This was my third visit to the mount Shasta region and the second time attempting to scale it. For this trip I was supposed to climb with Christoph, Melanie, Sanket and Kunal but Kunal had to pull out at the last minute due to messing up his back and his dad's health problem. This was a guided trip with the guide ratio 3:1 but because Kunal pulled out we ended up having a ratio of 2:1 with an extra guide Matt joining our lead guides Kique and Tyler.
Before the trip Kique had told us that one of the most exposed section of this route namely the Catwalk had lost a big chunk. Kique showed us some pictures from the previous weeks. During the pre trip meeting he was concerned if we were up to the challenge of going up this super exposed route digging our ice axes into dirt / ice or snow!
This was a 3 day trip with a single camp. The first day was a short 4 hour approach to our base camp at Giddy Giddy. We were to attempt the summit through the Casaval Ridge on day 2 by leaving around 3am. Our camp site was beautiful over-looking the mess and crowded region of the Helen lake region.
We were supremely lucky with the weather. It was clear and not windy. One of my favorite photos of the trip was taken by Christoph with his cell phone of this night sky. Not sure how he managed to do this.
This is how the night looked when we started our summit bid on day 2 at 3am. It was pretty warm with no wind!
The first 2 - 3 hours traversing the ridge was quite brutal. Sanket turned around after a strenuous 60 degree roped pitch. Before the tripped he had rolled his ankle and the constant incline was not helping. The 60 degree pitch was exposed and his non mountaineering boots were flexing with the crampons. His ankle was hurting a lot and he and the guide were worried regarding the next two steep sections.
 |
| Ridge route |
After, this we went through the U notch and entered the famed catwalk. Almost all parties turned away from the catwalk and chose the west ridge or the west face route instead. But Kique was confident that we would manage to cross this "unpassable" section. It helped that we had a second guide in Matt.
 |
| Catwalk |
Once the catwalk was over the rest of the route was gently and mainly a matter of mental fortitude. The views were brilliant and weather was calm. We need to cross misery hill and tag the summit. Melanie was racing as usual and me and Christoph could feel the altitude and lack of oxygen. I have never had altitude sickness but had a slight headache, not sure due to altitude or lack of caffeine! We crossed misery hill took a small break and reached the summit.
 |
| Above the catwalk |
 |
| Misery hill in front with the summit behind |
 |
| Summit as seen from top of Misery Hill |
 |
| Shasta Summit with me, Matt, Melanie and Christoph (left to right) |
Reaching the summit was the icing on the cake but the route and approach was gorgeous. I was saddened that Kunal had to miss and Sanket go down half way but as they say a mountain goes no where and reaching the summit was never our goal. We wanted to have a fun time on the mountain learn more, push our limits and get excited for the next trip. This was the first big trip I did after getting engaged and I am glad that my fiancee Priyal supports me in my endeavors!
We hiked down to the Thumb (beside Red Banks) and glissaded 2000ft close to helen lake from where we traversed back to our camp in super soft snow.
Trip video thanks to Google photos:
