Almost

(click on any photo to enlarge) My quest for the California 14er's is off to a poor start. Funk and I managed a midweek day off, piled all our gear in to the Rocket and headed for Mt Shasta. I figured to have Shasta knocked off by May but the weather has not cooperated with my plans. Christi and I went to Shasta in late May and it was snowing in town! No climbing for me on that trip. So the first Wed of June was my next appointment with the mountain. After stopping in to see my friend Leif at the Fifth Season for some last minute gear acquisitions, Funk and I found a cheap room for the night. The alarm went off at 3am for our alpine start. The stars were out and I thought we were in for a weather free climb. Needless to say we were excited. We headed out from Bunny Flat at about 4am with our headlamps on in the cool morning air. We made it to Helen Lake in about 2 1/2 hours, not fast but, both of us were taking it easy and feeling great. Just above Helen Lake the clouds started to roll in. Once we were at about 11,500ft we were enshrouded in the brewing storm. Since we were both feeling good we decided to continue on. We reached the small ridge between the Thumb and Red Banks at a little above 12,000ft and the conditions really started to deteriorate. Our visibility was down to about 15ft. It was at this point that we both agreed it was best to descend.

We were very bummed as we both felt better that ever. As we descended it really started to snow. It was at that point I really realized we had made the right decision to turn around. As we descended the clouds subsided and the snow stopped. Looking up the summit was completely covered in storm clouds. We made it back to the car in good time and were on our way back to Reno by 1pm. It poured down rain the whole way home. I'll have one more shot at the end of June, so maybe the storm gods will look down on me favorably, and I might be able to get the Quest under way. Until Then......