Mount Shasta

I climbed solo from Horse Camp near the Alpine hut, but met other climbers along the way, one party with a dog, an experienced 14footer, as they told me. Weather was great. I used crampons on the snowfield around the Heart. A bit higher, at Red Banks, there is a short couloir with icy steps, ok to climb up, but slippery to get down. Unless you have an ice axe (I didn't) to use it as a brake while sliding down on your bottom, as most people did. On the summit, ocassional whifs of sulphuric fumes. This volcano is only sleeping...

There are many legends attached to Mount Shasta. An Indian mythical chief Skell descended from Heaven through the mountain down to Earth. There is also a flood myth is similar to Noah and Mt. Ararat. Spiritual beings Lemurians, the survivors of the sunken continent Lemuria, hid with their ships in the complex tunnels under the mountain etc. The area around Mount Shasta has definitely a special feel to it. I met a lot of spiritual seekers and hippies there, looking for peace in the midst of pristine nature. With a group of volunteers, working with rangers to "keep the wilderness wild", we helped to dismantle (after a peaceful agreement with its builder) a vast mystical structure made of wood and stones on a plateau hidden in surrounding forest. The position of Shasta's peak played an important role for the supposed mystical concept of the structure.