WAs slated for Rainer this last weekend, but the Avy danger was too high. So we decided to make a run at Shasta.
Great trip. Drove down and camped at Bunny Flat on Saturday. The next day our group split to try two different routes. One group of 5 did the Avalanche gulch route. one threw his back out, and one suffered Altitude sickness and could not make it So three were able to summit. They hiked to Helen Lake (just above 10K) and stayed the night. Then went up the Gultch and onto the summit.
My group of 3 took a slightly more technical route called the Casaval route. This involved running a ridge line to the West of Avalanche Gulch to the summit. Really pretty route. Couple pretty steep places and some cat walks along the way. We roped up for one portion, but decided the extra time involved doing a running belay on a picket line with a short rope would have allowed the snow to heat up and become less stable so we got off the rope and used pick axes and crampons to gain the 300 feet of 50 degree slope. After that we intersected with the Avalanche Gulch route for the last 600-700 feet of climb to the summit. We went down the Avalanche Gulch route back to the Bunny Flat trailhead and bugged out to Weed CA to get a hotel for the night. Due to the fact we did a loop, the three of us on the Casaval route ended up carrying our packs to the summit. Mine was 45#. Drove home on Tuesday.
At 14,179 this was my first 14K peak. Survived with minimal sunburns and pain. (mental note: apply sunscreen to the bottom of your nose if you are doing a climb like this!)
