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:

• climbing advisory
• The recreational report - NOAA
• The point forecast
• The Forecast Discussion
• useful links for checking out the wind.
• WindFinder - Shasta
• Webcams
• TGR forums

Other Links

• Amar Andalkar's page - good logistics, links, info.
• Summitpost
• TGR Forums - search "TGR shasta"
• Shasta Snow Depth
• Other activities in the hood - Rich Meyer
• Piero Scaruffi's page

Shasta Summits/notable posts:

• Shasta double - (May, 2006)
• 6 hrs summit 1
• 13 hrs summit 2
• Avy Gulch - 15th summit. (June, 2010)
• might as well climb it before canoeing down the Sac
• Shasta Circumnavigation with Louie (Sept, 2010)
• Blown off Shasta (Jan 2011)
• Shasta Sunrise Pano - 16th summit (June, 2011)
• Shasta & Shastina 15k vert - 17th summit (May 2012)
• Lassen and Shasta - 18th summit - met Barrett & Scott (May 2012)
• Konwakiton Route, then lassen the day after
• Panos from my 18th summit
• Trail Run up Clear Creek, then up Brokeoff - 19th summit (2013)
• Shasta 6 hrs RT
• Brokeoff 90 min
• Hotlum with Barrett - 20th summit (2014)
• 8 hrs to top
• 10 hrs RT
• Shasta Trifecta with B - 21st summit (May 2015)
• Angel Wings, Shasta, Entertainer
• Shasta Solo - 22nd summit (June 2016)
• Shasta 23 - June 2017 + entertainer
• Moving to Ashland Shasta with Barrett (2019)
• Ghelfi's FKT descent (2019) - strava
• Winter Shasta Ascent (Dec 2019) - 7 hrs up
• Sunbowl with Casey (2020)
• Shasta Skunk - 26 - (May 2020)
• Avy Gulch Solo (April 2021) 5:45 up, 7:40 RT
• Kai and Nikko up Clear Creek - (July 2021)
• 10 hrs RT - 6 hrs up
• Jack Kuenzle's FKT RT (2023) - strava
• Shasta 31 solo (2023) - strava - skimo

My Links

• Konwakiton Glacier route - RideWithGPS

Here's my Oakland-to-Oakland logistics... for summitting at noon (I give myself 5 hours to summit via Avy Gulch, 7 for the N. Side routes, 3 for running Clear Creek):

• 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

My Ashland to Ashland logistics

• 5 am leave Ashland
• 6:30 am start skinning
• 11 am summit - if no snow, ski down Wintun
• 2 pm back at summit
• 3 pm back at car

Mtn Biking

• Here's the two tracks:
• Solo (June '16) - took the rider's left trail from Sand Flat - no tunnel
• With B - took the rider's right trail - tunnel
• Gateway & Tunnel Trail Map (pdf):
• Strava Heat Map or the area
• PinkBike description of the trails
• Shasta Conceptual Trails Plan (IMBA)- pdf