Shasta Bound

Patrick Hayden, Luis de la Fuente, and I are going to attempt to climb Mt. Shasta next week. Please do a weather dance in our honor next Friday and Saturday. Here is a picture of current conditions on Shasta courtesy of the fine ShastaCam

The route we will take to climb Shasta goes up Avalanche Gulch which is to the right of the ridge in the middle of the picture. The route goes to the left of Thumb Rock which is the silhouetted feature at the top on the right of the picture which, well, looks like a thumb. To the left of Thumb Rock is a big long line of rocks called the Red Banks (in summer they really show up as a stark red line.) Below the Red Banks is a big bare spot. This is The Heart and is remarkably free of snow year round. The route you take is to the right of The Heart and goes through the right side of the Red Banks and then up to the Summit. The plan is to climb from Bunny Flats to Lake Helen on Friday (6860 ft to 10440 ft), camp at Lake Helen (below The Heart) and then attempt to summit on Saturday morning (10440 ft to 14162 ft).