By Scott Sady
Well, I thought I was done with skiing for the season but a friend of mine was putting together a trip up Mt. Shasta on father’s day weekend. Since I had been up the mountain several times before, they invited me to tag along. With last year’s poor snowfall, I didn’t get much of a spring touring season so it sounded like a good idea. Shasta is a 14,162 ft volcano that rises up from the flats of Shasta City a few hours from the Oregon Border along I-5. This is probably one of the most popular mountains for aspiring mountaineers as it has a relatively safe and unexposed route from the base to the summit. Many people make this their first 14er. In Shasta City, at the Fifth Season store, you can rent everything you need for the climb on the spot. Mostly you need proper clothing and camping equipment for winter, crampon’s, ice axe and lots of common sense. Despite the relative ease of certain routes on the mountain, the weather can change in an instant going from clear to 10 feet of visibility in a matter of minutes. Needless to say it was crowded on father’s day. We took the popular avalanche gulch route and over-nighted and Helen Lake. I have been up this way before mid-winter and early spring and seen very few people. The tent city at Helen Lake had about 60 campers this time. The early morning assault looked like a line of ants climbing up the mountain. To add a little excitement to the adventure, I humped my skis up and my Nikon d300 camera. The snow was complete ice off the summit, but the camera came in handy.
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Four am is the usual start time for a summit assault from Helen Lake. Though if you are skiing, I would suggest starting around 6 instead for some soft snow on the way down.
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Some photographs by led headlamp as we prepare to climb from Helen Lake
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A string of pre-dawn climbers look like fireflys on their climb up to red banks from Helen Lake.
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Sunrise from red banks looking down at climbers coming up from Helen Lake.
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A group of climbers stop to take a self portriat as the sun rises on top of Red Banks on Mt. Shasta's avalanche gulch route.
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Looking back at thumb rock from near the top of misery hill
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Amanda working her way up misery hill with thumb rock in the background
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Snow coverage was thin on Misery hill. Not much for skiing but great for views of the valley full of clouds.
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The summit log on top of Mt. Shasta. I've been to many mountains and signed lots of logs, but each day would fill 4-5 pages on this thing with the amount of people reaching the summit.
Looking back at the saddle between the top of Misery Hill and the summit of Mt. Shasta. Castle crags can be seen in the background.
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Red banks and the small figures climbing it with thumb rock sticking up behind. This photo was from my ski route down the lookers left route from the top of Red Banks