In order to avoid the inevitable nightmare of traffic leaving the Bay Area on a Friday evening, I chose to depart at 8pm, placing my arrival time at Mt. Shasta at around 1am. The drive went surprisingly smooth and before I knew it I was gaining elevation quickly. It was pretty neat to drive through a forest with all new tree species, mostly pines and firs. I packed my rucksack and was walking towards the trailhead when I met 2 fine gentlemen from the Seattle Area.
Dan and Kyle had driven 8.5 hours to climb Shasta, I admire their devotion! After speaking briefly we went our separate ways, but I ran into them again at the beginning of the route. It was not clear to any of us where the start of the Casaval Ridge was, so we just started following it from the base. At this time it was about 4am and still very dark. An hour or two later we paused for a break to refuel and rehydrate, the sun was rising and created quite a pleasant aura.
As ashamed as I am about having not seen Shasta before climbing it, it was indeed very humbling to be in her shadow.
Our chosen route followed one of Shasta's most prominent ridges, indeed it led skyward for several thousand feet. It was such an aesthetic ridgeline, as Dan would put it later- it really had an alpine feel to it.
For those who don't know it Shasta is a stratavolcano and part of the Cascade Range, not the Sierras. This for me gave it such a magical mystique, it was so exciting not knowing what was around the next corner!
Awesome steep couloirs, jagged rock only held together by the frozen snow and sharp featured volcanic rock describes Shasta's Casaval Ridge. I just could not get over climbing in the snow with crampons and an ice axe when it was clearly summertime below. In fact, when we left in the early afternoon it was in the 80s in the lowlands you see below me! Even so, when that sun is out it reflects off the snow and magnifies it, creating sunburn in the most unusual places, like the inside of your nose and the roof of your mouth!
The original goal as outlined by Dan and Kyle was to bivy around 10,300 feet where they had seen suitable sites. I managed to talk them into a higher bivy, at a bit higher than 11k feet. I argued the extra elevation gain would net us an easier summit day as well as make the panoramic vistas better.
Truth is, I was extraordinarily lucky to have met Kyle and Dan. Both experienced mountaineers, it was a novel experience for me to learn from folks who not only thoroughly enjoy being in the mountains, but can share in immense sums of wisdom. I seriously doubt I would have summitted had it not been for their support.
Anyway, our bivy site was super mellow. Perched right on the ridge and with drops of several hundred feet on either side, it was the best site I have camped out at for a night yet! We even had suitable rocks nearby for windscreens for the stoves as well as to guy out the tents. It was funny how we both parties came out with the same tent, mine is the blue "betamid" and the orange one was Dan's. Perfect tent for the purpose.
Unfortunately, when Kyle arrived at our bivy site he came up with a slight bout of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). The poor guy felt real sick and had to forfeit his summit attempt. Honestly, I don't know how many people these days are capable of even getting to 11k feet! I myself woke up after a short nap with a splitting headache and thought my summit was off, about 1000mg of ibuprofen and heaps of water put me back in the game though.
We all went to bed early that night, despite having napped most of the afternoon. Late that evening a thunderstorm swept in and bringing with it this weird snow called "grapple", which is snow pellets the size of peas. Dan and myself woke and departed at 3am after melting snow for water and having breakfast mocha. Dan had a brilliant idea to bring powdered espresso and hot cocoa mix- winning combination for an alpine start! The second sunrise on the mountain brought just as beautiful colors, I certainly believe there is a strong correlation between the colors in the sky and altitude.
While Dan had to pause to take care of business, I took a quick self portrait at an area called the "red banks". To my right you can see how red they were!
Not long after pausing at the red banks, we passed through the "cat walk". This was a dramatically exposed section where one slip up could lead to certain death or dismemberment. Even so, not even that could dampen my summit fever as I queued behind some slow pokes on the final snow slope!
I reckon we summited around 730, having climbed about 3000 feet in about 4.5 hours, not bad considering the altitude and my relative inexperience in climbing 14ers. The top of Shasta had a slightly different feel than my last and first 14er, Mount Elbert in Colorado. I don't know how to describe it, but probably has to do with latitude and proximity to the Pacific Ocean.
Our summit stay was fairly brief, just long enough to sign the log book and chat with some other summiters. Just below the summit came the acrid smell of sulphur from these vents, it is always nice to be reminded you are climbing on a volcano!
It was pretty cool to see all the snow surrounding the vents melted away. On the way down we passed Shastina, Mount Shasta's "submountain", which looks like it'd be epic for ski touring.
Shasta was an extraordinary mountain and one which has been branded into my mind, it certainly satisfied my cravings for the time being. She sure is magnificent in her own right.
Unfortunately, an unforeseen event occured very recently and may well have ruined any other future mountain plans in California. However, it was liberating and now I can spend time at Yosemite and all the other national parks I have been wanting to see out here in the wild west.
1 comment:
Nice Photos!!
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