Snowymonk's guide to Shasta...


"As lone as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California."  - Joaquin Miller


"I consider the evening twilight on Mount Shasta one of the grandest sights I have ever witnessed." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1908 
from Amar

My advice for first timers (to ensure a good summit success rate)
  • get acclimated (climb high, sleep low) - I'd probably camp at Bunny Flat or Hidden Valley (if you wanted to get away from folks).  Or Horse Camp
  • Start out early.  I'd say give yourself 12 hours, but plan on doing it in 8. So leave around 2 am, and try to summit by 10 am. So 9 am (top of misery hill), 8 am (bottom of misery hill), 4 am (bunny flat), etc... 
  • Get plenty of sleep the few nights before going to Shasta.... as you won't sleep well once you are there.
  • Drink plenty of water.  Altitude give me headaches, so does dehydration.
  • Be prepared for sudden temperature changes (it can go from hiking in just shorts with no wind to 50 mph gust with wind chill that'll get you hypothermic in 10 min).  So always have a down jacket and a shell, neck gaiter, helmet, gloves, goggles. 
  • Bring some meds.  Altitude and exercise give me heartburn and headaches. I bring tums, pepto, immodium, aleve.  
  • Eat plenty on the way up... once you are cramping, it's usually too late.

And remember to check the:
Other Links
Notable Ascents

My Shasta Summits/notable posts:
CLEAR CREEK TIPS
  • Take shoe gaiters, you'll be running down scree and will get lots of small rocks in your shoe
  • Clear Creek route requires 4x4... the road is getting worse. Take it easy, and go slow.  Follow GAIA, not Google directions
  • Mosquitos at the TH
  • Definitely take poles
  • Leor's Clear Creek Trip - https://pantilat.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/mount-shasta-clear-creek-route/
  • And my trip, inspired by Leor - http://snowymonk.blogspot.com/2013/09/24-hr-northern-cascades-tour-shasta.html
  • For those who were wondering... check out these 5 year old twins that summitted Shasta last year - https://snowbrains.com/5-year-old-twins-break-record-for-becoming-the-youngest-to-summit-mount-shasta/

My Links
TIMING:

4 hr summit (Avy Gulch)
  • 1:30 to Helen Lake
  • 2:45 to top of Red Banks
  • 3:35 to top of Misery
Usual climbing times
  • 5 hrs to summit via Avy Gulch (7 hrs rt)
  • 7 hrs for the N. Side routes (9 hrs RT)
  • 3 hrs for running Clear Creek (4.5 round trip)
My Ashland to Ashland Winter logistics
  • 5 am leave Ashland
  • 6:30 am start skinning
  • 11 am summit - if no snow, ski down Wintun
  • 12 pm back at car
  • 2:30 pm back in Ashland
Logistics with Nikko
  • 4 am leave home 
  • 5:30 am start skinning
  • 11:30 am Summit
  • 12:30 pm back at car
  • 1:30 pm - go get a burrito at Zaguan
  • 3 pm back in Ashland
My Ashland to Ashland Fall (Clear Creek) logistics
  • 5 am leave Ashland
  • 7 am start running
  • 10 am summit
  • 11:30 back at car
  • 1:30 pm back in Ashland
Here's my Oakland-to-Oakland logistics... for summitting at noon 
  • 1 am - leave Oakland
  • 5:30 am - arrive at Bunny Flat
  • 6 am - check in, start climbing
  • 11:30 am - summit
  • Noon - ski down
  • 2 pm - back at the car, drink a beer, find a buddy to drive my car down to the high school, mtn bike down
  • 4 pm - back at the car, drive home.
  • 9 pm - home, drink a beer, sleep
MOUNTAIN BIKING
The entertainer is the unsanctioned trail from Bunny Flat. There are lots of new trails coming in... check out Magma, Deadwood, Lemurian Delirium, MX, etc... 

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