Mount Shasta - California - July 2, 2002
A long time ago, soon after we first moved in together we went on a vacation together to the fabled land of California. We drove all night and most of the morning through the cloudy skies of the Pacific Northwest but upon reaching the border of this great state we were greeted with sunshine as clouds along with fruit are barred from entry. Then as we continued down I-5 a vision appeared before us, out of the flat barren landscape arose a towering white mountain of immense proportions.
We pulled over onto the roadside vista and reading the sign we discovered it was called Mt. Shasta, a name we had previously associated with some long forgotten cola. Since that time we have taken up hiking, then backpacking, then scrambling and finally mountaineering. We now know nearly every major mountain by sight and technical difficulty. The summit of Shasta by way of the Avalanche Gulch Route is not technical but is still a challenging scramble. Having successfully climbed less difficult routes on Mt. St. Helens and the South Sister, Shasta was figuratively in our sites once again.
In terms of difficulty Mt. Adams was the next on our list of Volcanoes to climb however a poor weather forecast had us looking for other options. The main difference in the standard routes up Shasta and Adams is your exposure to rock falls on Shasta. This necessitated the purchase of climbing helmets but otherwise we had all the right gear. The second big challenge for us would be the thin air we would experience at such a high elevation. We did our best to acclimatize by camping three consecutive nights at higher elevations. The first night we stayed at Summit Lake Campground in Lassen National Park (approx. 7000ft). The next day we summited 10,457ft Lassen Peak and camped near Shasta in the Panther Meadows Campground (approx. 7400ft). The day of our climb we planned to spend a night part way up the mountain at Helen Lake (approx. 10,400ft).
The hike from the Bunny Flat trailhead el. 6950ft to Helen Lake took about three hours. The first hour is on a gentle trail through forest. You gain little elevation as the trail works its way clockwise along the west side of the mountain before turning abruptly and climbing uphill to meet the Horse Camp. The Horse Camp has a fresh spring where you can gather water and if you are there on the right day a pit toilet you can use as well. There is a large cabin and many established campsites that you can use for a ‘donation’. Beyond the Horse Camp the trail follows a path of carefully laid stones called Oberman’s Causeway across a meadow before merging into a big rocky moraine. The hike up that moraine is the least enjoyable part of the hike but in less than two hours you cross a steep snowfield and arrive at Helen Lake. The lake itself buried under deep snow (this was July) and the actual camping area is on the nearby moraine. There are dozens of well-established sites with three-foot walls of rock to block out wind. Fortunately we never had to deal with any severe winds although the occasional breeze was a welcome relief from the oppressive heat.
Our summit bid began at 3am the next morning. We ate breakfast and donned our gear including helmets, headlamps and crampons and were climbing upwards by 4am. We were soon joined by a number of other tiny lights but for some strange reason we pulled ahead and never lost our lead. Despite the fact that we have owned crampons for sometime this was our first chance to really use them. Conditions were perfect, as the snow was really solid giving us good grip and yet not collecting under our boots.
The danger area on the Avalanche Gulch Route is right below the Red Banks where you cross the path of an obvious avalanche and rock fall area that tumbles off to your right. Crossing this area as we did in the wee hours of the morning minimizes that risk. After that section you reach a broad rock outcropping called Heart Rock. You go right at this point and usually head straight for aptly named Thumb Rock at the far right end of Red Banks. The park ranger however had told us that we should make our way directly up one of the steep chutes on the left side of Red Banks instead. This was the steepest segment of our ascent and it’s actually a longer stretch than you first imagine as it keeps climbing until you reach a col just before Misery Hill. Misery Hill isn’t that bad at all, for starters at the time it was all scree so you can take off your crampons for good. The grade is fairly moderate; the views incredible (especially of Shastina) and best of all you are within an hour of the summit. Once atop this hill you can see the summit, a mere 300ft scramble on the far side of a broad snow filled col. We kept our crampons in our packs as the route was nearly level and the summit scramble was mostly snow free. A few quick switchbacks and we were on top of the world, or at least 14,162 feet above sea level.
The hike back is usually the best part of the trip as you get to lose all that elevation you work to hard to gain sliding on your butt on a world class bobsled run. Unfortunately due to rock fall issues we had started really early and surprisingly we had made the summit in just 3.5 hours thus it wasn’t even 8am when we started back down. This meant that the perfect crampon conditions still existed and the snow was too hard to effectively glissade. We tried waiting it out at the bottom of Misery Hill but the snow showed no signs of softening up. When we reached Red Banks again we saw scores of climbers coming up the chutes. We decided to hike to the far right side of the chutes but in doing so we inadvertently kicked many loose rocks upon those same climbers, another reason to start early.
Once past the chutes we made another attempt at glissading on our bottoms. The snow was somewhat softer but still too hard to really enjoy the experience. When we arrived back at Helen Lake our backsides were thoroughly bruised. We packed up our stuff but instead of hiking down the moraine we slid down the gully just to the left of the trail. The snow here unfortunately was too soft and we had problem keeping our speed up. Eventually we crossed back over onto the trail and made it to back the Horse Camp in half the time it took us to ascend. The hike out to Bunny Flat was uneventful although it seemed to take a lot longer that it took to come in. Total distance 13.6 miles and 7212ft. We made it up in 6.5 hours (spread over two days) and hiked approximately 11 hours round trip.
Q
