Mount Shasta 2001
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Summary
I began climbing Mt. Shasta (14,162ft) in Northern California on 29 Aug 2001.
I made it to 12,000ft when I slipped off of an ice wall, fell, and hurt my leg.
It was too late to make it back so I setup camp and slept the night. I
hobbled to the Northgate trailhead the next day taking 5.5 hours on a
very sore foot. I found out later that the fibula was broken.
| My Maximum Height | 12,263 ft. |
| Peak Elevation | 14,162 feet |
| North Gate Trail Head Elevation | 7,000 feet |
Detail
Climbing Mt. Shasta was a goal of mine for the last several
months. To meet this goal I increased my exercise regimen
including pushups, sit-ups, hiking with 20lb weights, and
running every day. A side effect of this added training
was the ability to do one-arm pushups. Before Shasta I
was able to do 14 right arm pushups and 10 left arm pushups.
I also started watching what I ate; I stopped eating red
meat, reduced the amount of food I ate, and stopped going
out to eat. I lost a few pounds; I weighed in around 160
when I set out to hike the mountain, but I bulked up in
added muscle so I was feeling pretty good about myself.
The day of the hike was set for 29 Aug 2001. Wedge and I
were going to do Avalanchee Gulch, but because of the time
of the year there was a dearth of snow. This makes hiking
much more treacherous and difficult because there is nothing
to hold the mountain together, i.e. you keep sliding in
what the hikers call "scree." Also, rockfall was increased
making it potentially more dangerous. Wedge then received an E-mail
from Steve Lewis (wrote the book "Climbing Mount Shasta")
who said plain and simply "don't do it!" Wedge was out.
Mark, Lisa, Wedge, and I climbed Castle Crags a few days
before the climbing event and I ran into a couple of
brothers named Larry and Spence. They were climbing
Castle Dome, the highest point of the Castle Crags at
around 4996 ft. Larry was telling me that he and Spence
had plans to try the north side of Mt. Shasta rather than
Avalanchee Gulch. They said it was fairly well marked,
that water was running from the ice melt, and
that there were a lot of people doing it. I figured that
this would be a better route to try than Avalanche Gulch.
The day before the hike, i.e. 28 Aug 2001, I drove to the
Northgate trailhead (7000ft)to get a feel for what would
be required. The trailhead
is down a gravel road 8.5 miles long. That's 8.5 miles
of bad road if you know what I mean. Driving my Saturn
down that road took about 45 minutes; the total time
from Copco House was 2 hours (60 miles). I'm sure that if I had
a four wheel drive truck I would have made it in much
better time, but you do what you can with what you have.
There were four vehicals at the trailhead. This gave me
a good feeling; others were climbing.
There are fees required... $5 for each day of car parking and $15 summit
pass if you camp above 10,000 ft. I then drove to Shasta
city to rent my gear from the Fifth Season.
I got up the morning of Aug 29th, had breakfast, and
headed to the trailhead at 8:00am. Of course I didn't
sleep well that night. Is it possible
to have too many dreams? The weather was beautiful and
not blazingly hot. Everything was starting out right
except for the stupid pilot car on HWY 97. Northern
CalTrans really likes pilot cars. I reached the trailhead
at 9:35am, much better time than the day before.
I paid the fees and set out on the
hike at 10:00am. The hike starts in a pine forest. It was very
quiet there. The initial elevation gain is minimal,
perhaps 1000 ft in the first mile or two. The GPS said
the summit was only 4 miles away, but of course that is
only line of sight. I suspect the walking distance was
closer to seven miles. There is a fairly well marked
path starting out.
The hiking was brutal from the standpoint of lower
oxygen. As the hours wore on I became more and more
fatigued due to carrying a heavy pack, the lower
oxygen, and the ascent was fairly steep. Yet, at
lower air pressure your brain doesn't really think
much about how much it sucks, so you just keep moving.
The path was fairly well marked, but I lost and refound
it several times in tricky areas. No big deal; the
GPS would get me back. Hours later I made it to the
first glacier named Chicago. Distances are
deceptive when you are hiking, especially when you
are averaging about 0.8 mph. You take about five
breaths for every normal one.
My trek was to hike between the glaciers of Hotlum
and Bolam. The path was on rocks pretty much until
11500 ft, so it was relatively easy traversing.
The path extended between the two glaciers in very
much the opposite way that Eddie Muenster's hair
extended down his forehead. Around 4:00pm I reached
the point where I could go no further without hitting
snow. My plan was to setup camp at 6:00pm giving
me nearly two hours of daylight for the setup.
There were rocks a couple of hundred feet up in the
snow and I figured I would setup camp on the other
side of one of the bigger rocks. So I put on my
crampons and started climbing.
Climbing in snow/ice is different than rocks.
