Mount Shasta via Casaval Ridge

Life is absolutely full of opportunities, I truly believe it is important that one seek them out and pursue them fruitfully. A long holiday weekend to me sure seemed like an excellent chance to see and experience something new. So, I took a gamble by driving 300 miles north to climb a mountain I had never seen before (I am a bit ashamed about of that), by a technical route and solo. Perhaps I was getting myself in too deep, but as fortune would have it, I made some great friends who helped me reach my goal.

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.

Bouldering in the middle of suburbia

Who would have thought one might find semi-suitable climbing in an abandoned pasture, surrounded by a checkerboard of housing developments? Well, it never would have went this way had the original plan gone through. I met with Stephen, who through Facebook we managed to finally get a day when we could both climb. Stephen just graduated last summer with his master from WVU, where I had met him, he's a strong climber and a real dude. In fact, he even coined the term "beer flash", which is when someone drinks some beer, then uses that beer propulsion to climb a bouldering problem, it is sure to frequent the pages of the next climbing mag.

Anyway, the original plan was to go to a climbing paradise near Lake Tahoe and play around placing gear on some trad routes. Stephen overbooked himself and needed to be back home in the early evening, so we reasoned to climb in Vacaville, 78 miles from my place in Half Moon Bay and a bit closer for Stephen coming from Sacramento. For those who don't know it, Vacaville is in the heat-blasted central valley, east of San Francisco and I am pretty sure it means "place of cows" in Spanish. It was a strange park, atop a knoll, overlooking seemingly endless cookie-cutter houses that sparkled from their backyard swimming pools.

The climbing was decent, a half-dozen boulders strewn about. I don't have any photos of us climbing, but I do of the arete of the rock we played around with and the eery view of suburbia in the backyard. No place to go without an automobile here!

Unfortunately I picked up some damn poison oak while I was there, made worse by a light sunburn and sweat. I don't know that I will return to the Vacaville boulders, the commute back to the coast was so miserable, I80 near Berkeley and trying to cross the Bay Bridge is ALWAYS a damn yardsale. However, it was nice to see some familiarity from West Virginia, I hope to climb mountains with Stephen this summer.

Crack climbing 101

They say crack climbing is the essence of climbing. Without hesitation, I say thats bologna, but those tough folks climbing cracks certainly commands respect! Watch anyone who is a good crack climber, it seems so easy and effortless for them to flow up seemingly insurmountable walls. Watch a beginner crack climber, like myself, and witness the flailing, shaky instability! It is not easy to shove any part of your body into a crack and force it to expand to hold you in place. I have been putting off learning how to jam for some time, but moving to CA I cannot avoid it any longer. The fact of the matter is, almost no matter where you are climbing, there are going to be features that resemble cracks. It is simply a natural part of the weathering and erosion that is occurring on everything on this planet.

So, to remedy my fear and general avoidance of cracks, I enrolled in a crack climbing course at the local indoor climbing gym with several climbing colleagues. We formed a real formidable team, headed by Leslie, a long time local gym climber who has a real knack for making friends with anyone cool. Chef Dan and then myself completed our small group. Dan is the Executive Chef for the Concordia Argonaut Club in San Francisco, he's a real dude who has been climbing for only a short time and I must say progressing rather quickly.

We heard about the course by another climber at the gym who had taken it. She had nothing but great things to say about it. We met Lucho, our young instructor last Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo. Without any delay from the days Corona and lime infested festivities (just kidding, but Dan brought Coronas for after the class, super cool and much appreciated!) we spent 30 minutes learning how to tape up our hands. The indoor gym surface has perhaps 5 grit sandpaper for walls and is super abrasive on skin, making athletic taping of the hands absolutely necessary. My hands still bled by the end anyway, but it is not a good climbing day unless blood is bled by someone right?

