Left home at 7pm on Friday, fought traffic, dropped in to REI to pickup some bits and pieces I needed, then kept driving. Up the Sacramento Valley, through Redding, and eventually made it to Bunny Flat trailhead on Mount Shasta at 1.30am. Got geared up, loaded the pack, and started walking at 2am.
Clear skies and half-moon made for a light night, didn’t need the headtorch. Started in the trees but quickly got up above the bushline. Decided to follow the right-hand ridge up, rather than taking the usual Avalanche Gulch route down in the gully.
Met up with Yoav (the person I’d been chasing up the ridge.. you can see him ahead on the ridge in the photo above) at about sunrise. We decided to climb together .. me and my heavy pack slowed him down a bit, but he was patient. :) Amazing sunrise and views as it got lighter. Made it to the top of the ridge at about 11am, where I decided I was too tired to push it right up to the summit.
Strapped on the board and dropped into the chute down into Avalanche Gulch. Real sketchy, the shady-face hadn’t seen enough sun and was a very solid / icy hardpack. Lost it very near the top - couldn’t get an edge to hold - and slid a long way, but God must’ve kicked the family angel into action again because after picking up a lot of speed managed to self-arrest with the iceaxe. Slowly glissaded down into the gully and rode the spring-slush out to the car park. Looked jealously up at the skiers dropping in off the left-hand ridge, enjoying their nice spring turns.
Drove down the access road, found a campsite, and setup camp. Slept for 3 hours, woke up, cooked and ate dinner, back into the sleeping bag, and slept for 12 hours. Spent Sunday chlling at the campsite (finished off “Enders Game”, good book), and then slowly driving back south. Stopped off at Shasta Dam, Lake Shasta, and various other places along the way.
Made it home after about 700 miles round-trip, and now sitting in front of the TV with a beer watching Topgun. Excellent. :) All pictures are here.