June 24-26 Mt Shasta Bananza
6/15/06
US elsewhere
2473
1
After last weekends outing in the
Soon we were gathering groceries in Shasta. I totally forgot that someone of age can by hard liquor at a Safeway equivalent grocery. Then I remembered about the liquor barn in Redding. I stuck with the crow, Old Crow that is.
After obtaining a $15 climbing permit (self issued at Bunny Flats) and poop bag we chatted with a climbing ranger about conditions. Our eyes lit with anticipation. We started skinning within 50 or so feet from the car. Theres only one short carry between Bunny Flats and Horse Camp. Within an hour John and I were setting up
Back at camp we were treated to a light show as the sun made its exit, soon followed by the moon and an army of stars on this clear night.
Next morning we rose to beautiful blue skies and the persistent sounds of buzzing from the local insects. SLAP! Followed by another, another and another. Damn bugs took their chance even after a soaking of bug juice. My blood must be an efin hallucinogenic or something. So the plan was to skin to Hidden Valley camp on Shastas west side, relax, and summit the next morning. To get to the next camp we stayed low and did an ascending traverse to camp. Since we did there was one short boot section. If one stayed low enough past the second gully, one could skin the entire way. , so did our line and the fact that the suncups werent as pronounced as they were in Avalanche Gulch.
While setting up camp I watched with excitement as skiers and a lone boarder descended. If you look closely at the picture above you can see 2 dotswhich are the people in the pic below.
I couldnt sit around and wait. Lupo decided to chill with his ipod on the rocks while I went harvesting. After an hour or so of skinning I found a nice rock to marinate on and watch the flood of climbers along with other slider types, make their way into . It turned out we didn't have a choice.
By 11 we had reached the saddle, dropped our splitboards off and were enroute to tag the summit. An hour later I found myself on the summit of Shasta along with a slue of others. One of which had a bottle of bubbly being passed around. Well Im not one for bogarting so I thru up my pint of Old Crow and proudly got a few takers along with a lot of lookyloos. By 12:30 John and I were the only ones on the
Before I could even snap some ride pics, Lupo was already a good thousand feet down, not looking back and sure as hell not gonna stop. I put my camera away and soon found myself in a zen like state, free of any thoughts except the sounds of my edges rhythmically knifing thru butta. Back at camp we packed our gear, rode back to the car and drove home. Drowsiness was replaced by excitement and the occasional brail driving.
Btw I bumped into another TAYer, Jeff Huber. Was nice to have metcha! Jeff summitted twice. Once via Avi Gulch and West Face. Damn!
Even saw the
Soon we were gathering groceries in Shasta. I totally forgot that someone of age can by hard liquor at a Safeway equivalent grocery. Then I remembered about the liquor barn in Redding. I stuck with the crow, Old Crow that is.
After obtaining a $15 climbing permit (self issued at Bunny Flats) and poop bag we chatted with a climbing ranger about conditions. Our eyes lit with anticipation. We started skinning within 50 or so feet from the car. Theres only one short carry between Bunny Flats and Horse Camp. Within an hour John and I were setting up
Back at camp we were treated to a light show as the sun made its exit, soon followed by the moon and an army of stars on this clear night.
Next morning we rose to beautiful blue skies and the persistent sounds of buzzing from the local insects. SLAP! Followed by another, another and another. Damn bugs took their chance even after a soaking of bug juice. My blood must be an efin hallucinogenic or something. So the plan was to skin to Hidden Valley camp on Shastas west side, relax, and summit the next morning. To get to the next camp we stayed low and did an ascending traverse to camp. Since we did there was one short boot section. If one stayed low enough past the second gully, one could skin the entire way. , so did our line and the fact that the suncups werent as pronounced as they were in Avalanche Gulch.
While setting up camp I watched with excitement as skiers and a lone boarder descended. If you look closely at the picture above you can see 2 dotswhich are the people in the pic below.
I couldnt sit around and wait. Lupo decided to chill with his ipod on the rocks while I went harvesting. After an hour or so of skinning I found a nice rock to marinate on and watch the flood of climbers along with other slider types, make their way into . It turned out we didn't have a choice.
By 11 we had reached the saddle, dropped our splitboards off and were enroute to tag the summit. An hour later I found myself on the summit of Shasta along with a slue of others. One of which had a bottle of bubbly being passed around. Well Im not one for bogarting so I thru up my pint of Old Crow and proudly got a few takers along with a lot of lookyloos. By 12:30 John and I were the only ones on the
Before I could even snap some ride pics, Lupo was already a good thousand feet down, not looking back and sure as hell not gonna stop. I put my camera away and soon found myself in a zen like state, free of any thoughts except the sounds of my edges rhythmically knifing thru butta. Back at camp we packed our gear, rode back to the car and drove home. Drowsiness was replaced by excitement and the occasional brail driving.
Btw I bumped into another TAYer, Jeff Huber. Was nice to have metcha! Jeff summitted twice. Once via Avi Gulch and West Face. Damn!
Even saw the
