomfortable as they look. We left camp at 2:45 and summitted just after 10:00. The altitude was hard on me and I was really struggling to breathe. I got a nasty altitude headache that didn't quit until we got back to Redding. Bob hardly seemed to break a sweat. We met another ultrarunner at the top, Kevin Sawchuk- he and his group had come up from Bunny Flats, where we were parked, in 5:05. But then Kevin IS fast, and he wasn't wearing big plastic and lead boots.
The route is very steep and crampons are essential and there are some great, long glissades coming back down. Above Red Banks, many hikers leave their packs behind for the final ascent. I kept my pack on and Stu asked if I had brought my waist pack. At least, that's what I thought he said. He was really asking if I had brought one of the "waste packs" issued to us by the USFS when we got our summit permits (for making doo-doo on the mountain). He was having some stomach issues. Thinking he wanted to borrow a small WAIST pack for the summit ascent, I said, "no," then Bob said "yes, you do," and pulled the WASTE pack out of my mesh pocket. I hate to think of what would have happened to my WAIST pack if I had brought it and offered it to Stu!
The rest of the story is best told in pictures, the reason these pics are so good is because I didn't take them (thanks, Bob!).
Our route, via Avalanche Gulch, is visible in both these pics. The arrowhead-like rocky section in the middle is called "the Heart". We went up the snowchute to the right of the heart, through a gap in Red Banks (above the heart) and then left up Misery Hill to the summit.
Due to a dry winter there wasn't much snow this year. The plastic boots I rented weighed about 400 pounds each (conservatively) and were as uncomfortable as they look. We left camp at 2:45 and summitted just after 10:00. The altitude was hard on me and I was really struggling to breathe. I got a nasty altitude headache that didn't quit until we got back to Redding. Bob hardly seemed to break a sweat. We met another ultrarunner at the top, Kevin Sawchuk- he and his group had come up from Bunny Flats, where we were parked, in 5:05. But then Kevin IS fast, and he wasn't wearing big plastic and lead boots.
The route is very steep and crampons are essential and there are some great, long glissades coming back down. Above Red Banks, many hikers leave their packs behind for the final ascent. I kept my pack on and Stu asked if I had brought my waist pack. At least, that's what I thought he said. He was really asking if I had brought one of the "waste packs" issued to us by the USFS when we got our summit permits (for making doo-doo on the mountain). He was having some stomach issues. Thinking he wanted to borrow a small WAIST pack for the summit ascent, I said, "no," then Bob said "yes, you do," and pulled the WASTE pack out of my mesh pocket. I hate to think of what would have happened to my WAIST pack if I had brought it and offered it to Stu!
The rest of the story is best told in pictures, the reason these pics are so good is because I didn't take them (thanks, Bob!).
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