Mount Shasta

This was an excellent end to an incredible week of climbing. My team started the acclimatization process by doing two peaks in Nevada ( 12+ and 13+). We then spent a couple of days in Yosemite on El Capitan do get rested up for Shasta. We climbed to Helen Lake on the 25th and spent the day laying around and taking in the beauty. I had a large group so we started at 3:00am to allow everyone plenty of time to reach the summit on solid snow. The whole group finally arrived at about 8:45am. Eventhough the majority of the group had never been above 7,000 feet until this trip they all put forth 125% effort and listened to the more experienced members of the group. I am very proud of each member of the group for the fortitude and effort that they put forth to make this a very memorable climb. The only words of advice are start early if you are slow, you don't want to be on slushy snow and ice. Always listen to experienced people, you may think you know your limits but you don't if you have never been in this type of situation before. AMS can sneak up on you without you knowing it and you could die. The final word of advice on this mountain is to clear the red banks early, on our way down we had a bowling ball size rock come by us a mach 5 and almost take out one of our team. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.