Mount Shasta

Stanford Alpine Club Mountaineering Workshop » Mount Shasta

We left on Friday morning, planning to spend two nights on Mount Shasta. We intended to hike on Friday to 10200 feet, set up camp on the West Face, and spend Saturday practicising around the camp area; we would then try to summit on Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad on Friday evening; winds were gusting at about 30 to 40 mph and about half a foot of fresh snow fell on the mountain. Because of the new avalanche danger, strong winds, and poor visibility, we waited for a break in the weather before quickly breaking camp and descending on Saturday.

shasta02 Chuck relaxing at the trailhead.

shasta03 Alfred, Dave, and Steph passing time.

shasta05 View of Mount Shasta not far from the trailhead.

shasta06 Steph, Chuck, Serban, Claire, and Paul.

shasta07 Alfred standing on the cabin at Horse Camp.

shasta08 Taking a short break at Horse Camp.

shasta09 The cabin at Horse Camp buried under snow.

shasta10 Claire applying copious amounts of sunscreen.

shasta15 Lenticular clouds forming over Shasta.

steph-pano Lenticular clouds over Shasta from 9800 feet. Taken by Steph.

shasta19 Lenticular clouds above Shastina.

shasta20 Dave and Steph stomping out platforms for tents.

shasta21 Lenticular clouds above Shastina.

shasta23 Claire traverses the slope to our campsite while Chuck waits for the rest of the group.

shasta24 Ridge from our camp at 10200 feet.

shasta25 Ridge near our camp with Trinity Alps in the background.

steph-1 Taking a photo of the ridge at sunset. Taken by Steph.

shasta26 Steph silhouetted against the setting sun.

shasta27 I'm silhouetted against the setting sun. I had to look really closely to differentiate the two similar photos.

shasta28 Casaval Ridge. Small point avalanches on the left of the ridge.

shasta29 A closer look at the avalanches.

shasta30 Our camp in front of the Casaval Ridge away from the avalanches.

shasta31 Shastina reflecting the setting sun.

shasta33 Our tents covered by fresh snow the next morning. The conditions were still pretty bad with winds gusting at around 30 miles per hour and snow still falling.

shasta34 We had to excavate the kitchen area because our stoves and dining stuff got buried. Steph was amazing at finding buried items.

shasta35 Paul and I squeezed into the tiny vestibule for lunch because of poor conditions outside.

shasta36 Taking advantage of the short break in the weather to break camp and descend.

shasta38 Breaking camp as fast as we can.

shasta39 Casaval Ridge prime for avalanches after fresh snow fall.

shasta40 Chuck going up the ridge to the camp at 9800 feet. Conditions turned bad right after we broke camp. We ascended one at a time to avoid loading the snow.

shasta41 Claire and Steph waiting for their turn to ascend. Chuck in the background.

shasta42 Once we descended far enough to hit the treeline, we started seeing these odd looking icicles on the leeward side of the trees.