Climb to
Helen
Lake
(Saturday,
June
29, 2003)
To
get an early start, we awoke at
3am.
We wanted to get to
Helen
Lake
(elevation 10,400ft) early so we could rest for our summit attempt the following
day. An early start would also help us avoid late day slushy snow conditions,
which can make uphill progress a real slog with full packs.
Bunny
Flat parking lot (Mile 0).
We
arrived at the Bunny Flat parking lot around
4:30am.
From the parking lot we could see the last of the Saturday morning summiteers
leaving
Helen
Lake
(about half way up the mountain). A line of headlamp dots could be seen high on
the mountain snaking their way up the snow slope leading to the Red Banks
(elevation ~13,000 ft). It was an impressive and motivating sight. The day was
just growing light as we hit the trail.
Shauney and Joan fill out
Summit
Permits by flashlight while Bob and I get our packs ready.
Jeff
and Bob ready to hit the trail. We carried snowshoes all the way to
Helen
Lake,
but never needed them.
Shauney took this early-morning picture of Mt. Shasta on her drive back down to
Mt. Shasta city after dropping us off at Bunny Flat.
By a
quarter-mile out the dirt trail had turned to snow. Except for the summit, we
would be on snow for the rest of the trip. Shortly after we passed Horse Camp
(1.5 miles out) the trailed steepened and we put on our crampons, which we wore
constantly through the next day, only taking them off to climb the rocky summit
pinnacle.
Near
the Sierra Club’s Horse Camp cabin. The sun is just about to come up over the
right ridge. Helen Lake, our day’s destination, is the horizontal rock line
about half way up the mountain. Avalanche Gulch can be seen zigzagging down the
valley just below
Helen
Lake.
Instead of taking the winding gully up to
Helen
Lake
we decided to take a more direct route up the left side of the valley. This
proved to be much steeper than we had bargained for and wore us out
considerably.
Jeff
taking a break on the first steep section.
Looking back down the lower half of the valley. Our starting point was about a
mile into the distant trees. A half a dozen climbers can be seen descending
Avalanche Gulch (middle left of picture).
The
going was slow and by the time we got to the last big hill below
Helen
Lake
the snow was soft and slushy making the climbing even more tiring. In the long
run it probably would have been faster to have climbed the gully’s more gradual
slope. The final slope leading up to
Helen
Lake,
we would later agree, was one of the most taxing of the whole trip.
What
most of the day looks like. Step, breathe, step, breathe. Later it was step,
breathe breathe breathe, step.
Bob
taking a break higher up the mountain. The steeper it got the closer together
the breaks got. The rocks were nice and warm from the sun.
We
arrived at
Helen
Lake
at
3pm
after over 10 hours of climbing steep slopes with full packs. We were whipped.
Many of the Saturday summiteers had already departed leaving lots of available
tent sites that had already been dug out. Good thing, we were a little too tired
to be shoveling snow. The first thing we did was set up the tent and take a nap.
Helen
Lake
(which is not really a lake as you can see, just a level spot on the mountain
that occasionally catches snowmelt runoff).
The
last of the Saturday summiteers wind their way back down to
Helen
Lake
from the Red Banks. This is one long steep hill, rising in elevation about 3,000
ft from the bottom of this picture to the top.
In
May we took a practice climb to Round Top mountain and learned that we needed a
better tent after high winds whipped through ours all night. Before our Shasta
trip Bob bought a good three-person four-season tent from Sierra Designs.
Because of the warm weather we considered leaving the fly behind; good thing we
didn’t, because it got mighty cold.
After
resting for an hour or so, we got up, made dinner, and melted snow for the next
day’s drinking water. This alone took over an hour. Each pot of melted snow nets
about a liter of water. We needed 10 liters for dinner, breakfast, and the next
day’s drinking water (4 liters each).
Our
home for the night. As soon as the sun went behind the ridge the temperature
dropped like a rock.
The
ranger came by in the evening to check Summit Passes and ask a few questions
about our climbing plans. Mostly he wanted to determine if we knew what we were
doing or if he was likely to be organizing a rescue party the next day. The
couple in the tent across from us failed the test. They showed up with no
mountaineering gear (no helmets, crampons, or ice axes). On top of that, this
was apparently the woman’s first backpacking trip. This is the stuff that
accidents are made of. The ranger politely suggested that they not try to climb
any higher up the mountain.
By
8:30pm
we were tucked in bed for the night (and it wasn’t even dark yet). Falling
asleep was no problem; however, after waking up at
midnight
to fill my pee bottle, I could never really get back to sleep because of the
cold. I dozed off a few times only to wake up shivering even though I was
already wearing all the clothing I had brought. Note to self: Buy better
sleeping bag. |
