Mt. Shasta (2013 Mazama Climb 002)

Mt. Shasta from Weed, CA

If you have ever driven on I-5 from Oregon to California, it is hard to miss seeing Mt. Shasta.  It is already impressive at 14,179 feet, and being so close to I-5 makes it all the more amazing.  I was familiar with Shasta because I saw it every summer growing up when my family took an annual roadtrip from Olympia to central California to visit my grandparents.  I always enjoyed seeing this huge volcano off to the east and the wonderful scenery which includes crossing Shasta Lake before descending to Redding and the rest of the northern California valley.

Climb leader, Amy Brose Mendenhall

This climb was led by Mazama climb leader Amy Brose Mendenhall.  It was not a Glacier Snake climb, but I still had high expectations that it would be fun climb.  I had climbed with Gary and another Amy previously, and had hiked with Noelle, so I knew it would be a solid group.  The climb was scheduled for four days, but two of those days are travel days.  I was not too sure what to expect in terms of what the climb would actually be like.  I knew from the prospectus that the climb would have 7,200 feet of elevation gain over two days with our camp being about halfway up the mountain.   I did have a little beta about this climb.  Opa Snake had said in an e-mail two weeks prior:

"We were able on Sunday to get to the top of Shasta and put 12 of 12 up there in what can only be described as pretty adverse conditions – hail, snow, 20mph sustained and very little snow left on that mountain."   

Amy told us prior to leaving town  that we were going to have very warm weather, a snow pack that is below normal for this time of year, and light winds, but no rain or snow expected.

My carpool group left Portland around 11:30 on a Thursday morning and arrived in Weed, California at 6:30pm.  We were delayed by stops at Goodwill stores in both Eugene and Grants Pass as there was urgent need by one of our climbers to purchase a swimsuit as we had been promised a pool and a hot tub at the motel in Weed.  Of course, once we got to the motel, we were informed that the pool and hot tub were out of service for renovation, and our suggested option by the clerk was to go jump in Lake Siskiyou.  We decided to get dinner instead at a Thai restaurant which turned out to be pretty underwhelming and I think we would have been better off jumping in the lake.  We returned back to the motel and the other two cars arrived.  We distributed our group gear then the eight of us, split into two motel rooms, packed up and then went to bed.

At the Bunny Flat trailhead pre-climb

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to the Bunny Flat trailhead.  Amy told us the night before that normally the major hazards on this climb are rockfall, weather, and altitude.  But, since it was going to be so warm, heat would be a major factor.  Amy told us that she would be taking the entire trip up to our campout spot and the climb the following day slowly.  She reminded us to keep hydrated and to take plenty of breaks on both days.  She also told us that since we had heavy packs to get to camp, that we should not burn outselves out on the first day.

We arrived at Bunny Flat, elevation 6,900 feet, at around 9:00am.  We filled out our backcountry and climb permits, adjusted our packs, locked up the cars, and then started our climb around 9:30.  It was 94 degrees in Weed the day before, and we knew that it would be hot again on this day.  We knew we needed to keep a good enough pace to beat the afternoon heat, but still go slow enough where we would not overheat.

Natural spring at Horse Camp

The first part of our climb was a 1.8 mile hike up to Horse Camp at 7,900 feet.  It was a easy hike up to our first stop.  There is a shelter built by the Sierra Club in 1922 that is usually closed, but today there was a volunteer who had the shelter open.  There were fresh natural springs to refill our water bottles, and solar compost toilets, the last chance to use the facilities without needing a "blue bag" as there are no other compost toilets above this point.  

Group shot at Horse Camp

After taking a nice break, we continued another half mile on a stone path before turning northeast onto Spring Hill eventually to 50/50 flat.  We took breaks along the way and kept a slow pace as the weather warmed up quickly.  We passed a number of climbers coming down who had made the entire trip from Bunny Flat to the summit and back in one day.  The advantage of doing that is that you don't need to carry a large pack, but of course the disadvantage is a strenuous 7,200 feet of elevation gain to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain.

