Climbing Mt. Shasta
Summit Log
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Paul Moran Comments: Got to Helen lake on 7th of October. A group of 4 of us headed for the summit leaving at 3a.m Sunday morning. 2 of us got to the top of misery hill and couldn't make it any further (only 300 feet left!). The other pair summited and I have a feeling I'll never hear the end of it! |
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Tanya & Eike Comments: Wonderful mountain on a beautiful, crystal clear ocotber day... we were the only ones on the summit and on the entire mountain that day...:-) Nothing else to wish for ! |
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eric ivey Comments: wonderful mountain. my freind, jed and i stayed 500 ft above horse camp. woke up at 1 am started climbing by 2am and made good time.it's not somthing to be exagerated or be litted by words, but we had a realy good time. we ended up climbing with a man named brian. we all summited together, and had a blast glisading down. we last tack of him, so if your out there best of luck to you, and your soon to be wife. fell free to contact me satpalsinghkhalsa@hotmail.com |
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Dan Gearhart Comments: Made it to the summit with my wife Julie, my adventure gal and inspiration, on 09-10-06 at 11:55 after leaving Helen at 4:00 AM. It was a full moon, countless stars, and not a bit of wind when we headed for the heart. Stayed to the right of the heart and through the main chute. A little technical through the Red Banks. Had to make foot holes in the steep ice. Chose another chute on the way down and it wasn't much better with no snow, just sliding down the rocks. Met some great people along the way. I wish all the best to the young man from Germany who we had some nice conversations with. Also, I hope the Father and son team from Oregon is doing fine after their mishap in the Red Banks. A wonderful experience and it was good to be back on the mountain and making the sumit after not reaching the actual top on my first attempt in 1980. |
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Colin Comments: My pal Gary and I summitted Shasta on July 14th. We were using the mountain for training for our climb of Mt. Rainier (which summitted a scant five days later on 7/19)by spending two nights below Helen Lake but above 50/50. In our opinion it was the best place to camp on the mountain. We ascended a bit too quickly, and probably didn't carry enough water, but aside from a bit of lethargy we had a blast. Especially glissading on the way down. Good times in No. California from two New Hampshire kids. |
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Tracy Williams Comments: Started out from Bunny Flat. Stayed the night just below Helen Lake. Departed @2:30am and summitted via Avalanche Gulch route at 11:20am on August 20, 2006. The experience was AWESOME! |
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Stacey Crawford Comments: This was my first time backpacking or conquering a hike over 4-5 hours and I made it to the top! It was an amazing experience that will last a life time. Special thanks to my friends, Tracy, Brent and Michael...couldn't have done it without them. |
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Brent Comments: Awoke at 4am from Helen Lake and greeted the 40-50mph gusting winds. Tracy,Stacy,Mike and myself were last to leave base camp(4:35) and last to leave the summit(13:45) on 8/20/06. Glorious weather and a great companions, this ones for you J.E.T. RIP! |
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Peter Malacarne Comments: Summitted Aug 16/06 and after takings summit photos etc signed the register at 11:59AM. Enjoyed the book Mt. Shasta by Steve Lewis. I opted for a guided climb with Shasta Mountain Guides. I am making plans for another climb on the mountain, one week, two routes. |
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Mark Smith Comments: I reached 50/50 flat and camped |
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Soren Comments: We summitted Shasta via the Clear Creek route on August 12th. The route was dry, with a ton of loose scree. Don't let the forest service or fifth season talk you out of this route--it is excellent! The entire route can be done in running shoes except for a short 100 yard section at the top of the Wintun glacier. |
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R. Wallace Comments: We made the summit on August 8th my mom's birthday. I dedicate it to my mom. I love you mom. I miss you. I'll see you again someday. |
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Mike Thorn Comments: Summited 8/6/06 via Avalanche Gulch, right of the heart, and through left chute of Red Banks with 5 friends. Group left Helen Lake at 3:30 am and reached summit at 10 am. Beautiful weather the whole trip. Incredible experience. Peace Kyle! |
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Kim N Balbini JR Comments: I summited Shasta on July 14, 2006 at 11:30 am. I went with my brother in law and we took our time. We spent a night at hourse camp. one at hellen on the pre summit side and one on the down side. had a great time. |
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Eric Yabu Comments: Left Horse Camp at midnight, summitted via Avalanche Gulch route (right of The Heart, through left chute) at 9:30AM with Leo Arellano and Jon Tupy. |
