(click any photo to enlarge) The weather gods shone down on Funk and I yesterday. A 9 hour round trip adventure resulted in us summiting Mount Shasta or the "White Mountain" in English, a 14,179-foot stratovolcano. Shasta is the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range and the fifth highest peak in California. We drove to Mt Shasta City late Tuesday afternoon. It takes roughly 3 1/2 hours to drive the 215 miles. Both of us were focused and confident we would get to the top this trip. The weather was perfect, bright blue skies and mild temperatures. We set our alarms for 2:00am and tried to fall asleep while the sun was still shining at about 8:30pm. I had anxiety laced dreams of not waking up on time and missing the climb so the alarm went off as soon as I really got to sleep. And with a jolt, we're both up and on auto pilot. We sort our gear (3 1/2 liters of fluid each and more science food than anyone should eat) and load it in the car. Within a couple of minutes, Funk had water boiling on his Jet boil for coffee.We're in the car and driving at 2:20am. Bunny Flat is a popular trailhead at the end of Everitt Memorial Highway. This is the trailhead for people going to the Sierra Club Hut at Horse camp. This is the spot where climbers doing any of the Southwest approaches depart. Three weeks ago, when we parked at the trailhead, there were only two cars in the parking lot. This time when we pulled up the lot was full! At 2:30 in the morning! That meant favorable weather and traffic jams at the summit. We shouldered our packs and departed at 3am. The first mile and a half is on dirt and rock. We had our headlamps on and the stars were shining bright.
As the sun started to rise on the opposite side of the mountain the above photo is of the shadow that Mt Shasta creates on the western horizon. Helen Lake came quickly (2.5hrs). This is the spot that everyone camps at to do the route in two days. Very few people do Shasta in day, alpine style, like Funk and I were doing. There must have been 15 tents there!
Here is the traffic jam heading up the Gulch. This is where we put or crampons on, ate a gel and started the hardest part of he climb from Helen Lake to Red Banks. This is Avalanche Gulch for which the route is named. This is also the route that John Muir took for his epic adventure on Shasta. http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/snow_storm_on_mount_shasta/ I felt very good and was through the chute at the top of Red Banks in no time. Above Red Banks the climb eases up between 12,500 and 13,000ft. Then comes Misery Hill.
This is the last tough section before the summit plateau. The wind started to pick up on the plateau. I could see the line of people circling around the summit pinnacle at the top and knew I was there. It was VERY windy on the summit. No one was signing the summit register because the box lies between the summit gendarme and the actual summit some 50 ft. apart. The wind was so bad that very few people were even going out to the actual summit! I took my pack off and crawled across to the actual summit. It had to be 70 -80 mph winds. I took a quick video and crawled back to my pack.As soon as I came back to the gendarme, Funk was getting ready for the crawl to the summit. I put an extra layer of clothing on and started to descend as I was very cold and shivering. Once we started down Misery Hill I was plenty warm and out of the howling wind. The sketchy-est part of the descent is the 50 degree chute DOWN through Red Banks. Downclimbing backwards with just the toe points of your crampons and your ice axe pic can be a little daunting. We made it through safely and started the long walk down. The descent is really what takes it out of your legs. The climb is only 6 miles but you gain 7200 vertical feet in that 6 miles. Coming down in punchy, mid-morning snow is tedious.
By he time you reach dirt your pretty wrecked. We made it back to the car at noon.
What a hike! Very happy to have this 14er knocked off the list. Next is Williamson and Tyndall in mid July. The drive home was uneventful. I got home and was exhausted. To say I slept heavy is an understatement. Until next month.........