Heading up Spring Hill

By the time we got to 50/50 flat at 9,400 feet, we were all pretty tired.  The temperature was very warm and our energies were being depleted, but we made the final push and finally topped out at Helen Lake Camp at 10,400 feet around 3:00pm.  We were surprised that we made such good time considering that we took a purposefully slow climb on a hot day.  Once at camp, we set up our tents.  Two of the tents were on rock and the other two were on snow.  There were probably 20 other tents at camp, with most of those occupants planning to climb the next day.  We melted snow and filtered water for drinking, and then around 5:00pm, we boiled our water for our dinner.  We had a casual evening where we just hung out.  The plan would be to get up at 2:00am and start our climb at 3:00am.  We were all in bed at 8:00pm.

Camping on snow

I can't say it was a very restful 6 hours of sleep.  I kept dozing in and out of sleep, but I did manage about 2 1/2 hours of solid slumber.  Since I usually go to bed around 11:00pm or later, going to bed at 8:00pm was tough even though I was tired.  For some reason, I woke up on my own without an alarm clock around 1:30 am.  I tried to get 30 more minutes of sleep, but it wasn't happening.  Soon, the rest of the climbing team was getting up, so I did the same.  I got dressed, put on my boots and crampons, ate some of my Dave's Killer Bread Sin Dawg for breakfast, and was ready to go when we all assembled just before 3.  We left camp at 3:05 with Amy reminding us that we would keeping a slow but steady pace all the way up the mountain.

Our route up Avalanch Gulch

Our first leg was to climb up to "The Heart" which is a large rock outcropping starting at 11,500 feet or so.  As we climbed, one of climb members became very nauseous and though she tried to keep climb, she made the decision to around and return to camp before the climb would become to steep where another climber would have to go with her.  The rest of us felt fine and continued climbing.  

Through the chutes of Red Banks

At "The Heart" we took a sharp turn to the east and headed up to "Red Banks" at 12,800 feet.  "Red Banks" is a large stretch of rock that is much lighter in color than the rest of the mountain.  At the base of "Red Banks," there is a steep chute which we needed to ascend before we would plateau out 13,200 feet.  The 7 of us made our way up the chute and then at the top, we had our first views of Misery Hill.  Misery Hill is an old volcanic cone that we would have to ascend before crossing another plateau to the summit block.  We took a break before heading up Misery Hill, but once we started going, I had a really tough time.  I was totally zapped.  I don't know if it was the heat from the previous day, a lack of sleep, hydration issues, or the altitude.  I wasn't sure if I could make it, but Amy kept that slow and steady pace as she had all morning, and we all made it to the top of the hill where we saw the summit block ahead of us.  

Summit block of Mt. Shasta

We crossed a snowfield and made a short ascent to the base of the summit block.  We kick stepped our way until finally we reached the summit at 8:30am.  We gave each other high fives and took some summit photos.  There were probably 20 other people on the summit when we arrived.  The winds were sustained from 15-25 miles per hour from the base of Misery Hill up to the summit, so we didn't stay long. 

Group summit shot

We headed back down the mountain.  When we back to the chute through Red Banks, we downclimbed using self belays.  Quite a few people were still coming up.  We passed a guy and his girlfriend who were climbing up without ice axes and helmets and the girlfriend was complaining about the climb.  I thought to myself that even if the two of them made it back down the mountain safely, I'm not sure that their relationship would last much longer.

