May 26, 2025
My plan to summit Mount Shasta came from nowhere. It was mid week prior to Memorial Day (5/26/2025). I was asking my friends regarding any plan to do long hike during the upcoming long weekend. One of my friends, Umesh, told me that he was planning Shasta summit with one of his friends and asked me to join. I always wanted to summit Shasta during winter, so I happily accepted the invitation.
And just like that, my unplanned but always desired adventure to summit Mount Shasta started on time on 5/24/25, Saturday when Umesh Bhaiya reached my place at 6:30AM. On our way out, picked Ravi from San Ramon. However, the fourth friend, Ani, had to drop out at the last moment due to personal reason. Tentative plan was to reach and leave Bunny Flat soon after midday and then reach Helen Lake at around 5PM so that we can take a short nap before starting our summit bid at around 2:30AM. Since we had Umesh, there was not much to worry about food , both, before and after the hiking. We had a nice lunch. Ravi also contributed with his items. I only added morning tea. For whatever reason, there were tons of people at the trail head, car parking was full almost for a mile. We were lucky to manage one spot at the trail head. On the way, after leaving San Ramon, Ravi realized that he left behind his Gaiter at home. So he was now trying his luck to find out some shop around Redding so that he can buy a pair. He found one, bought it. But funny enough, this time he would forget to pack the newly bought pair and leave it in the car. He came to know that after hiking for about 30 minutes. He did not accept our offer for him to go back and pick that from the car. So, it was not to be. Ravi accepted his fate and moved along.
We left Bunny Flat at around 1:30 PM. And the snow started right from the trail head. Snow kept getting softer as we walked ahead. After about 45 minutes or so, tree line ended and we were first offered unobstructed view of snow filled mountain peaks all around. It was beautiful. It was also getting a
bit hotter as sun was shining quite strong. Crossed Horse Camp. Took couple of water breaks and Kept chugging along with heavy backpacks on our back. Took the last break at around 4PM, just before final push up the snow, a steep ascent, to the Helen Lake camp ground. Estimated another 30 to 45 minutes to reach the destination for the day. Rabi and Umesh were few minutes ahead of me. All on a sudden, I started feeling strong stiffness and pain on upper backside of my right leg thigh muscle and was feeling pain while bending my knee. Then after few minutes, I started having the same on my other leg. I slowed down quite a bit and was little nervous, as I never had that before. I stopped and drank more energy drink. Then with a bit of care, started moving up slowly while trying to stretch my leg, in the middle of steps. Luckily camp site was almost there, another 20/30 minutes.
Not sure what was the cause, but could not resist thinking about the beer drinking I had at BJ’s evening before. Perhaps was too much of beer or my legs were not conditioned. I would prefer to accept the second judgement. None the less, reached Helen Lake to my relief and it was time to set the tent. Camp ground was full of people and extended quite far. Umesh and Ravi already found a spot for all of us. Umesh dug a 3×2 hole in front of the doorstep of his camp and created a place where he can cook and also sit like a chair. It was a great idea and we all implemented the same. Had biriyani dinner that I carried. Boiled snow to make the water, refilled the bottles and by 8:30PM we were all ready to crash, at least to attempt. We planned to wake up at 2:00 AM and start the summit bid at around 2:30 AM.
Umesh woke us up on time at 2:00 AM. We all quickly got up, got ourselves ready with Headlamps, Crampons, Gaiters, Layers/Gloves/Hat/Buff, Helmet and Ice axe. Put water and light snacks in our back. Ravi supplied hot water for morning coffee. I had a mild headache so took couple of Motrin from Umesh. My legs were in much better shape with no pain and kept my fingers crossed. And with that our summit bid started at 2:45AM.
Our route plan was, with the current conditions, to get around Redbanks. This route was to go right of The Heart, and up through the Redbanks feature, ascending up any one of the snow filled gullies. This classic route from Helen Lake climbs up and to the right of The Heart, through one of the Red Bank’s right side chutes, or around the right end of the Red Banks near the Thumb. Out of the camp, first few hundred feet were relative easy gradient up. We could not see in the dark anything other than headlights of climbers ahead of us. The route now started getting more tougher and tougher with steep ascent. Umesh bhaiya kept on checking me and, to my relief, legs were holding up without any issues. It was quite a steep inclination and just at around sun rise we reached the Redbanks feature (~12,700′). It was perfect timing for photo ops and water break as we will be heading towards the summit via Misery hill.
From above the Red Banks the route heads up a few hundred yards along what is called “short hill” to the base of Misery Hill. The true summit is not yet visible. The hike up Misery Hill is exactly that as the name suggests. It starts at over 13,000 feet and is known as a false summit. As I began ascending of Misery Hill, started slowing down again. It was cold and wind also started picking up a bit. With that Ravi and Umesh decided to continue moving along ahead of me. Once at the top of misery hill at ~13801′ Shasta peak became visible and felt like I can almost touch. Spent few minutes at the top of Misery hill, enjoyed the beautiful morning Sun and snow packed mountain peaks all around. It was sight to behold. From the top of Misery Hill, it was a few hundred yards across the summit plateau to the summit pinnacle. Meanwhile wind had picked up quite a bit and cold chilled air started hitting up my face. That did not matter as the summit was only few hundred feet away and I reached the summit at 8:15am. Umesh and Ravi reached approx. 15 minutes back and was waiting for me.
It was a great feeling to be at the top of Shasta. As for me, I was lucky third time to winter climb one of the 14ers for the first time after failed attempts of Rainier and Whitney last year. The site at the top was out of the world. Sitting atop Shasta I forgot all the hard time currently I am going through. Nature healed me momentarily although I knew I’ll be back to the same hell very soon. But I needed every bit of that feeling, sitting atop Shasta, looking around, I sensed the immense tranquility, connection and awe. I could feel a deep connection to the natural world, a sense of belonging and yet the feeling how trivial I am compared to this wonderful mother nature.
We did what we planned without any setback. It was all good planning, good weather, perfect snow condition and above all, good company.
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