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Robin Patterson Comments: Left 50/50 flat at 3:30am. the stars were great!!!. |
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James H Comments: Summited Shasta last weekend (sat 7/22/06) up Brewer creek and bagging via the Hotlum/Wintun route. Snow was rotten a bit, especially on the last few hundred feet where it got steep. Post-holing nightmare and that was at about 9am. Saw some loose rock falling due to the snow changes. Took us about 5 hours in total up. |
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Kent Harris Comments: 7/23/06 left 50/50 at 3:35 a.m. and reached summit at 11:30. Gave my honey Robin a diamond ring at the top! It was sweet! |
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Burtt Blodgett Comments: Reached the summit of Mt Shasta on July 15, around 11:15 AM, after a 2 AM start from Horse Camp. We used ice axes and crampons along the Avalanche Gulch route via Fifty-Fifty, Helen Lake, the Heart, and Red Banks. Ascended through an icy chute in the middle of Red Banks due to the bergschrund at the Thumb. Misery Hill is the only part of this route currently free of snow. From the top of Misery Hill its about another 45 minutes to the summit. Descended via the same route, with glissades from the bottom of Misery Hill to Fifty Fifty. Back at Horse Camp by 3:30. |
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Naum Zharnitsky Comments: 7/17/2006 |
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Stephen Klemich Comments: Had a great Summit. Departed Helen Lake 3am summit 7:35am. A nice hill. Easy route via Avalanche Gulch. |
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Jesse Comments: When I was 12yo I saw Mt. Shasta for the first time and thought to myself, I'm going to climb that some day. Well, some 45 years later, with the help of my good friend Jeff, that dream came true. We summited on Saturday July 1, 2006. It took me 8 hours but with persistence and determination (and periodic reminders by Jeff to "rest step" and to "pressure breathe") I made it. It was a great moment for me, the spirit of Mt. Shasta will always be with me. |
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Jeff Comments: Summited 7/1/05 via Avalanche Gulch with friend Jesse. 2nd time up AG, 3rd summit. Gulch was not too crowded for a weekend. Started out from 50/50 around 1:30am, snow was firm but choppy over prior avalanches up to the lower Red Banks. Above the Red Banks and through Misery Hill was mix of scree and snow, and the wind picked up above Misery. Arrived at 9:30 - beautiful on the summit as always. The crowds departed right as we arrived so we were alone for the few minutes we spent on top. No clouds, so the sun was really heating things up on the way down. Snow was soft enough to glissade from just below the Red Banks all the way to 50/50 and below. Lots of snow in AG this year, the trail from Bunny Flat to Horse Camp was hard to follow. Great weather, conditions, and climb. |
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Mark Dumford Comments: Summited the "Mountain" on Sunday July 2nd. |
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sharath bantwal Comments: Summited Mt Shasta via Avy Gulch route on sunday 10:45 am along with Kiran vishnubatla.In all the excitement, we forgot to sign the summit register!!. The only evidence we possibly have is a kind gesture from a fellow hiker mailing us the summit photos he took of us. It was a tiring but rewarding experience.We took almost 14 hrs going up (split over 2 days) and less than 3 hrs coming down (glissading 1/2 of the way and not counting for a screwup coming down from horse camp to bunny flat that cost us 1.5 hrs more following a wrong set of footsteps that led nowhere). |
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Cole Chase Comments: June 11, 2006. White-out conditions going up Misery Hill and across the summit plateau but the clouds parted and we had an amazing view after about 20 minutes on the summit. |
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Ben Alexander Comments: May 26 2006-First attempt with party of four, we made it to 10,000' in white out, high wind and very cold. Turned back to 50/50 Flats (9000')dug in for the night and went back to Bunny Flat the next morning. |
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Don Howson Comments: Summited 3 of 4 tries with 100 mph winds the other attempt at about top of Red Banks (13K). The best trip was the first and propelled me and great friends to climb almost all the major Northwest mountains including Rainier. This is a very good beginner mountain to get in to the sport but can offer plenty of challenge too. |
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V.D.HAGGARD lll Comments: Summited 7/30/05 , Avalanche Gulch route , 29th year of climbing Shasta , 1 climb per year , see ya next year P.S. Hello S at H.Camp |
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Tim Goggin Comments: 9-17-2005. Very cold, very icy, very windy trip up Hotlum Glacier. Went with two great guys from SWS. They helped me get up this difficult route. It was worth the work we did to get there. |
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Arne Kvalheim Comments: Since my days as a student at the University of Oregon years ago (1966-1972), I have always wanted to summit Mt. Shasta. On September 13, 2005 our party of 5 started at Bunny Flat Trial Head at 2 am, and we reached the summit at 10 am, using the traditional route. A fantastic hike (climp), good weather, great view and sore knees going down. Too bad I had to wait so many years. |