Once below Red Banks, we were able to glissade down along the Heart.  The glissades were fast because of the sleep slope of the route.  Once below the Heart, we glissaded all the way down to camp and arrived there right at noon.  Although we had initially planned to stay a second night at Helen Lake, it was early enough where we all knew we should just pack up right after lunch.  At 2:00pm, we were all packed up and we continued down the mountain.  We only had one glissade chute that petered out above 50/50 flat because the snow was so soft.  We tried other glissade chutes with little or no luck.  But, we still made good time down to Horse Camp and then after a break at Horse Camp, finished our hike out arriving back at the trailhead at 4:30pm.  We ate some salty snacks, congratulated each other, packed up our cars, and drove off.  Since it would be dangerous to drive 6 hours back to Portland after this climb due to all our lack of sleep, a decision was made to drive to Medford and stay overnight at a hotel.  We arrived in Medford around 6:30pm.  We checked in, took showers, and then had a nice casual dinner where Amy passed out our summit certificates  We woke up the next day, had breakfast, and returned to Portland, arriving in the late afternoon.

Many thanks to our climb leader Amy, and our other climbers, Amy, Bianca, Noelle, Gary, Brian, and Bridget for a really fun time.  It was a great climb!

All of my photos from the trip can be seen here:
Mt. Shasta photo album 

Mt. St. Helens - Private Climb (05/04/13)

Having climbed Mt. St. Helens as a Mazama climb last year, I thought it would be fun to return to the mountain for a private climb.  It would be a great way to get some conditioning in for other climbs this year.  My plan was to organize a group of people to climb MSH in the first good weather weekend prior to the May 15th cutoff when the 100 climber per day quota goes into effect.  Though there were 7 or 8 people initially interested in climbing MSH, when all was said and done, there were just three us.  Beth and Kat, both of whom were graduates of Andrew Bodien's BCEP group this year, and me.  Beth and Kat graciously agreed to pick up my permit the night before as they were going to camp out at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park, while I was going to drive up early in the morning.  With warm weather predicted, we decided that a 5:30am meet time at the Sno-Park would be ideal.

Earmuff Snake climbed MSH three days prior and she gave me all the beta in terms of snow conditions.  Plus, she left me with good kick steps and glissade chutes, at least that's what she said she did.  She started at 7am and got back to her car at 3:00pm.  Though I did not expect to make the round trip in 8 hours, I was aiming to beat the time from my Mazama climb of St. Helens last year of about 11 hours.

I arrived at the trailhead at about 5:15am.  Beth and Kat were already packing up their tent.  We agreed that we probably would not need crampons since it was 44 degrees at the trailhead, but we brought them anyway just in case.  We also decided that we would need snowshoes based on my climb last year in similar conditions and on Earmuff Snake's observations from her climb earlier in the week.  And, of course we had our ice axe and all the gear we would need for a successful climb.

By the time we were situated, it was 5:50 am.  We started up the trail.  The first 1,400 feet to the Loowit Trail intersection is a gradual incline.  It took a full two hours to get to the Loowit Trail because the snow was already soft since it did not freeze overnight.  We were joined by a lot of climbers and downhill skiers hoping for good backcountry runs.

Above 4,000 feet, the incline increased.  We crossed over a ridge of rocks and then continued our climb up at about a pace of 1,000 feet per hour.  At that point, my co-worker, Jonathan, and his wife, who started their climb at 7am, passed us which is kind of demoralizing considering that we got over an hour head start on them.  But, we continued up.  The winds were very strong blowing out of the east around 30 mph with an occasional gust to 40 miles per hour.  Fighting to keep balance and push forward through the wind was energy consuming.  But, the weather was sunny and we had nice views of Mt. Adams to our east and Mt. St. Helens to our south to make the climb at least somewhat enjoyable.  We took a few breaks along the way.   Beth and Kat were the speedsters of the group and I was struggling to keep up, but I kept a steady pace and the other two did not seem to be annoyed by the slower pace due to the baby weight from my son's birth last spring that I still have not lost.

The last hill that starts at about 7,300 feet all the way up to the rim was the toughest just because so much energy had already been expended.  We saw ahead of us a long line of people on the boot bath heading to the rim.  We finally summitted at just after noon.  I counted about 75 people on the rim itself when we arrived.  A ranger who kept pace with us throughout the climb estimated there were 300 people out climbing Mt. St. Helens.

