I'm looking for some advice again. Two friends and myself are set to climb Mt. Shasta on Nov. 18 - 23. We have some experience, but none regarding the north west this time of year. We have climbed in tough weather before and are currently planning on the Hotlum Bolum route as was suggested to me in an earlier post. The rangers also agreed that this may be a decent route during one of my earlier conversations.
I have been in contact with the climbing rangers and they have been telling me that it is a tough time of year from the start. Tough, but it can be done. Yesterday, I spoke with Don (a ranger) and he said that I will be climbing in the worst conditions of the year. He was trying pretty hard to discourage me from climbing. He was saying that the jet stream has shifted and that there will be high winds when it is clear and when there is a storm. Basically, it is going to be a nightmare all of the time.
I asked Don if maybe we should skip Shasta and drive north to Mt. Baker, Hood, or Adams. Don said that everything is probably going to be a mess this time of year and that I should head south to the southern Sierras for some scrambling. I called the Mt. Baker rangers and the ranger said that it is currently " winter conditions ", so be ready. She said that she was unable to forcast conditions this early, but she didn't make it sound anything like Don did.
I thought that we could camp near 10,000 ft on the Hotlum / Bolum ridge and hope for an opening in the weather. We will have three days to wait for decent weather. Do you guys think this is reasonable?