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S. Jones Comments: Climbed Avalanche Gulch solo on 9/3/03, Saturday of Labor Day weekend. People told me this route was crowded, only met a few people, all of them were diamonds. I was also told it was too late for this route and there would be lots of rocks, I found the route quite enjoyable. I got off route a couple times, but made it too the summit in just under 5 hours from Bunny Flat. (I had summited several other times on various routes) The Gulch was much nicer than expected, I saw very little trash, which I collected. |
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Corwin Comments: My wife and I climbed the mountain on the weekend of August 27/28. Rented equipment from the fifth season and hit the Bunny Flat parking lot around 1:00, which was pretty much infested with bees, making packing dificult. We left the parking lot at 2:15 arriving at Lake Helen prior to 7:00. There was no running water available at Lake Helen. We started the trip to the summit at 6:30 the next morning. The climb up to Red Banks was uneventuful. We went through the first of the three chutes (the one closes to the center of the heart). The snow was ice until passing through the throat. We hugged the left hand side using the rock for additional support. There was no snow on Misery Hill easing the climb to the summit plateau. We summited at 12:15. We returned via the same route. The chute had softened considerably. We were back at Red Banks by 2:00. The snow was perfect for the glissade back to base camp. The weather was perfect making for a wonderful weekend. |
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Rob Noack Comments: Getting this in a little late but our party of three (me-49, daughter-24, and brother-in-law-54) climbed 7/11 to 7/12-05. Did the overnite gig at Helen Lake which was probably a good thing from the standpoint of acclimitization, but it was a fairly miserable not with insomnia due to wind, three in a tent, and altitude. Hike up to Helen was through mush; would be much easier and faster doing it before daylight while still frozen. Took off @ 0:500 from Helen. Tough run up to Redbanks and 25-30 knt. winds at bottom of Misery Hill. Summitted at 11:00. What a great feeling to have all three of us standing up on top! No sickness but plenty tired. That's one tough trek up there but if done one step at a time... well worth it. |
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Girish Ramesh Comments: My group comprising of myself and two more friends started from Helen Lake around 3:30AM and summited around 11:00AM. It was a great experience for me as I had never attempted to climb a mountain before. We glissaded down and it was very exciting. I would recommend an earlier start maybe 1:30 AM as we hit patches of ice while glissading. Overall it was a very satisfying experience and it is the most adventrous thing I have ever done in my life. |
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Joe Schneider Comments: Summited with a group of awesome friends on an Adventure Treks trip. it was a fantastic climb. made the summit in 7 hours via Avalanche Gulch. definately worth waking up at 1:00 am for. hope to be back soon. |
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Dane and Sherry Harden Comments: My wife and I had attended a week long Wilderness Medicine Seminar and we planned to finish it off with a Shasta Climb on June 18th-19th. Our group was small and we started at Bunny Flat on my wifes birthday, June 18th. We had planned the slower two day climb but the weather turned very bad. Evidently a Tsunami had hit the coast and pushed a lot of precipitation on the mountain. We had to turn around just past Horse Camp. We actually never really even got to "See" the mountain due to the weather! We bought a poster at the Fifth Season Store...it was the best view we could find...until we flew home and the weather cleared, just enough to get some photos out the window as we left! Very discouraging...We are planning on going back out to Shasta in April or May for another attempt...but, we did have fun and gained some valuable alpine experience on a mountain in a winter storm! |
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Martin Treat Comments: Ascending on 7/16/05 in brisk wind and soft snow. Beautiful clear weather and a challenging passage at Red Banks. 50 mile an hour winds, now, and very slow up Misery Hill. Altitude nausea Red Banks glizading spoils footholds carefully made through 100+ climbers, but what a ride down the Heart. Cautious entry of the tobagon like chute after the steapest part of the descent through the Banks. Climbers ascending OK with walking the snow solid ridge above the glizding chute. Once in, hold the axe up (balance), legs up butt down, and enjoy the ride. Tough deep snow and somemore glizades and appreciation of skiers and boarders licking the last of the snow. Horse camp 2PM (start 2AM). Not bad for a grandfather. |
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Neil Gift Comments: Solo climb starting from Bunny Flat. First day was to Lake Helen. Left Lake Helen at 4:00am the next day and made the summit at around 11:00am. Route was through the Red Banks, more to climbers right though. Afte the banks, traversed left to Misery Hill. Lots of people out during the middle of the week. Glissading down from Red Banks was EXCELLENT. Weather was very warm, with cloud cover at the summit. (Luckily it broke just at around 11:15am!!) |
