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It was late Sunday afternoon and I was driving through the faded yellow hills of Lake County, on my way south, back from Mount Shasta City.
MT. SHASTA, CA
Dave2004-02-21 15:11:24
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It was late Sunday afternoon and I was driving through the faded yellow hills of Lake County, on my way south, back from Mount Shasta City. I thought back to three days ago when I had one goal for the weekend, and that was to summit the highest mountain in the north state. I thought back to my time high on the mountain.
I was perched on the edge of an icy chute, halfway way down an area known as Red Banks, at about 12,800 feet. It was early morning, the sun was barely touching the tops of the western hills. I was slowly negotiating this narrow steep passageway with my ice ax and crampons. Every step required that I jam the pick of my ax into the slippery ice. The steepness, narrowness, and beautiful blue ice of the passageway forced me into a slow descent. Perhaps it was the effects of the altitude or a dangerous miscalculation, but about 3/4 of the way down this steep chute my right foot missed its slippery toehold on the blue ice, and I slipped. Dangling from my ice ax and my precarious foothold with my left crampon, I looked down about 4000 feet and began to pray...
Ever since I was a child I have wanted to climb Mt. Shasta. I remember driving on the 5 freeway and being impressed by its massive flanks as early as the age of 6.
Recently I organized a trip to climb this mountain. I realized that the odds were probably against us. The stats do not lie; only 33 percent of those that attempt that summit actually do make the top. Our trip date was the end of August. We hoped for good weather, but we were highly aware that Mount Shasta creates its own weather, and a violent storm could happen ANY time of the year. At 14,162 feet tall this is the tallest mountain in Northern California. It is the second tallest volcano in the lower 48 states, just below Mt. Rainier's elevation of 14,411 feet. Currently its an inactive volcano; it last blew its top in 1786. In the last 750 years, Shasta has exploded about once per 250 years. This means if you do the math, Shasta may blow its top sometime in the next 40 years.
Today there are eight glaciers on the mountain. These persist year round, although in the winter months they are covered with snow. The best time to see the actual glacier is in the summer months when the snow has melted and you can see the natural light or dark blue color. Whitney Glacier, on the flanks of north west Shasta is by far the biggest glacier in the entire state of California. The best view of this glacier can be seen from the summit plateau at about 14,000 feet. California's best and biggest glaciers are found on Mt. Shasta.
See photographs from:
United States Gallery
