Group Members: Joe Flannery, Rod Jacobson, Matt Hammon, Aaron Smith, Craig Ladkin, Mark May and Gary Armstrong
Mt. Shasta received great snow this year. Throughout our trip we experienced great weather conditions. Avalanche Gulch is the most popular non-technical route on the south side of the mountain. Ice axe, crampons, and helmet are the usual necessary gear. Best conditions on this route occur between mid-May and mid-July. One day summits are possible, but most successful people summit in two days. There are 7 miles and 7,000 vertical feet from Bunny Flats to the summit of 14,162 feet.
We started our trip in Bend, OR meeting 7/7/06 at 4 a.m. and left Bend at 4:30 a.m. We arrived in the town of Mt. Shasta at 8:30 a.m. and reached the trailhead of Bunny Flats (~6,900 feet) at 9:00 a.m. After parking, obtaining a $15 self issued permit, shuffling last minute group gear and taking that last minute pit stop, we hit the trail at 9:30 a.m. Three and a half hours later (1 p.m.) we arrived at Helen Lake (10,443 feet). Between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. we settled down for the night.
We awoke 7/8/06 at 3 a.m. Our accent began at 4:20 a.m. Snow conditions were very good and Styrofoam like. We ascended right of Heart Rock and up through the Red Banks. The first of our group reached the summit at 7:50 a.m. or three and a half hours later. Since we had blue skies and great, warm weather, we spent a few hours on the summit. In fact, I took a nap.
Our decent started at 10:15 a.m. We glissaded from Red Banks all the way to Helen Lake. We reached our camp in 1 hour and 15 minutes (11:30 a.m.). Three of our group members had a great decent by skies (Gary Armstrong and Mark May) and snowboard (Aaron Smith).
We broke our camp by 12:30 p.m. and returned to Bunny Flats by 2:00 p.m. after more glissading. Our final trip home required a stop for burgers and fries in the town of Mt. Shasta. We reached Bend before 8 p.m.
Everyone in our group safely summited. All had a good time. We had great weather and group dynamics.
