Mt. Shasta Take 2 – Avalanche Gulch
Participants: Chris, Dara and Sassan
Distance: Approx. 7 miles each way
Elevation: 7100 ft. up
In mid-June, we were part of George’s Shasta PCS trip. Before bad weather cut that adventure short, the climbing ranger had told us that conditions for the climb would likely be best about 4 weeks later. Most couldn’t make the date, but the 3 of us were free and decided to give it a go. To give ourselves the best chance of success (Sassan and I never having summited before), we planned to hike up to Helen Lake on the first day, and do our climb from there. In retrospect, a few weeks earlier would probably have been better, as the lower part of the mountain didn’t have much snow, which made progress, particularly the decent, slower than necessary. Happily we had no issues with the weather this time around.