Once at the summit, we took pictures and ate lunch.  The cornices were not as scary as last year, but of course, I was careful not to get to close to the edge.  We saw some steam coming out of the crater which I thought was neat and had nice views of Mt. Rainier to our northeast.  After eating our lunch and taking some photos, we prepared our glissade gear and headed down the mountain.  Since it was so warm, the glissade chutes had soften up, but we still had good enough paths to get down quickly.  Our last glissade took us to nearly the 4,000 foot level where we intersected with the Loowit Trail.  At that point, we put on the snowshoes and then trudged our way pack to the car arriving at 4:05pm.  10 hours and 15 minutes was definitely an improvement from last year, but I would still like to increase my climbing speed to get down to that 8 hours.  I said my goodbyes to Beth and Kat and headed home for a nice steak dinner.

I've decided that I'm going to try climbing MSH every year prior to May 15th for the conditioning.  MSH is a simple, straightforward climb as long as you are in good physical condition for the 5,500 foot ascent, and that you have the appropriate gear (crampons, snowshoes, etc.).

See the complete photo album here:  Mt. St. Helens photos

Glacier Snake Climb: Mt. Daniel (2012 Mazama Climb 090)

Mt. Daniel, at 7,960 feet, is the highest peak in both King and Kittitas Counties in the Alpine Lake Wilderness.  The Alpine Lake Wilderness itself is a beatiful area in the central Washington Cascade range and the wilderness contains other spectacular peaks such as Mt. Stuart, Dragontail, and Colchuck Peak.  Mt. Daniel itself is made up of five peaks: West Summit, Middle Summit, East Peak, West Pyramid and Northwest Peak  The West Summit is the true summit even though topo maps state that the East Peak is.  Since the West Summit is the true high point, it was our objective for the climb.

We met at the Cathedral Pass trailhead on Friday afternoon with an anticipated departure time at 1:00pm.  My carpool buddy, Andrew, and I were the first car there.  We made great time leaving Portland at 6:00am and arriving in Cle Elum just after 10.  We drove through Roslyn (think Northern Exposures TV show) and then to Forest Service Road 4330 where we would drive 10 miles to Tucquala Lake which is where the Cathedral Pass trailhead is.  Because the roads were so bad, it took us an hour to travel the final 10 miles.  Though we were ontime, the rest of our climbing party was delayed by the road conditions.  Fortunately for me and Andrew, we had more than enough time to prepare our packs, eat our lunches, and get situated.  After the other vehicles showed up, we split our group gear, did introductions, and began our climb around 2:30pm.

As the title suggests, this was a Glacier Snake Climb led by Obi Wan Danobi Snake (Daniel).  Also on the climb was Hungry Snake (Dan).  We had two new Glacier Snake graduates who would be officially named during the climb.  The Cathedral Pass trail crosses the Cle Elum River at around 3,200 feet elevation and then immediately ascends about 1,600 feet to the top of a ridge.  Once on the top, it was a short hike to Squaw Lake where we took a break, ate some food, and traded ropes.  We continued northward and climbed another 800 feet to Cathedral Pass enjoying views of Cathedral Rock directly ahead of us and Mt. Stuart off in distance behind us.  Once at the pass, we turned onto the Peggy's Pond trail which is not maintained and required some downclimbing as we scooted around the southwest side of Cathedral Rock.  We had to cross two separate snowfields , one of which had a significant runoff that required us to scramble up and around the snow.  Slowly, but surely, we made our way to Peggy's Pond which was only partially melted out.  There were enough melted out areas where we all were able to set up our tents on the rock instead of the snow. After setting up tents, we made dinner, filtered water, and Obi Wan Danobi Snake informed us that we would leave at 6:30 the next morning.