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Mary Gaines Walker Comments: Only through the strength of the Lord through Jesus Chirst did I make the climb to the summitt. God showed me his glory in an incredible way and he makes his glory known to all of us when we open our eyes! |
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Brent Allen Comments: At 11am on Tuesday, July 19th...my buddy Blair Ford and I reached the top of Mt Shasta for the first time. Despite a slight misdirection in the beginning, a throbbing headache, dehydration, tired legs, and one broken cramp-on...we made good time and had a fantastic experience. We were also overjoyed to discover "glissading", or as we like to call it...the glorified "butt-slide". In the end, the Mountain humbled us and made us feel small...but also gave us perspective,a sense of purpose, and reason to climb again to once again discover that delicate balance between humility and glory. |
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Bob Ferrari Comments: My grandaughter Melody Ferrari, 10 years old, and I summitted together from Lake Helen on Tuesday July 19, 2005. She did very well taking 6 hours from Lake Helen. She really liked making it to the top but she talks about the fun glissade back down. The trough down the gulch was in perfect condition. |
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Jr Gregory Comments: My groups summit was on 7/17/05 at about 10 am. We camped at lake helen and left at 3 am. The weather was perfect w/ a tiny bit of fog which clear by the time we summited. This mount is the most self gratifying trek i have ever it wore me out yet gave me the energy to press on down. Knowing I topped the U.S.'s second tallest valcano is self pleasing in it self. |
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James Jula Comments: I summited Shasta on July 3rd with Chuck Stephens, my father-in-law, after spending the night at Lake Helen. It was possibly the best conditions I have ever experienced on a climb this significant, but that didn't make it any easier. Camping for me was a miserable experience with insomnia and loss of appetite, but I knew enough to bring goo and that got me to the top. I dedicated this climb to my dad who loved this mountain and would have climbed it with me in a heartbeat if he was still with us. |
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Chuck Stephens Comments: This hike up Mount Shasta was my second time. I hiked it about 15 years ago with my son and I said at that time would never hike it again. Fast forward now and my children are all married with some son-in-laws that love to hike. So I decided it was time to climb it again. After much planning over the past year we began our hike on July 2nd hiking from Bunny Flat to Lake Helen for the night. Since it was a holiday weekend, there were many people camping at Lake Helen. Many new acquaintances were made that day. At 0430 on July 3rd. we left Lake Helen and began our ascent. With perfect weather and some wind from Red Banks on, I summited at 0910 with my son-in-law arriving about an hour later. Our desent was a lot of fun glissading as much as we could back to base camp. After an hour rest we broke camp at 1500. The snow by this time of day was very soft but we were able to glassade much of the way to Horse Camp. We finally arrived back at Bunny Flat at 1630 feeling tired but pleased that we were able to climb this magnificent mountain. My son-in-law says he will never climb Mt. Shasta again. As for myself, I'm ready to do it again next year. |
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Kent Harris Comments: We started from Bunny Flats at 11:15 P.M. on June 24th. We summited at about 1:00 p.m. the next day. The storm closed in fast at the summit with violent hail and thunder. We hustled down to the Red Banks and were the last ones off the top. We Glissaded in whiteout conditions with only 20-30 feet visibility all the way to Helen Lake. It was the hardest hike I've ever done. We'll do it again next year! |
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Dan Swain Comments: I went with the SERAC Mountaineering Club. We Started our ascent at about 12:00 noon on Thursday May 5th, 2005. We left from Bunny Flats taking the Avalanche Gulch route. We reached Lake Helen about 5:30 that evening and made camp. We got up around 4:00 a.m. to begin our summit attempt. Conditions were good until we reached Red Banks. A stormed moved in, we planted wands and pressed on. We reached the summit at 2:00 p.m., there was a break in the white out for about 20 minutes while we were on the summit. We signed the summit log and took some photos, but the stormed started rolling in again so we started back down. We reached base camp at Helen Lake about 5:00 p.m. and decided to head down to Bunny Flat. We reached the trucks about 8:00 p.m.. It was a new altitude record for me and a very beautiful mountain (although we did not get a view of the mountain from the city, as it was in cloud cover the entire time). We had the mountain all to our selves and despite the storms the snow conditions were favorable. |
