Amazing Video Details Mt. Shasta Climb

A few months back I posted a beautiful video that captured a seven day hike on the John Muir Trail. The video was filmed and edited by Ryan Commons, and at 40 minutes in length, it was a spectacular look at one of the best hikes in North America, if not the world.

Ryan has returned with another amazing video, this time offering us a wonderful look at what it takes to climb Mt. Shasta, the 14,179 foot tall snow capped volcanic peak located in California's Cascade Mountains. This video is 20 minutes long and is amazing not only for the great scenery, but the practical information you can gain from watching it. If you're planning a trip up Shasta, or want insights into mountaineering in general, you'll enjoy this video for sure.


Summiting the Volcano, Mt. Shasta California from Ryan Commons on Vimeo.

Osprey Packs Sponsors Climb Against the Odds

One of my favorite gear companies, Osprey Packs, has announced that is is a sponsor of the 11th annual Climb Against the Odds expedition, which is a major fundraiser for the Beast Cancer Fund.

This year, a team of 26 men and women will be climbing the 14,179-foot tall Mt. Shasta in Northern California to raise awareness and funds for the program. Each of these men and women have been touched by cancer in some way, making this a very personal climb for each of them. The climb is scheduled to take place June 13-19 of this year. As one of the major sponsors for the expedition, Osprey will be outfitting the women with one of their Ariel packs, while the men will receive an Aether pack.

Over the course of the past ten years, the Climb Against the Odds program has been a highly successful one, raising more than $5 million for the Breast Cancer Fund Organization. Osprey has been a part of the program for five years now, but this year the company's involvement has grown considerably. Osprey's ProDeal & Program Pack Manager Sarah Harper Burke will be part of the climbing team, and will be blogging about her training and the expedition on Osprey's official blog as well.

Climbing For Kids

Steve Sergeant from The Wildebeat posted about Climbing For Kids in the comments section on the Summit For Someone post I made last week, and I've been meaning to follow up on it ever since.

Much like Summit For Someone this is another organization that organizes climbs to raise money for at-risk youth. Sponsored by Bay Area Wilderness Training the Climbing For Kids Organization will send you out some impressive climbs including Rainier, Whitney, Hood, Shasta, and even Mt. Orizaba in Mexico.

The amount of fundraising you'll have to do to join the climbs varies by each mountain, but generally falls into the $3200-$3800 range, with the exception of Orizaba, which clocks in at $7500. For your efforts, you'll get to join one heck of a great adventure and get the satisfaction of knowing that you helped raise money for underprivileged at-risk youth. Oh, and did I mention you'll also get to go home with $1500 worth of gear?

This is another great cause, and one that is well worth your time. If you were already considering one of these climbs in the near future, why not join the group? The gear alone is well worth it.

Special Thanks to Steve for sending this my way. And be sure to check out his WildeBeat Podcast. It's excellent stuff with great tips for backcountry exploration and timely topics ranging from the environment, changing policies in our national parks, and a host of others. I highly recommend it.

The Gear Junkie's Mt. Shasta Adventure

We first read about The Gear Junkie's trip to Mt. Shasta a month ago. However, he's written up a more detailed report for the New York Times. The article is a good reminder that bad weather can be dangerous on any mountain, and that you should never underestimate the challenges of climbing.

Gear Junkie, a.k.a. Stephen Regenold, set off with a friend to make an early Spring summit on Shasta, which is a 14,162-foot stratovolcano located in Norther California. The mountain is the second tallest peak in the Cascades Range, trailing only Mount Rainier by a few hundred feet. It's an excellent climb for beginning mountaineers, and thousands take out permits each year to give it a go.

When GJ set out, the weather was beautiful, and for most of the first day's climb, the weather was warm and sunny. But that all changed late in the day as they approached camp. The winds picked up, clouds moved in, and fresh snow began to drop, covering the trail and making the climb a lot more challenging. From there, things went from bad to worse, with the jet stream bring 100 mph winds down onto the mountain and an avalanche occurred not far from camp as well.

Moral of the story, as always when you climb, prepare for the unexpected. Be safe, and know when it's time to go up and when it's time to get off the mountain.

Gear Junkie's Mount Shasta Climb Report

The Gear Junkie took a little break to do some climbing on Mt. Shasta last week and he's written up a nice trip report for the rest of us stuck in our offices.

It wasn't all fun and games on Mt. Shasta however, as the weather dominated the weekend climb. Stephen reports that high winds made it rough going, with gusts knocking climbers off their feet and sustained winds of 100mph on the summit. There was even an avalanche not far from camp that damaged or destroyed tents and managed to put a scare into some people I'm sure.

It sounds like it was a challenging climb, and the weather was bad enough that no one managed to top out. GJ was reminded that weather is the dominant force on the mountain, and when ever we venture up there, we're at it's whim.