I always study the weather very carefully in May - June. This is the prime time to make my annual pilgrimage to Shasta. Shasta was the first real mountain I climbed, and I've been a changed man since. The mountain has taught me quite a bit over the last 21 summits, and I'm always ready to learn more the next time. One thing I have learned early on is that Shasta is highly condition dependent... so I try to pick a day where I know the conditions will be favorable.
So with a last minute invite, Barrett decided to join me. I think this was already his 3rd or 4th time on the mountain this year... and he's going for 10 years of Turns All Year soon, so Barrett is no stranger to Shasta. We met up at Granzella's to start carpooling in his Honda Element, which has a bed in the back.
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| We got to Brewer Creek TH as two other folks were just starting off. Barrett and I downed a MRE each, which got my bowel moving. Along with some chocolate covered espresso beans, that was our brekky. This was my first MRE! Pretty amazing how hot they gets |
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| Sunrise shots... |
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| Barrett with McLoughlin behind him |
Once we got on snow for a while we stashed our shoes and skins at around 9000 ft. Barrett was feeling "slow" so we decided to take a quick 15 min nap at around 10,000 ft. Barrett put his bag down, lay down and I think he was snoring with in 1 min. That was clutch... where as I was waiting for Barrett before, he took off up the mountain like a Usain Bolt and I was barely following his boot tracks to keep up. During this nap, I felt my camera fall out of my pocket... but dreamt that I picked it up and put it back in my pocket. Which I didn't.... but we found it on the way down.
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| So these pics are taken with my phone... and Barrett, who was taking pics on his camera dropped his camera somewhere near here. I didn't see or hear it fall down the mountain, but there was snow and ice falling down at every step so it could have easily happened. Anyway... if anyone finds a waterprof canon camera, contact me, so I can get it back to Barrett. |
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| The Summit Pic. |
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| At the summit we ran into a group of folks coming up Avy Gulch. They were doing the climb for Big City Mountaineers, an organization I've volunteered with before! Through a program called Summit for Someone they raise funds for the program. Very cool. |
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| After recovering my camera... I started taking photos again. |
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| You could see 90% of our route from here |
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| Barrett had ice cold PBRs ready for us at the car. A quick celebration, then we drove to Lower McCloud Falls to jump off and cool off before our drive to Granzellas. I made it home in time to put Kai down for bed. From crib to crib.... that was quite a fun trip! |
Here's the strava link... the times are way off... I think we were going so slow that it didn't register.
http://app.strava.com/activities/150357425
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