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Karen Holleran Comments: Made it to summit! Went with a small guided group 6/25-6/26. Did a short hike to Horsecamp on Saturday and set up our base camp (fresh water and solar composting toilets). That night a thunderstorm rolled in, and we were in bed by 8 pm wishing for the best. We woke up a little past midnight and were greateful to find clear weather. We left for the summit at 2 am Sunday morning, and reached it at noon. 1st attempt, and happy to say I made it (barely). Descending was fun and exciting, good glissading conditions. Beautiful mountain, and I hope to climb it again soon! |
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sharath bantwal Comments: Just returned from a memorable trip to shasta. Our party of five beginners to snow attempted to summit mt shasta via the avalanche gulch route.We had to turn back at red banks due to aproaching storm clouds around 10:00 am as it would have taken us around 1:00 pm to summit.It turned out to a good decision as the weather did turn bad as we started descending from lake helen. We had planned our trip well but failed to execute on our start time and were late by 3 hrs due to various reasons.We can't stress enough the importance of getting an early start so that you can cover maximum distance before the snow starts getting soft. |
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Jeff Veis Comments: On June 5th (my son's 11th birthday!) I and 6 other climbers summited Mt. Shasta via the West Face route. This was the first time I had attemped Shasta. We selected the West Face route to get away from the crowds on Avalanche Gulch. (We only saw one other party attempting this route the whole time). I reccomend bringing about 5-6 liters of water so you don't have to bother with melting snow. There is a nice water source right at horse camp where you can fill up your bottles so you don't have to truck all of it in from Bunny flat. |
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David Connolly Comments: I departed North Gate on Sept. 8, 2004 shortly after 1 am with a full backpack for the solo trip. I ascended the lower flanks of the Bolam Glacier, and traversed over to the Hotlum Glacier in between the middle and upper crevace field. The bergschrund near the Hotlum Glacier headwall prevented access to the upper chute, route 11a, so I circumvented clockwise (east) around the exposed ridge and ascended up the next glacial chute, route 12c. The ice conditions were very challenging up on the chute, because it was completely solid, and every step required hard crampon kicks and ice axe swings to achieve a proper bite. The exposed rock of the ridge assisted in securing quality holds as I ascended the ice. As I neared the summit, I chose to move off the ice and climbed the exposed rock ledge instead. To return in similar conditions, a belay with ice screw anchors would be a welcome security in the steep upper chute. I set up an alpine camp at 13, 800 ft, near the summit approaches of route 10, near the sulphur springs, which weren’t as odiferous as they are on some other cascade peaks. I completed the decent the following day along route 10. |
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Brian Hamilton Comments: I was first person of the year to make it to the top of Mt. Shasta and sign the summit register five times and made it to the summit ten times overall. Last summited on Jan. 1st,1999. Shasta's the best! Oh yeah, I used to be paralyzed from the waist down. |
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Rich LeBlanc Comments: On Father's Day 2001 and my 54th Birthday, I reached the summit of Mt. Shasta. I started the climbed from Bunny Flats late Saturday afternoon with a group of eight climbers that I had spent five weeks trekking in Nepal. We all arrived at Horse Camp at about 5:00pm. After setting camp and a hearty mountain meal we rested for the early morning assent at 2:00am. At early dawn we rested at Helen Lake. With crampons on we continued to the summit up avalanche gulch. Then a brief break for photo ops at Red Banks before pushing on to Misery hill and the false summit. At this point I was totally exhausted but determined to reach the summit. To my knowledge, I was the only one of our group left that had not turned back. The weather was ideal and I was convinced I had gone to far to turn back. This was a busy day on the gulch, at times it looked like a thousand climbers along the way. At last, I could see the summit, I was excited and the view was unbelievable. I could taste the summit. There were only a few hikers left. Then to my surprise I saw Tom, another survivor of our group, pop over the last ridge. I was no longer the lonely survivor of our group, we would be able to celebrate together. We reached the summit together just before 10:00am with plenty of time to savor view before our decent. |
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Maxwell Tubman Comments: I hiked Shasta twice with Adventure Treks the coolest hiking program ever, great mountain always a bundle of fun. I look forward to skiing this bad boy this coming summer. |
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Anindya Mukherjee (Raja) Comments: On September 21,2004 I climbed to the top of Mount Shasta by Hotlum-Bolum route.My companion was David Yifrah from Israel.We climbed Mt Shasta as part of a peace climb of the Everest Peace Project(www.everestpeaceproject.org).I still cherish the memories of cramponing up water ice up that face.The memories of Restaurant jade garden and its owner Cliff are also nice.Hope to get back there once more... |
