Ok, there isyour new thread title

dskoon wrote:

dynamokiev98 wrote:

Luciano136 wrote:I'm drooling over those pics!! Very nice!!

hope I can take some more this or next weekend from casaval ridge..

WHO IS COMMING OUT THIS WEEKEND?! April 24-25th

Jeez, wish I could make the trip down. Would love to join you guys and climb it. As someone on here recently wrote me, "it's a great mountain to climb." Enjoy.

I would like to come down and give it a go in the next month or two if anyone's interested.

PM sent.

We intended to take Casaval, however the Ranger had mentioned the Sergeants Ridge may be less exposure to wind this weekend. I am not sure. I have only summited via Any Gulch. Also been blown off the West Face a couple times.

Joe and I would be willing to climb the Casaval Ridge if you need any partners. Neither of us have climbed the ridges on Shasta. Sorry about the LA hat. Probably a Giants fan.....Have a great climb if we don't connect.

Should be perfect. We have changed our plans. We will be camping on Casaval ridge Saturday night Probably around 10,400 ft possibly or just above gidy gidy. Depends on how early we start on Saturday and how we feel. Hopefully see you on the route. St. Louis coming to the Bay to beat up on the Giants today.

Well, we were originally planning on arriving on Shasta on the 28th, but then I got hit by a car biking home from work yesterday. So now we'll use that excuse rather than the weather to postpone the trip. Hoping for a quick recovery so we can hit Casaval early May (obviously no broken bones).

Good luck to anyone heading up this weekend, looks like some perfect weather to be up there.

LOL about the paint. Pretty funny....Damn Giants fans........

We plan on leaving Bunny Flat, before, or just as the sun comes up on Saturyday morning. I want to see the sun come up. Joe probably wants a little extra sleep. Probably sleep in the Subara at the trail head Friday night. Probably leave our camp around 3 am Sunday morning for the summit.

Since you are starting at midnight from the trail head,I am guessing you guys are in better shape than us, and will catch us on the ridge Sunday morning. Look for our headlamps. I know we will have to be up early if we want to summit. Hopefully not before 3 am though.

Our two person tent is yellow. I seem to have all black gear. I need some color. We will definitely keep a look out for you.

Sounds like it should be an awesome weekend. I'm Ryan and Joe is my climbing buddy. Joe is going to arrive any minute and were taking off for Shasta from Chico. Hopefully see you there.

Peace.

Good luck, dudes!

Nice to run into you Vitaliy I was trying to scrawl 'solo' with the damn pen they had in the register, but oh well ..



There were two parties camped near me, one didn't start in the morning (near as I can tell), and the other turned around @11500 due to AMS. I know there was a party who bivied higher, but I don't know if they summitted. I met a couple of skiers on the ridge also, but they might have skied down the west face or something.

I camped at around 9800', near the top of Giddy Giddly Gulch, at the 'first window'. I'd intended to go higher, but after seeing the wind on Saturday blasting spindrift over the 10400' camp decided against it.



This also made it possible to traverse back to camp after descending Avalanche Gulch (which unfortunately was mostly too hard to glissade).

Some other notes - the toilets were not yet dug out -



But it looked like they were making early preparations to dig out the spring -



The Catwalk was in great shape - wide and easy walking -



There are many varations possible on this route. I got into a 'mini-catwalk' just before the final one, which was narrower & more melted out. It even had a wand at the beginning (which I guess somebody from one of the guide services had placed). Pretty fun.



Upper Cascade Gulch / Whitney Glacier -



Wow, that's a lot more exposed blue ice than I was expecting this year. In fact, there was a lot of exposed Whitney Glacier ice on the upper part of Misery Hill, just before the summit plateau -



Full set here.

No the Dodger fan didn't summit. Carried way too much gear to giddy giddy. I need some tips on how to travel light. I am guessing my pack was 45 lbs. By the time I hauled that pack to the top of Giddy Giddy, I was exhausted. Didn't wake unitl 4 am. Knew our summit bid was over. We climbed the route past the bivy site at 10,400 or so. We didn't go much further past that point. Sunday was absoultely beautiful.

9 hours!!!! That is incredible. Nice work.... That is the work of a champion....

We are the two that camped near the person who summited with you. He was also a champion. Nice work to anyone who summited Shasta on 4-25. The winds were off the hook Saturday night.

Thanks for the thoughts. I have plenty of hills around to get in better shape. Joe and I both agreed conditioning was what kept us from summiting. Probably no more Casaval Ridge this year. I believe we will try the West Face next. I have attempted the West Face before in the early season and got blown off. It seems like a long, steady climb with little or no technical. Looking forward to seeing that summit pinnacle soon. 9 hours..... Damn that is awesome.......

While I can't comment on what kind of shape you're in, I will second his comments on 45lbs. not being outlandish, considering camping out, cooking, etc. I could almost imagine my pack being heavier. . . Seems like a pretty fair weight, though undoubtedly some would do it lighter if they could. . .
Conditioning is big, and something we all need to work on to some degree, to keep in shape(or get into, as is my case), and climb these big mountains.

You didn't make it this time, but hopefully you enjoyed yourself and had fun, and didn't force yourself to keep going when you were exhausted. You give it a go another day.