The basic idea is to shove your hand in the crack, being careful not to rough it up too much, and then flex your thumb to make your hand bigger. This is the basic concept of the hand jam, as demonstrated by myself above. Another technique Lucho taught us was the finger lock, this is when the fingers are inserted as far as possible into the crack, thereby "locking" them in place. When this method works, you are literally hanging by your bones, and it is never without some pain! Leslie shows the finger lock eloquently below:


Constantly flex your thumb, intuitively trying to make your hand bigger to hold in a crack, and then allowing it to go limp to pull it out is super tough. Chef Dan was climbing a great crack with great style, as I tried to tell everyone that night, it is all about looking good, even if you're getting worked, like we all did!


Just to give you an idea of the abuse your hands take, Dan took a photo of his own hands after our training session:

Thanks to Dan by the way for taking many of the great pictures of that evening.

All in all it was a great, highly informative session. Ultimately, crack climbing is one of those obscure activities that can only be perfected with heaps of practice, at the dispense of your hands. I'm glad I had some cool cats to hang with while learning all about cracks, I look forward to polishing my skills at any one of CA's splendid climbing destinations!

Bye!

Bradley Hut ski tour

Always looking for an excuse to spend time in the mountains, I jumped at the chance to join a friend's trip to the Bradley Hut at Upper Pole Creek near Lake Tahoe. I met Chaincy during my last excursion to Round Top Peak with the Sierra Club Peak Climbing Section. She single-handedly organized the whole trip, and might I add, did a splendid job, myself and the others had an awesome time. On my way to Tahoe from the Bay Area I picked up Jennifer B. in Nevada City, she just moved to the area like me and was pretty keen on skiing the backcountry, she even did it with a set of racing slick XC skis! Respect.

To save time and get a good rest, Jennifer graciously allowed me to stay at her place in Nevada City. She was a great host and I do look forward to returning to that quaint little town.

To get the Bradly Hut, the approach requires just less than 5 miles of trail with roughly 1200 feet of elevation gain. We took our time and enjoyed the fresh Sierra air, the ample snow pack and mellow incline. We stopped for lunch and I set the camera on a timer and tried to take off my hat, but wasn't quick enough.

It didn't take us too much longer to get to the hut and we arrived to meet a cool European couple, Paola and Torsten. I talked them into putting down their books from reading in the sun and following the trail of the others who were out on a ski tour to the ridge above the hut. It was certainly all smiles from everbody on the way up!

The gipfel (summit) is near!

At the top of this ridge we all posed for the usual summit pose, aided by the timer.

And of course I posed for a cheesy mountaineer pose, made famous from my trip to Austria.

The panorama of Lake Tahoe was spectacular, I don't think even a 180 degree shot can contain it all.

I always love playing around in the snow and examining the trees, this time was no different. Yu, a friend of Chaincys' helped me dig a deep hole next to this cluster in a desperate attempt to find regeneration of young trees on the leeward side of this cluster afforestation. We dug perhaps 8 feet down to find no trees- it was pretty much bottomless!

Since I putzed so long up on the ridge, clouds came and froze the wonderful corn snow we had anticipated on cruising down. As a result, the ski back down to the hut turned into "survival skiing" (as observed by Yu). It was so nice to get back into the Bradley Hut which was stocked with so many comforts, including a stew that was marinating for most of the day. I brought some weissbeirs (hefeweizen wheat beer) which brought much applause and were crushed real quick. If there was anything I would change about our weekend tour it would be to bring twice as much beer or wine! I reckon the others would agree with me too. There certainly was no shortage of good food this trip, myself and everyone else certainly know how to eat when in the mountains!

After sleeping in on Easter Sunday a bit, I awoke extremely refreshed and rested, albeit a bit sore. Chaincy cooked some delicious quesadillas, which we all enjoyed. Then, Yu, Victor and myself embarked to climb to a different ridge than the day before. Victor is colleague of Chaincy, a real dude that seemed to believe I'd eat anything given to me and climb while carrying him on my back. He was of course European, and a capable skier, when going downhill that is (-;

On the way up I wanted to take a good photo of this huge cornice, but went too high for a good perspective. You can't quite tell, but that cornice is 50 feet or more deep, deep enough to build a snow palace!

I continued upwards by following the backside of this knob. A bit of scrambling and some exposure (there was a 150 foot sheer face to one side!) got me to the top.

The saddle next to the knob to my right is where we skinned up to next. From my high vantage point I could yell down to Victor, see if you can find him:

Victor certainly found the best snowfield to ski down. It was candy-coated in a sugar frosting that left me with aching teeth from smiling too much into the wind. I love it when linking tele-turns makes my teeth ache like good mint chocolate chip ice cream (-:

Up on the ridge was full of apple-eaters!

Chaincy had a totally sweet sled set-up to drag her gear up, I was a bit envious and had to snap a photo so I can build my own. Sleds can be such efficient mechanisms for carrying gear.

It was quite sad to leave the Bradely Hut behind, we all such a great time. From left to right: Victor, Eric, Torsten, Paola, Chaincy and Yu. Behind the camera was Jennifer B. Check that solar panel on the hütte, sick!


Yet again the mountains out here keep my heart beating ever stronger.

Round Top Peak

My first chance to hang with the Sierra Club Peak Climbing Section came this past weekend, it was long anticipated! The planned excursion was to day climb Round Top Peak near South Lake Tahoe. Since we were to drive all the way up to Tahoe, it made sense to spend the entire weekend there. I joined Arun, the leader of the group climb up Round Top Peak on Sunday, we also skied at Kirkwood on Saturday. Since Arun is a season pass holder at Kirkwood, he was able to get us special offer tickets for $39 for the day, hot deal! This is half the price of a regular ticket, it is all about the people you know.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the car for the day, but the slope conditions were storybook. There was not a cloud in the sky all day, the sun baked the snow into corn and baked me thoroughly too! Despite applying sun protection, it is easy to underestimate the CA sun, it is even brighter shining on snow and at high altitude.

We all stayed in Nevada on the eastern side of Tahoe for pretty cheap at the Sierra Motel. Sunday morning we departed early for Round Top, which is located conveniently near Kirkwood ski resort. With everyone gathered at the trailhead, we were 18 deep! I know Arun felt a bit overwhelmed, but having led this trip for nearly 15 years, he knows the route real well and I knew he’d be up for the challenge.

The trail from the Carson Pass “sno-park” parking area gave way to forest and some careful route finding. It is nice to follow along on a planned trip, because usually the person in front of you knows where they’re going! The forest gave way to rolling hills and our first view of Round Top. The snow conditions were prime in the morning, grippy, semi-frozen crust over loose corn.

In case you are wondering, to ascend snow on skis one must have a mechanism on the bottom of them to prevent you from sliding backwards. Hence we glue "skins" to the bottoms, these are commonly synthetic hair-like fur pads which allow you to slide up, but not in reverse. Getting closer to the mountain, we paused for another moment to get our bearings in this huge basin. I would be curious to see this whole area when it is snowless.

The climb up was pretty straight forward. However, since myself and the leader were on skis, perhaps our route up tended to be steep, on snowshoes it can be difficult to traverse steep slopes. Coming back down, we made sure to take a much more gradual way.

After a while the "shoulder" of Round Top became too steep for skis, so out came the crampons and ice axe! This was really the highlight of my climb, proper steepness! Of course mounting crampons on tele boots is not always the best fit, I managed just fine. It was pretty exciting to swing the ice axe and stomp out your feet in the snow. In the photo below you can see the shoulder where the highest people are.

The absolute hardest part of this tour was the ski descent. The snow was probably the worst quality I have ever skied in my life. There was a solid frozen crust over lighter pow, which made turns near impossible on the tele. Occasionally I get really spanked by conditions, and that day at Round Top Peak was one of them. I won't deny though, that falling on every turn and doing face plants is real humbling, sometimes nature has to reveal who the boss is. Keeps me in check when I start to get too cocky. After awhile you get good at falling and know to just tuck and roll.

We tried to traverse much of the way down, and I surprised some colleagues when I turned around to snap a Kodak. There was some debate on whether to put the skins back on the skis to ascend the few rolling hills back to the sno-park. Since we were waiting for a colleague I decided to do it (but i took them off later), the idea being to make going uphill easier, but downhills were of course slower from the extra drag, others left the skins off.