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Andy Weiner Comments: Twenty-four years ago, in August of 1970, I climed Mt.Shasta, and from Horse Camp I reached the summit in eight hours, fifteen minutes. It was a tremendous experience, and the memory of it has stayed with me all this time. Good luck and happy climbing to everyone who aims for the summit of this majestic and magical peak. |
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Anthony Hitchings Comments: If you are going to get fit enough to do Shasta, think about doing MT. Rainier shortly thereafter (I did the RMI guided trip on Rainier). By the way, the only place I've seen someone coughing up blood was at the top of Whitney - probably because its so accessible folks don't do their homework on altitude problems. |
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David shepard Comments: It has allways been a goal for me. my Father and my brother have both reached the summit be for and i hope to do the same next year. |
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Mike Moody Comments: On Saturday, Sept. 27 a group of employees from CenterBoard in Pleasanton, CA and their sons left for the Summit. Folks on this trip included me (Mike Moody) and my son Robbie, Mark Melville (trip leader, who has completed Shasta many times, thanks Mark) and his son Scott, Leo Gelman and his son Daniel and Ascan Morlang. |
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Ben Studer Comments: A friend and I climbed Shasta over Labor Day weekend. We had tried last November and got turned back at about 10k ft by a nasty snowstorm. This time was completely different! The loose rock made for a tough climb but the views were amazing. We left Helen Camp around 4 AM and got to the summit around 9AM. I definitely recommend leaving in the morning to avoid rockfall and stay cool. |
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jim nemitz Comments: climbed mount shasta on augest 28th and 29th was a great challange more then mount whitney.had great weather and clear skies. |
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Paul Lee Comments: Summited September 5 around 9:00am with my friend from California. I was definitely surprised by the amount of loose rock and the scrambling around the Red Banks. But the work was all worth it, great day and great climb! |
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Ryan Wolfe Comments: (Boy Scouts Of America)Troop 1855 of folsom CA made it up to helen lake on saterday, sunday 14 out of 19 scouts and scouters made it up to the summit arround 12:00. this was one of the 1st extremely difficult backpacking trips we have ever been on, or will ever be on. CONGRADULATIONS to everyone that came with us on the trip. |
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Lothar Mader Comments: Sorry last entry went off before it was completed. This is the finish: The guys looked quite worn out, but made it to the top, despite leaving their breakfast on the way. The Steve Lewis Mt. Shasta book was of great help to us and I highly recommend it. Piece of advice: Tie down your tent at Helen and put your water cooker in the tent - Ours was flapping and rattling all night and I am not sure if I slept - it got us up early, though, and back to the parking lot before sunset. Lothar |
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Dave Millott Comments: 3 buddies and I from Jersey summited Shasta on Sunday August 15th. Great experience although we were in a little over our heads. |
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Wayne A. Loomis Comments: Our first ever attempt at the summit was everything that I expected it to be. We started our hike at the Clear Creek trailhead on 7-18-04 around 10:00 a.m. We hiked up to the only level camp above treeline at around 9,000 elevation. We just cruzed and took our time and made camp at 3:00 p.m. Later in the evening we climbed some phat vertical rocks at 9,800 feet just for fun. |
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Timothy Gruner Comments: A team of Fred, Dave and myself left from Baltimore, MD on July 14. We are a bunch of Engineers for NASA. We made it to Sacramento, CA on time...But had a little trouble with the car rental... So we had to make a little time on the drive to Mt Shasta. Got there just in time to get the rental gear and fuel for the stove. Had a huge meal at the bear and finished up the packing. Left in the morning early... and were on the trail at about 7:30am. Awesome weather... and the trip to horse camp seemed shorter than expected. We were on the 1000 feet an hour with 15 minutes breaks. Was a piece on cake till we got to the snow line. One of our members took a detour on the rocks... due to losing the trail. I made it to Helen Lake in under 5 hours. Fred was about 15 minutes behind me and Dave was another 30 behind him. Since it was during the week, there was only one other group there when we got there and another two groups showed up a little later. I was hungry and ate everything... like I did on Rainier the year before. The night was a little windy but not too bad. We got up at 3am and were on the trail at 4am. Little slower than I like... The first 1000 feet Dave was flying like a bat out of $#!! Getting up to 12,000 both Dave and Fred ran out of steam. I sat waiting for them for about 25 minutes... Fred then told me to just go... So off to the red banks... there was a nice Ice Bridge to climb over at the start of the main chute. Then I kicked into high gear. I