The crampons sometimes need a little help digging
in. I ascended slowly some 500 ft. The face was
not too steep at this point. About 20 feet from
the place I chose as my campsite, I reached an
ice wall that was much steeper than the stuff I
had been climbing. I got a little higher and going
back seemed as precarious as continuing. I
tried going to the side to find a better patch
of ice to ascend, but it wasn't much better there.
While I was trying to decide what I wanted to do,
my foot gave out and down I slid. I must have
slid some 30 feet. I tried using the self-arrest
technique, but the ice axe flew out of my hand
and even bonked me on the head. I am glad I had it
tied around my wrist or I might have lost it. Eventually
I stopped in a little snow gully so I did a self-
evaluation and realized that I did not have full
use of my right foot and that a crampon had gouged
into my right leg quite deeply. At this point my
biggest concern was that I was sitting on a huge
glacier at an angle with what I thought was a
sprained ankle, and I knew it would be dark soon.
The time was around 6:00pm. There was another
rock jutting out above me so I considered climbing
a bit to camp out above it but I soon realized I
could not climb on this foot. So, I decided to
glissade down the snow to the rocks and use one of
the flat areas to set up camp. Glissading was not
as easy as it sounds because the snow was very
uneven. I would slide for some ten to twenty feet
then stop in a gully.
Eventually I made it off the snow and back to the
rocks. I hobbled to a flat area that people had
cleared for a campsite. I set up my bivy sack, sleeping
bag, and fell asleep. I was a bit nauseous I suspect
because of the pain and shock so the apple/cinnamon
zone bar that I ate for dinner nearly came up. I
have since determined that I shall not eat these
again.
Before I slept, I pulled out Wedge's cellphone and
figured out all the stupid roaming codes such
that I could call Copco House. I eventually
got through and talked to Mark. I knew there wasn't
much anyone could do for me at this point, but I
had a bit of anxiety and wanted to talk to someone.
Talking to Mark helped me out considerably.
I didn't sleep well, but I slept. The night was
beautiful; very little wind, quiet, and a nearly
full moon.
The next morning I started down the 5000 ft descent,
very slowly at 7:00am. By 12:30pm I was back at
the Northgate trailhead. 5.5 hours of hobbling on
my bum foot. I was able to use the ice-axe as a cane
so that helped. I returned my gear to Fifth Season
and headed back to the Copco house for my "ham failure
dinner." A decent meal and shower were luxurious!
The next morning, Friday, Wedge drove me into Yreka
to the walk in clinic. Doctor North prescribed the
x-ray so I went next door to the hospital to have the
X-rays taken.
Turns out the fibula (thin leg bone; break near ankle)
is broken. Doctor Barbara North said that the break probably
wasn't going to be a big deal, but there are some torn
ligaments that might behoove surgery for quicker recovery.
The orthopedic surgeon will give me a better feel for
what to do on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning I went to see Dr. Richard Henderson.
He took a look at my x-rays and said that he felt
surgery was necessary. He specified what was required:
Distal fibulal fracture w/ displaced talus. Need ORIF
(open reduction and internal fixation )of the fibula.
We started talking costs. To
have it done in Yreka was going to be just under $10,000.
I called around in Santa Barbara and found that the
Summit Surgery Center was far less expensive than
regular hospitals, had all new equipment, and was
four months old. This was going to save me about
$3500.
So, I got in my car and drove home. It took 12.5 hours
to make it with a lot of stops along the way. Since it
is my right foot that is broken, I needed to do some
fancy footwork with my left to hit the gas and brake
pedals. My foot swelled up like a balloon again.
Dr. Fan in Santa Barbara looked at my foot on Friday,
Sept. 7th. He was pretty amazed that I didn't make it to see
him until nearly 1-1/2 weeks after the break. Anyway,
he told me that I had to get the swelling down or
he wouldn't be able to operate. Thus, I am writing
this webpage while in bed with my foot raised. I've
got my laptop plugged into my development machine
and even have streaming audio. Lisa G. has been an
immeasurable help supplying me with food and a
microwave and company. JD has also been very helpful
lending me a mini refrigerator/freezer and an attempted
setup of wireless Ethernet.
The leg operation commenced on Monday, 10 SEP 2001.
They used general anesthesia. I woke up in a daze
and Dr. Fan told me that everything went well. I
am now on the road to recovery.
Why
Will Sloan says that I'm lucky Darwin was busy. Maybe
he's right. (He also said that he'd break my other leg
if I don't return his movies. It's harsh I tell you.)
I had put a lot of physical and mental preparation into
this climb. I had to try it.
Despite the injury I still feel really good about the trip.
I tried, and that was important to me. I also faced a crisis
situation and was able to handle it. The injury
will slow me down for a bit, but it won't deter me from
future adventures.
You can call me stupid, but you cannot call me a wimp.
The Adventure Continues....
