Mount Shasta is a 4hrs drive north of San Francisco. I first heard about mount Shasta from Arpit who had been to Shasta a year ago. Always wanting to try to climb a mountain I was excited to find out that Shasta is a relatively easy route to climb and very good for beginners. Arpit recommended SWS mountain guides and I booked the trip while vacationing in Alaska. Shasta has a pretty massive prominence and it is visible quite far from the freeway.
This would be my first trip to a 4000m peak. Something I had wanted to do for a long time since getting exposed to snow hiking in Freiburg and going up Herzogenhorn multiple times. Needless to say I was extremely excited. I was mainly using my hiking and camping gear without spending too much money on mountaineering equipment not knowing if this is something that I would like.
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| All gear |
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| View of the peak from Shasta city |
The plan was that this will be a 'quick' 1.5 day trip with Kunal and Nikhil. At the time Kunal was my flatmate from my previous internship with whom I had hiked a lot. This would be his first snow hiking experience but knowing him I was sure he would push through anything. The itinerary was to camp at 50:50 or Helen Lake and then attempt the summit via avalanche gulch through the red banks.
We met our guide Matt at SWS who introduced us to Loney and 2 other clients who would be climbing with us. We did a quick pack check then head off to the trailhead. The approach to 50:50 which was our camp site was pretty tiring with zero snow and lot of sun. We labored to camp site and were all glad to set camp. After setting camp we got some basic instructions on cramponing and self arrest as this was going to be the first time me, Kunal and Nikhil were using crampons.
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| Approach to 5050 |
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| Camp ground at 5050 |
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| View of Helen Lake and Avalanche Gulch in 2015 with Casaval ridge on the left |
We had dinner and retired for the night early so that we could get up early for an alpine start. It was hard to fall a sleep. I was really excited about summit day after dreaming about going up a big mountain for such a long time. I somehow managed to sleep and was woken up by Matt. Groggy with slumber I woke up quickly changed and packed my gear. I was not hungry or thirsty but this was the last chance at having anything warm so I had a cup of coffee and downed couple of packets of oatmeal with warm water.
We started at 2 in the morning and labored our way through the avalanche gulch in total darkness. Some others had left before us and the line of flashlights in a distance looked quite mesmerizing. Almost like a slow serpent climbing the slope. The weather quickly turned against us and it started drizzling and hailing a bit. I was losing hope that we will have to turn around without being able to try at all. After a little bit we heard lightening in the distance and the rain clouds started moving in. Matt was constantly checking his phone for weather and told us that he thinks it will clear but worse case we will turn around. We were quite close to calling it off but luckily for us the weather held up and we managed to reach red banks.
I think it took us a good 4 hours to reach red banks from the base camp. The wind picked up at red banks and one of our co climbers began to feel really cold. We were contemplating whether to turn back. Her gloves were wet and she was quite cold. I had a spare pair of gloves which I offered her. She mentioned that she had an extra which she changed into and decided to give it one more shot and knowing that the sun would come out. I knew this was quite decisive as both me and Kunal were also laboring. Kunal was quite spent and I feel would have turned around if another person would turn. The weather soon started to improve with the sun coming out and we all started feeling better. The win dropped and the smiles came back :)
Mount Shasta is notorious for its false summits. For those unaware, false summits are the highest visible point from the location and it feels like the summit but it is not. Climbers need to be aware of this otherwise it is quite easy to exhaust yourself spending all the energy reaching this point with all you have only to be dejected once there. Kunal was subjected to this. He saw the high point of Misery hill thinking that it was the summit and really got depleted and dejected to see the real summit.
We took a little break on top of misery hill but the air was quite thin and the wind was picking up. I could feel a lot of energy inside me seeing the true summit from top of misery hill. This was probably my adrenaline kicking in. I asked Matt if I could walk ahead alone for a bit given the terrain eased out on top to which he agreed. At this point I was just thinking about the journey and was sure that nothing could prevent be from reaching the top.
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| Top of Misery Hill with the last few hundred meters to the summit behind me |
We finally did manage to reach the top and my first 4000m peak! These are some of my rare photos where I am genuinely smiling :)
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| View of the Hotlum Bolum glacier from the top of misery hill |
On my way down I absolutely knew that this will be the first of many mountain trips. I was also contemplating the journey this far and was glad that I tried to climb Mount Shasta. It was immensely rewarding and I was sure to follow it up with other mountains and come back to Shasta one day.
