Climb to your first camp today with time to review mountaineering basics
Your trip begins this morning in Mount Shasta City. After a brief orientation, we caravan in our own vehicles to the trailhead. We start our ascent around 7,000 ft. and travel up to about 8,000 ft. to set up base camp. Once camp is set up, we will spend time going over the essentials of mountain travel and safety. This will include climbing techniques and if route conditions require them the basics of ice axe, crampon use and traveling together as a rope team. After our technique and safety training we enjoy an early dinner and retire to our sleeping bags. Dinner included.
Mileage: ~2.5 miles; 2-3 hours. Elevation gain ~1,000 ft.
Ascend to the higher second camp, and practice climbing skills along the way
Today we climb to around 10,000 ft. and set up our high camp. Expect to climb for 4 or more hours today. If weather permits, we can continue working on climbing skills before dinner. We'll finish the night early in preparation for a pre-dawn summit attempt. Breakfast and dinner included.
Mileage: ~2.5 miles; 4-5 hours. Elevation gain ~2,000 ft.
Aim for the summit of Mt. Shasta!
Summit day! Our summit attempt typically commences between 2:00 am and 3:00 am. The local guide team will choose the most suitable route based on current conditions and snowpack. Early season departures are most likely to experience a typical snow and ice mountaineering environment. During years of low snowpack, mid to late season routes may be a combination of rough climbers trails, minor scrambling, and scree fields, making snow climbing equipment mostly unnecessary. Our turnaround time may be as early 11:00 am in order to avoid potentially serious hazards that tend to manifest in the afternoon. After our summit bid the descent to camp may take 2.5 to 4.5 hours. From camp, we pack up and make our final descent to the trailhead arriving back in the late afternoon. Due to fatigue, you may want to consider spending another night in the local area before starting your return travel home. Breakfast included.
Mileage: ~2.5 miles to summit, ~7 miles descent; 12-14 hour total. Elevation: 4,000-5,000 ft. gain, 7,000-8,000 ft. loss.