did the next 800 feet in 20 minutes. I then waited at 13,000 feet with a guy who was also waiting for his team... after about a half hour I made the push up Misery Hill. It really was not that bad. What got me.. was how far the summit seemed... After taking a different route on the boulders... I was at the Summit a little before 9am. Then I got to meet lots of very interesting people. Being up there I got to take photos of all the other teams. After about 45 minutes I tried to call my team to see where they were... no luck... So started heading down... Looking at all the different views. I ran into Fred at 10:30 and he had another 45 minutes to the Summit... and Dave was another 15 minutes behind Fred. I checked out the Red Banks and jumped the Ice bridge. Then I took the quick route to camp. I made it to camp at 11:50. There I waited for Fred and Dave. I got to meet a church group that was going to climb that weekend. Lots of cool people to talk to. At 2:30 Fred made it back and 3:10pm Dave was back. Ask Dave how he lost the Ice Axe and what it feels like to fly at 60mph on snow... I was set to spend the night and Fred was out of energy. We all had made the Summit! Dave wanting a real bathroom... If you have been to Helen Lake and have to use a Target... Will feel for Dave. So we packed up camp and headed down. I left at 4pm and was back at the car at 5:45pm. Dave made it at 8pm... after forgetting just how long the route was. Note: Going up hill Fred and I were about 48lbs, Dave was 35lbs... On the way down Dave took the 10lb tent... Fred made it about 15 to 20 minutes later... Awesome Trip! We ended up with perfect weather (which appears to have not been as good the day after we summited). |
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Michael O'Brien Comments: Hi, |
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Gregg Metternich Comments: My father (Gary Metternich) and I summated the West Face Gully route on June 19th. From the parking area to base camp (Hidden Valley) it took around 5 hours, then another 8 hours to the summit the next day. It was my first ascent of Mt Shasta. Hidden Valley is one of the most scenic base camps I have ever been to. Incredible. There were only a few others ascending the west face, probably due to it's relentless 40-50 degree slopes. This route is lots of hard work but worth it when you get to glissade all the way down from the top of the west face (around 4000ft?) The face took 5 hours to ascend and only took 20 minutes to descend!!!! I'll be back next year for sure!!! |
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Shari Lynn Kersahw Channell Comments: Wow, This is such a great thing to do Bill and I are very proud of you and Robert!!! |
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Donna Ray Cramer Comments: Great story - sounds like you and Bobby had a wonderful and exciting time. I am very proud of both of you. Love, Nina and your sister !!! |
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Michael Ralston Comments: 7/09/04 2:00AM |
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Sean Quinn Comments: Really windy on the summit, I was actually knocked off my feet once. Helen to the summit 3.5hrs. (7/15/04) |
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Matthew Amundsen Comments: Actually our group made it to the summit from Helen Lake in 6 hours, not 4 - sorry! A couple of words of wisdom - wear a helmet - may not save your life if a giant boulder lands on you, but the peace of mind would have been nice since we didn't wear them. Set a steady pace and stay within your limits - you'll get there. |
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Matthew Amundsen Comments: We started at Bunny Flat on July 9th at 9:30am and spent the night at Helen Lake. Conditions were a bit cloudy the first day, but cleared overnight and at 4am when we woke up, the skies were clear. We headed out shortly after 5am and it took us just over 4 hours to reach the summit. Starting out that morning was tough and making it through the Red Banks seemed to be the most taxing part of the climb. Even at that time in the morning there was significant rockfall danger. Please keep that in mind if you're planning a climb soon. After the Red Banks, the rest was relatively easy to the summit. The weather was great, but the wind was a bear on Misery Hill. Glissading down was fun, but quite an adventure for me since I hadn't had much practice with an ice axe. What an awesome trip and worth every bit of training and planning. Our group consisted of the following people: Ben Davis of Tijuana, Mexico; Gary Cloud of Phoenix, AZ; Jon Olsen of Seattle and myself. You don't want to miss out on this mountain! God's creation is awesome and we saw it in full bloom! |
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Joel Champagne Comments: Had hiked White Mountain Peak 2 weeks before tackling Shasta on the July 4 weekend with my girlfriend, Wendy. I'm sure that helped a little, but mainly what seemed to make the difference was *determination*! We summitted around noon, glissaded back to camp by 3, got back to Bunny Flats before 9 (we were dragging our butts a bit). All in all, it only gets the adventure juices flowing, we're thinking of trying the Mountaineer's Route on Whitney now (class 3). |
