Not victory - but success

Encouraged by gradually clearing weather, I decided to give Shasta another go this last weekend.

I slept in a bit, spent a leisurely day of swimming and relaxing, and left Ashland to drive south by seven p.m.

By nine p.m. I was at Bunny Flat trailhead and hiking towards Horse Camp. The weather really shaped up nicely - not cold at all, no wild thunderstorms, and beautifully clear stars as far as the eye could see.






I reached Horse Camp a little bit later, and mingled with the random groups of hikers and climbers for a bit, then took off across trail. I climbed up the side of Green Buttes all the way to the base of Sargent's Ridge proper - hoping to continue to the top in one push. This didn't work. By about one a.m. I was pretty tired. I could see the faint lights of a couple tents at Helen Lake far below, and I eventually decided to make a quick bivy for a nap, some tea, and some warm soup. I traversed for a while, and eventually found a suitable spot - the wind was the killer. I ended up actually downclimbing a small rocky section to Helen Lake to find a more mellow spot.

This 'quick bivy' was one of the worst ones I've had in a while. On the Mugs Stump Bivy scale the location would probably have been very favorable, but I wasn't so stoked on needing to stop. In an effort to go light & fast, I removed several crucial bulky items from my pack - mostly bivy gear, since I hadn't actually planned on stopping. I did have my Ridgerest with me, however, so I wasn't going to freeze outright. I made tea, some soup, and then snuggled up with my thin foam pad - somewhere around one thirty. I'd removed my boots and stuffed them in my pack, and in order to dry my socks out a bit I ended up wrapping my legs and feet in my down jacket and emergency tarp. I pulled on my nano puff and my shell, as well as a thin fleece hat, and just huddled.

You could call it sleep, but that would be fairly inaccurate.

Around two-thirty I'd had enough. At least, I felt a bit more rested, and I was ready to start moving. One other climber was just waking up, and he got the drop on me by about twenty minutes. I followed his headlamp as he climbed. Soon after he was off, I was packed, and climbing diagonally back up towards the ridge on climber's right of Avalanche Gulch. Route finding wasn't difficult, but there were some exposed rock bands that definitely gave me pause up higher - bits of loose rock, and in some cases, a serious lack of snowpack. I climbed carefully. One of my favorite sections of climbing on Shasta is super accessible for everyone! Directly up from Helen Lake to Sargent's - awesome steep climbing, and really fun when the conditions are hard. It is really cool to see climbers headlamped up, moving slowly below you. Eventually I traversed to the upper part of Avalanche Gulch, right around Thumb Rock. Within the hour, more and more headlamps began appearing. Around 12,500 feet, pale blue light was just starting to creep onto the horizon. It was about 4:45 a.m. I counted more than twenty-five headlamps mingling about in the flats of Helen Lake's basecamp, far below. This number would increase, and the steady stream of lights eventually formed a small chain.

I suppose you could claim that you climb Shasta solo, but in reality, unless you're doing a seldom traveled route - Casaval, or more obscure routes on the north side, you're gonna be with people in the later season. In winter you get a bit more solitude. I climbed throughout the night east of Horse Camp, but never had the sensation of being truly alone - whether from the sight of lighted tents, or climbers below me in the gulch, Mt. Shasta has a community sort of feeling to it. Nice people you meet up in the hills sometimes!

By the time I was above Thumb Rock, at about 13,400 feet, the sun was coming up. The orange glow you get up there is so beautiful - so silent, illuminating everything in a glorious panorama. I was about 800 feet shy of the summit when the sun finally crested the side of the ridge - flooding the snowy slopes with glowing light. I stopped for a bit to admire the sight, catch my breath, and have a quick snack (A Clif Bar and Shot Bloks - with a lot of water, they really work well).

I was tired at this point. It's a lot of work to climb all through the night with virtually no sleep. My headache had arrived, and I was even feeling a bit loopy - mix of mild nausea and light of head. But it soon dissipated. Nothing that H20 can't cure!

