Thursday, August 24, 2006

Monday, August 14, 2006

Summit Day on Mt. Shasta.

We woke at 2 a.m. to begin our trek to the summit. The route was nasty-- lots of loose scree and volcanic ash. At times it was like climbing an enormous sand dune. By 4 a.m. the mountain had already rejected two of us. By the end of the day only 4 out of 9 people would reach the summit.

A timeline:

Hiking on the moon. 8800 ft. 4:30 am.


Earth glow at sunrise. 10300 ft. 5:45 am.


Phong relaxing. California below. 11600 ft. 6:41 am.


Death scree. The route goes straight up this stuff. 12200 ft. 7:24 am.



Coming up Wintun ridge. 12900 ft. 7:59 am.


On the summit. 14,162 ft. 10:10 am.


Drew, Phong, and Paula coming up the Wintun glacier. As seen from the summit. 11:02 am.


The Four Summit-eers-- 8 hours and 40 minutes after leaving basecamp. 7700 vertical feet from the parking lot! 12:10 pm.


I love this country. 14162 ft. 12:26 pm. (That's right-- I spent more than 2 hours on the summit!)


Going down. That is a lot of scree! 11500 ft. 1:50 pm.


Our route followed this prominent ridge all the way to the top. 7500 ft. 4:58 pm.


Wilderness. The end of the line. 6600 ft. 5:50 p.m.

Climbing Mt. Shasta via Clear Creek

This weekend a group of nine of us attempted to summit Mt. Shasta in Northern California. The active volcano is the 29th highest peak in the lower 48 and the 5th highest mountain in California. The peak sits at 14,162' above sea level.

Mr. Phong Dong Duong on the short hike up to base camp along the Clear Creek Trail.

The springs at Clear Creek.

Mt. Lassen, more than 70 miles in the distance. As seen from base camp.


Alison pondering the ascent.


The view of Shasta from base camp. Our route followed a line trending from left to right in the photo, eventually following the center ridge up to the summit.

Mt. Shasta's shadow at sunset. Amazing.

The team - Mike, Michelle, Sam, Hops, Drew, Paula, Soren, Kim, Phong.

Swimming on the American River

I'm starting to like this place.