Pics and a video from my favorite mountain.
Mt. Shasta is a massive glaciated volcano in northern California. At 14,179 ft tall, it’s the second tallest of the Cascade volcanoes (Washington’s Mt. Rainier–which I climbed a couple years ago–is a few hundred feet taller). The beauty of the mountain, the excellent snow conditions, the fun-ness of the route, my fitness on the route, and the views from the top combined to make this my favorite mountain that I’ve ever climbed.
I camped at the trailhead (elevation: 6,900 ft), woke up at 3 am, was hiking by 3:20, hit snow at 4:45 at 8,800 feet, and was on top at 8:10, making for a time of 4 hours 50 minutes for 7,300 feet of vertical elevation gain. I passed about 24 people–everyone that was on the mountain at the time–and had the summit to myself for the 45 minutes I was up there.
As with all of my photos, click for a larger version.
Mt. Shasta from the north on I-5
The mountain and my route (drawn in) from the city of Mt. Shasta
The mountain from the trailhead.
The equipment I took. I did not take the pad everything is on.
I put my binoculars up to my camera and took this photo of the upper portion of the route. You can see the tracks in the snow and the path through the cliff band (called the Red Banks).
Starting to get light.
This is one of my favorite photos ever. Check out the shadow of the mountain!
Heading up through the Red Banks, the crux of the route.
Looking down from the Red Banks
Looking down Misery Hill, the section above the Red Banks
From the summit plateau, looking toward the true summit.
Looking down from the summit onto one of the mountain’s glaciers.
Me on top.
Coming down, I donned my ridiculous-but-awesome sun hat.
The stone “causeway” near Horse Camp. Now THAT is a trail.
Below is a video I took on the summit. If you can’t see it, click here.