Bag a Peak - Mt Shasta

[scot'teryx]

Hit Bunny flats last Thursday (6/21/01) and left for Helen Lake base camp Friday am. 2 of our 6 climbers turned around abouve Horse Camp(1 was sick, and was married to the sick one) Hot as hell, hit the snowfields just before the 50/50 flats and ascended to Base Camp at 10,400 feet. Boiled water and took in the sun, as it was still 100 degrees up there, with a slight breeze. We all almost melted! Left Saturday morning around 315 am and ascended the avalanche gulch as almost all the other routes were melted out except for some of the North Side routes. Rangers told us it was going to be nutz, but there were only about 25 tents on Friday night. About 4 parties were ahead of us on Saturday morning, and we hit the main chimney by the Red Banks and ascended slowly. I was test driving Diamox and it did nothing to help me, but I did not puke, so maybe it did? At the top of the Red Banks at 12,900 feet, you could feel the altitude, and my wife gasped for air and drank a ton of water. 40 mph winds on Misery Hill, although it was only about 30 degrees out, made the wind chill quite cold. We hit the summit plateau which was a nice relief and then hit the summit pinnacle at about 8am. Good cell phone reception up there! Not much to see though except for the baren landscape of N. California. We had to hit the glissade route too early as there were so many idiots up there in shorts with no ice axes or crampons! Tons of cotton and sneakers! No wonder there are so many accidents up there. Many people sleeping and getting sick on the side of the route on the way down as they came up the chimneys like a large army of ants. Very rude folks, and many did not understand the yielding procedures. Ranger told us not to glissade as it was way too icy and dangerous, but it was too hard for me to deny! It was fast and took all I had to leverage my axe and push as hard as I could to brake. Halfway down I had to self arrest as I was going way too fast and was about to converge into the main glissade chute that was about 1.5 feet deep. After arresting with my pick dug deep into the ice, I slipped and started to slide down the chute with no axe until my leash caught me and saved my ass from sliding down uncontrollably to certain pain and agony. After figuring out my situation and unable to reach my axe (as the leash was 2 incehs too long) I dug steps with my boots in the side of the chute and climbed out on the icy route. Got my adrenaline pumping! We then let a few others pass us in the glissade path as they softened it up a little bit. We got down to the bottom rather fast and watched all the other climbers plunge step for hours to descend to the base camp. AFter packing up, the grueling heat and dusty trail made for the not so pleasant descent, but we did it, so all was good. Mt Adams, you're next (July 10/11)