A final view of Round Top Peak, bye bye for now!

A very special visitor

Moving out here to California was a big move for me. It is difficult to leave behind all your friends and family, break away from your core-comfort zone, not everyone can do it. However, if you're like me, and the allure of new adventures is strong enough as to overcome all other obstacles, well then home is wherever you make it! I am supremely fortunate to be able to do as much as I do, we live in an era where nearly anything is possible. Without the support of my family, friends and girlfriend, I would be nowhere near where I am today. It really meant a lot to me to see my father, albeit brief. However, another individual who has profoundly humbled me into who I am today paid me a special visit for 10 wonderful days, my girlfriend, Madison.

She arrived the night before my father had to fly back to VA and from the moment she stepped off the plane we had quite a trip planned! I had to work the first couple days of the week, so we dipped out of San Francisco as quick as possible. Madison was downtown spending time with friends and so I swooped in the coup and scooped her up. Leaving the downtown area, I stumbled upon a nice view.


We didn't arrive in Arcata until late that night, it was a many hours drive, but not without sneaking in a quick peep of the redwoods along "Avenue of The Giants". In the morning we met with Madison's potential adviser at Humboldt State University, which is amazingly serene and beautiful. It is an older hippie town with a long history for environmental consciousness, sort of reminded me of Burlington, Vermont. Leaving from Arcata, we traveled further north, into the Redwoods State Parks area to stop at the Ladybird Grove.

A whole family could fit in this redwood! After following the wonderful loop trail dedicated by Ladybird Johnson in the 60's and justly introduced to a world of dinosaur trees we continued a bit further north to Prarie Creek Redwood State Park. This park is home to quite a few of the world's tallest trees and hosts a really unique redwood ecosystem. Along the trail, we paused for a quick self-portrait:

The trail we took left the ranger headquarters and finished at the Pacific ocean, since it was late in the evening and we wanted to see the sunset, we knew we had to hustle! Even so, you cannot rush the subtle magnificence of the forests out here:

We made it in time!


I know I always wax poetic about California sunsets, but anyone who has been here can vouch for me, they're just always beautiful. Just before the above sunset photo was taken, I took this photo below to show both the ruggedness of the land as it meets the ocean as well as the gentle beach that straddles both:

The next morning we slept in nicely and lounged around, I had not camped on the beach in some years, it is easy to forget how cool it is:


Late in the morning we embarked for "Fern Canyon", which is an area famous for its prehistoric collection of ferns. This place must be seen to be believed! I think "Fern Gully" might be a better name though, but thats a movie.

Before that though, this old, giant log near the little ponds served as a great spot for eating/lounging/sleeping, and perch for a little person with a big pack!

Clearly we had come to Prairie Creek at the right time of year, all the trilliums were in bloom! Madison enjoyed them because they are endemic to West Virginia, her home. We joked that they were like little faces with eyes, the eyes of the forest- watching us as we wandered about:

Our second night at Prairie Creek we made camp in the shadow of some real giants. Surrounded by tree-like ferns and the dense under story vegetation, it was absolute bliss:

The tent was set up, the sleeping bags lain out to fluff up, and I caught Madison in her nighties!

We were so reluctant to leave this magical, prehistoric forest, a real place of the "Land Before Time." The last few miles we tried to make last a while, which meant time for a few Kodak moments. The scale of these trees is difficult to imagine without a human comparison, it simply blows my mind how astonishingly well redwoods grow in their native habitat. The trail was always so quaint, just meandering amongst the redwoods, allowing us to greet each giant as they came near.

As sad as it was to leave the redwoods behind, it was of course nice to know they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. I sure would like my kids to see one of the great natural wonders of the world.

Madison and I stopped on our way into San Francisco at a great vantage point for the Golden Gate Bridge. This panorama shot shows its grandiosity!



Of course our portrait shot was taken too. It was super nice to have my girlfriend around. When everyone is thousands of miles away and then a slice of lovely familiarity comes to see you, it is really touching. I was quite sad to see her go, now I look forward to our next embrace (-: Miss you Muffly!