By 6:40 a.m. I was on the summit plateau, crunching my way over the icy, glowing snow towards the summit pinnacle. I passed two climbers descending as I reached the summit. It was such a gorgeous, clear day! Visibility was awesome, and the sun felt great after an icy, chilly night of climbing. I was on the top for about ten minutes - enough time to shoot a little video panorama and make a phone call, then it was time to head back down.






Unfortunately I was a little bit early on the summit. To my dismay, the snow was still super icy almost the whole way down. This basically meant that glissading was out of the question - it was a long, long downclimb on some icy slopes. I was very happy to eventually reach Helen Lake, from where I could glissade a significant amount towards Horse Camp.

I cut across the valley from Horse Camp, meandering through snowfields and huge bare spots, and eventually ended up at Bunny Flat - right around noon.

All in all, I felt super solid about the climb. I wasn't as fast as I could have been, i'm sure, but I climbed at a fairly consistent pace all night, managed to go really light (pack weighed in just under 28 lbs!), and descended early.

Mt. Shasta cooperated beautifully, and I was very thankful for the weather window and the safe climb.

Conditions right now on Shasta are suprisingly good! There's a good amount of snow coverage all over, and though rock fall and wet avalanches still pose significant danger in the warmer parts of the day, there are plenty of ways to mitigate these risks!


I really do recommend climbing early and descending early. I met groups and groups of climbers on my descent - I was third on the summit at seven, and passed maybe forty people on the way down. The bulk of them weren't going to see the summit before noon. Not that this is especially dangerous, but the potential for rockfall is much greater in the hotter parts of the afternoon. Regardless of not being able to glissade because of the icy slopes, I was very thankful to be out of that bowling alley of a gulch before the heat picked up. So, climb early, descend early - bring plenty of drinking water with you outright - most of all, know when to turn around. The descent takes just as much effort and concentration as does the climb to the top.



Both the upper sections of Casaval and Sargent's ridge are in good condition right now - there is some moderately technical routefinding through rock bands and some exposed sections, but the majority of it is very reasonable for confident and experienced climbers. Below 9,000 feet expect plenty of scree and rock sections - to be quite honest, you don't really need crampons on these sections until higher up. But wear your helmet - you have no idea how many ascending climbers I passed on the way down from the summit with their helmets casually strapped on their packs - you know, between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

If you bring a helmet, and leave it on your pack. . .

Then you might as well not bring a helmet at all.

And that seems a bit weird, right? Considering Mt. Shasta is renowned for accidents involving falling rock and ice. In fact, when looking up from Lake Helen, you can clearly see track upon track from where large rocks have detached and galumphed merrily along for thousands of vertical feet.

Thus, we can conclude that one should a) bring a climbing helmet, and b) wear said climbing helmet. Love your life, right?

Avalanche gulch is always non-technical, though just as strenuous and demanding as always. In retrospect - climbing Shasta in one day makes for a very, very long day. But it is always worth it, of course. I was exhausted, and swearing somewhere inside that it was the last time I ever did it in one day again without skis, but I was stoked to be up there with such perfect weather and easy climbing conditions. I love alpine climbing in its simplest form - each and every small step it takes to get to the top makes you stronger. It doesn't have to be fun to be fun, right?

I'll probably be headed up tomorrow or next weekend to tackle a different route before the coverage is lost, but until then enjoy the small video mashups Travis created from my footage. In three parts. Doesn't quite do the scale or beauty of that mountain justice, but it may provide some perspective and entertainment. I tend to ramble..

I urge everyone interested to get out on Shasta before the better part of the season comes to an end (two-three weeks max!) - even if just for a climb to Helen Lake, or a hike to Horse Camp. Plenty of wonderful climbers and hikers alike mingling around both locations, and even the view from the valley is worth the drive to Mt. Shasta City.

If you have questions regarding Shasta in whatever capacity, stop in to the shop and pick our brains!

Cheers y'all...