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Josh Wiley Comments: My summit partner already told the story but I will throw in my two cents. I made it to the summit of Mt. Shasta on July 4th 2004. I was with my sister-in-law i.e. Carrie Ellis and two new friends Steve, and Erin. It was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen and look forward to my next summit. A special thanks to Carrie for coming up with this adventure. |
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walter orion Comments: Yea! Yahooooooooo! Ten of us summited on July 4th and raised over 3k for a charity. It was awesome to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. I couldn't sleep a wink at Helen Lake the night before summit day and was blown away to look out of my tent at 3am to see a long line of headlamps heading up the glacier toward the red banks. It was so sureal and reminded me of some sort of weird moving X-mas scene. The climb was a bit more taxing on me than I expected but the weather was picture perfect and the view form the top was breathtaking. Everyone I met were so considerate and positive. Eric the rangerman really impressed me with his demeanor and willingness to be open to all questions and people. Truly this was an experience of a lifetime. We wiil be back next year without a doubt. If there is a heaven on earth, Shasta country is as close to it as I have ever seen. Returning back to my life I feel transformed and filled with peace. Oh sacred Shasta I will be back very soon. |
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Carrie Ellis Comments: After much research, including reading this summit log several times, I finally am able to contribute my own Mt. Shasta moment! I summited as a *first timer* on the July 4th (‘04) weekend. Unlike others, I actually found hiking the mountain along with tons of other people to be an extra added bonus, because, in short, hikers are a pretty cool and incredibly unique bunch. I enjoyed every single “good morning,” “keep going,” “you can do it,” and “I Love this place,” exchange that occurred throughout the weekend. Without a doubt, this was a GREAT experience! Although I diligently planned ahead for many months, and further, have lived a lifetime with the mountain in my presence, nothing would prepare me for just how massive and surreal the mountain became upon treading my first steps onto the summit trail. |
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Kara Grigson Comments: I camped at Horse Camp and hit the Summit Trail at around 2 am. I arrived at the top at 9:38 am. I would suggest planning on glisading down. I was silly and didn't bring an ice ax and had to walk down. This was not as much fun as going up, not to mention jealous of all the smiling people whizzing past me on their butts!!! This mountain is steep, and then you turn a corner and it is steeper, then it gets steeper, and right when you are almost to the top of the Red Banks, it gets steeper once again. This is the best hike I have ever done. I am hooked on glacier/snow climbing now! Enjoy it soon while the conditions are still perfect. |
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Cheryl Tobin Comments: I have climbed the Mountain three times, but just this week, me and my son, Brian, completed the circumnavigational route. It was awesome! We both feel a great sense of accomplishment! Ash Creek and Mud Creek crossings were almost too much for me!! I was very scared of both! Beautiful flowers everywhere on the Mountain with spectacular views! A great experience. |
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V.D. Hager III Comments: Summited 6/26/04 , from Horse Camp , 28th year of climbing Shasta , excellent weather , still too much fun ... |
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Peter Sutherland Comments: Left Horse camp at 2:30, summited at 10:30 under clear skies. Mild winds on the top, no issues to speak of. The route was loaded with folks, will probably attempt another route next year. I will never look at that mountain or myself the same way again, now that I have reached her summit. |
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Dan Ripke Comments: Just returned from a group "summiting" of Mt. Shasta. The northern California Rotary Clubs held a fund-raising "Reach the Peak" event. I went with the first group to head for the summit. There were 8 in our group (plus 3 guides from Shasta Mt. Guides), including a wonderful reporter, Chelsea, from the local news station, who carrier a TV camera all the way to the top. The mountain is full to tricks. Every time you think you're almost at the top, there's more. The weather is also very tricky. We had just achieved the top, with beautiful weather. Suddenly, the temperature dropped 15 degrees and clouds and thunderheads started to billow. We had to race down below Misery Hill to avoid the lightening. I loved the whole trip, especially after to I got down below 8,000 and could breath normally again. Come prepared, and show the Shasta the respect it deserves! |
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Marc Comments: successfully summited on June 17th via avalanche gulch route in about 10 1/2 hours from the cabin. Thanks for the great support of our local guides David and Phat. they really made all the difference. |
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Naum Zharnitsky Comments: My Name Naum , I am 68 years old, 6 years after large heart attack, but I try sammit Shasta. June 25, Ist night we slept in tent at Horse Camp, 9am We start to climb for Helen Lake. A lot of snow. |
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