Weather permitting, i'll be attempting my first climb of Shasta on August 1st or 2nd. Yes, it will be solo, no i'm not a troll.
Me: good shape but not a fast climber, some very basic experience (things like going up Hood by myself, Rainier with a group, a couple of more remote glacier climbs), comfortable on high-angle snow but not comfortable on exposed rock. Things like Mt. Muir and Thielsen freak me out. I manage, but i don't like it. I'll be acclimated already from having spent about 10 days in the High Sierra, and i'll be headed up to Oregon, so this is the time to try Shasta. I intend to do this in one day with the very-pre-dawn start. Midnight even if the route time requires.
I've narrowed down my route possibilities to Avy Gulch, W. Face Gully, Clear Creek, or Wintun Ridge, based on going solo and not wanting to do serious rock or anything crevassed. Convince me which one i should do. They all look great from the pics and doable for my skill level. There's a comfort factor to going up Avy Gulch where i'm not truly alone up there, but i keep hearing about accidents on that route so i'm not so sure it's necessarily the safest way to go. Frankly my biggest concern with trying a different route is route-finding in the dark on my own before the sun rises.
I could of course go up one route and down another, and there's even a chance i'll be dropped off and could traverse from an east side route to Bunny Flat.
What say you? (Remember, August 1st or 2nd, so use your best guess on snow/scree conditions). Thanks!!!