Though the winds picked up overnight, I was able to get a reasonable night's sleep.  The next morning, we rolled out of our tents, ate breakfast, put our climbing gear together, and headed off at around 6:45am.  West Summit is not visible from Peggy's Pond, but East Peak is.  We knew that to get to West Summit we would have to get to a saddle directly south of East Peak.  So, we started up a hill directly to our west which would soon become the southeast ridge of the mountain.  We did not need crampons, though we did carry them with us.  We kicked stepped our way up the snow.  The snow did not entirely set overnight, yet it was firm enough to get some good steps in.  We were more or less in the snow for the first 1,000 feet above Peggy's Pond and then when the ridge became more defined, we were able to move onto a primitive dirt trail with cairns leading the way.  Directly below us to our south, we enjoyed views of Venus Lake, Circle Lake, and Spade Lake.  Venus and Circle Lakes were just starting to melt out and waters below were a beautiful light blue color.  Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams were easily visible beyond the lakes.

At around 7,000 feet our ridge curved to the north and though we saw a traverse across the snow to the East Peak Saddle, we decided to scramble up the sometimes 3rd class rock because some in our climbing party thought it would be more fun.  We were making good time and though it was starting to warm up, the energy level of the entire group was still strong.    The scramble did not cause us any major problems until right before the saddle where there was a minor gendarme that was too sketchy to get around without protecting because the dropoff was significant.  So, Obi Wan Danobi Snake and his assistant, Chelsea, set up a fixed line while the rest of us put on our harnesses.

We made it around gendarme easily, but then the trail descended below the ridgeline before climbing back up to the saddle of East Peak.  It was here that a couple of climbers got really nervous because the trail itself is sketchy and the angle of the drop off is significant.  We all made it to the saddle safely and started to the northwest towards Middle Summit.  We saw a high angle snowfield that we would have to cross ahead of us, but before we got there, the climbers who probably never recovered from the previous section, became sketched out because of the dropoff below the trail.  Though they tried to continue, it became clear that the next section would be to nerve wracking to go on.  A few of us felt that we could safety continue on the trail if we proceeded carefully, but with members of the group who did not feel the same way, Obi Wan Danobi Snake rightfully had us regroup and we discussed our options.  Obi Wan Danobi Snake made the call to return to the saddle and there we decided not to proceed towards West Summit.  Since East Peak was right there, and it became clear that it was nothing more than a 3rd class scramble, we decided to scramble to the top and there we treated to terrific views of West Summit and Middle Summit to our west, Mt. Rainier to the south, Glacier Peak to the northeast, and Mt. Stuart to the east.  Obi Wan Danobi Snake declared that he would issue Summit Certificates for Mt. Daniel - East Peak.  We took a lot of pictures while on the summit and then descended back to the saddle.

From the saddle, we plunge stepped our way down to the boot track that we saw across the snow coming up.  The boot track would bring us back to the southeast ridge.  With our ice axes out, we carefully traversed the snowfield and made it back to the dirt exposed trail.  We descended safely down the southeast ridge and back to our campsites at Peggy's Pond around 5pm.  Back at camp, we enjoyed a relaxing dinner, then we filtered water and headed to bed.

We woke up the next morning, packed up camp, and headed back to Cathedral Pass, Squaw Lake, and eventually the trailhead.  We were back at the cars by 10:30 am.  We drove into Cle Elum and had brunch at the Sunset Cafe.  At brunch, I learned an important lesson:  Prime rib is not a very good filling for an omelet.   A few people had Bloody Mary's which was the advertised drink special.  We watched the opening weekend events of the Olympics on TV.  Obi Wan Danobi passed out Summit Certificates and then we said our goodbyes and drove home.

It was too bad we did not climb the West Summit on this trip, but it is perfectly understandable the reasons for stopping short.  When climbing, safety is always the most important consideration, and we did the prudent thing.  The Alpine Lakes area is so beautiful, that climbing or hiking anything in that area is well worth it.

And congrats go out to our newly initiated Glacier Snakes.  Maika became known as "Nanny Goat Snake" because her laugh sounds like a nanny goat.  And, Annie became "What What Snake" due to her expression "What what in the butt."

To see all the photos from this climb, go to Mt. Daniel climb photos