Mt. shasta

14,162 feet

Trip Pictures

Party: Me, Dan Francis

Route: Old Ski Bowl, Helen's Lake Traverse, To Sergeant's Ridge

Trip Description: There are 10 or 12 routes up the mountain (no trails like on Whitney) and I had chosen one in advance based on several factors and written down GPS coordinates, produced a map and overlaid the route on it, checked trail conditions, etc.  When we arrived at the local climbing shop to rent our gear they said our chosen route was bad this time of year and suggested we use the main route.  I didn't like the idea of just using the "main route" of course, so I did a map recon and decided we would start from a different trailhead and take a traversing trail to meet up with the suggested route halfway up the mountain (ominous music should start here).  We decided to wear trail-running shoes and light clothing and carry our mountaineering boots/crampons, etc in our packs (like 35 pounds worth...)
So at 0300 the next morning Dan and I stepped off via headlamp, and decided that since there was no trail, only a route, any footprints we found must be lead up the route.  Turns out this was wrong, and after wandering up the side of the mountain for 3 1/2 hours daybreak found us far from our selected route.  Now that it was light we were easily able to tell where we were, and we were on "a" route, just not the route we had planned for (and a route labeled Intermediate, vice Beginner).  Since we had no desire to backtrack we continued up the rocky, scree covered ridgeline we were on.  There was a lot of slipping in the loose rock and some serious rock climbing up and around rock spires and cliffs with sheer drops.  Several times it looked like we might be stuck because a 12 or 14 foot cliff looked like it was beyond our meager rock-climbing capabilities, but by wedging our ice axes into cracks we were always able to scramble up in the end.  The only good thing was we could only see the next cliff or spire, not the top of the mountain.  After almost 8 hours of tortuous climbing we came out next to our planned route, with only two more hills between us and the top.  There was one last cliff, this one a smoother rock that looked like red sandstone.  The only way to get past it was to jump off the side of the ridge (over a several foot gap where the snow up against the rock had melted away) to the snow slope and bypass the cliff.  The going was easy from there (ha, like hiking up a hill called Misery Hill at 13,750 feet with a 35 pound pack is easy, I was taking 15 steps then resting for 10 breaths, which is better than I was doing on Whitney) with a rocky trail more like what we experienced on Whitney, and a few snow sections.  After 9 1/2 hours of effort we reached the top, still in our tennis shoes, with me in a kilt, no less, (much to the chagrin of the guided parties in plastic mountaineering boots) and rested a little before changing into full mountaineering kit (boots, gaiters, pants, shells, etc) for the descent.  We took our planned route down.  3500 feet of glissading down the mountain.  Three or four times what we slid on Whitney, it was huge, steep and spectacular.  We both got bumped and bruised and got a lot of practice getting out of control and self arresting, but made it back down to our traverse in an hour or so.  Then we took to plunge-stepping through the snow and later the rocks.  We were four times as fast as the parties who insisted in cramponing-up because they were in the now.  Another two hours of hiking in the darn rock and we were back at the car, 14 hours round trip.  We never even put on our crampons.
The trail made traveling on Whitney easier.  It is miserable after 13 1/2 hours to still be jumping from rock to rock and sliding around in loose scree.  On the other hand, there was less hiking low angle stuff here.  From just above the trailhead (at around 7000 feet) you are ascending into the clouds.

Best places for Shasta information on the web:

Summit Post: General Information

Mt. Shasta Avalanche Center: Current Conditions