Jim and Mary Cook and I went to northern California in August to climb Mt. Shasta , a volcanic peak with an elevation of 14116 feet. Photos are at Shasta.
The first night we camped in the woods at our car, and the next morning got started on the trail at Bunny Flat at 8:10 AM. We hiked a nice trail to the cabin at Horse Camp, which we thought was an easy 1000 feet of elevation gain. From there we hiked up a trail made of large rocks, which ended up in a scree filled trail, and we thought it was a hard 1000 feet of elevation gain to a bench where we rested. The next 1000 feet was cross country over loose rocks, to Helen Lake, 10,400 feet in elevation, where we arrived about 1:30 PM. We tried to nap and rest for the hard day to come.
We started from Helen lake at 4:10 AM, and by 5:30 AM we had gained about 1000' and were at the bottom of an outcropping of rock called the Heart. By then it was starting to get light as dawn approached. We were in the shadow of the mountain, so even after dawn we were in the shade for a long time.
By 7:30 we had gained another 1000', and were at the top of the snow field, and directly below some bands of red rock that had to be scaled. The route up was through a narrow gulley in the red rock, on a narrow band of snow that had been hardened to ice by thawing and freezing. By 9:00 we had climbed about another 1000' and were through the red bands of rock and came out on a plateau, at the bottom of Misery Hill, at 13,200'. From there a dusty trail resumed. We rested a bit, ate some, and headed on. I felt pretty good at this point, and pretty energetic. I think climbing Mt. Borah two weeks previous to this trip was a great warm up to this climb.
We went up the trail up Misery Hill, along a ridge, and across a large flat ice filled plateau. Across the plateau, we were at the summit spire, which was another 150' or so of gain. At 10:30 AM we were on the peak, at 14,161. Its supposed to be 3 hours to the red rock band, 3 more hours to the top, so we were right on schedule.
We didn't stay long, as clouds were building. By 11:10 AM we were down to bottom of Misery Hill, and by 11:45, we were at a notch that allowed us to pass through the red bands of rock. Going down some rocky areas was slow, and tricky, and then we were on the snow fields again. I glissaded the whole way down, starting about 12:30. There were chutes that had been carved into the snow by previous climbers, and they were as wide a a person's butt, and sometimes 2 or 3 feet deep. They were steep in places, did some great curves and bends, and you could get out of control. I was in camp by 1:00 PM at Helen Lake. We had placed a large plastic garbage bag on the ground, with snow in it, and the solar heat had provided us with a nice supply of water during the day.
By 2:00 we had packed up and started hiking out from Lk Helen. It was about 2000 vertical feet to horse camp, which took us a few hours, and it was starting to sprinkle.
At 3:30 we left Horse camp for the trailhead, in a light rain, and were at the car by 4:30. During the trip we used my Dragonfly stove, and used 1.5 small bottles of fuel, about 3 hours of burning to melt snow. That was pretty impressive.
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