Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mount Shasta Trip Report July 19, 2015

Hi all.

I climbed Shasta last week and had a great day! If anyone is heading up soon and wants to see conditions, I posted a report here:

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=16226&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Include

Nice, thorough report. Thanks!

Last time I climbed Shasta, it was in mid-August, and I would never recommend doing it that late in summer. Much more snow had melted, making the climb and descent over loose shoe-box sized rocky terrain pretty miserable. Second reason: that late in the summer, forest fires browned-out the view, so the only thing I could see above the smoke layer was the tip of Mt Lassen to the south.

Did you, or anyone else, glissade on the descent? Shasta is known for being a very nice place to do that.

Nice job, Rob!

Thanks guys! Hope to be in the Sierras again soon!

Bob how many times have you done Shasta??

Yes, Steve, I glissaded down from maybe starting 400ft below the red banks to about 10,500 just before Helen Lake. I didn't want to start higher since it was too steep and still icy. There was a glissade track that high from others from other days though, possibly when it was warmer. The snow was actually solid and firm the whole time with zero postholing which was nice.

One person I heard attempted to glissade in the chute and then something went wrong and he and his axe separated and he continued down another 1000ft sliding and tumbling. I didn't see his fall, but a Guide there did, though I found his axe up high.