At our climb debrief Sunday afternoon, the guides came off the mountain raving about the great conditions on Mt. Shasta. You know it must be good when they reach the summit on Sunday and turn around early Monday morning to head right back up on their day off. The recent weather pattern has been a fairly “normal” spring. At any moment it could be snowing, sunny, windy, hot, cold, or complete whiteout. It changes frequently and when the sunny card turns up it can be magnificent!

This is what we experienced this past weekend. At 3:00am Sunday morning, the snow and wind howled and our climb teams forged on by headlamp, hoping for a more favorable weather pattern with the rising sun.

Hard work and persistance paid off by 7:00am when the clouds parted and allowed climbers and skiers to reach the summit in winter like conditions. As Senior Guide Eric Layton says “The summit was not a give me over the weekend. The cold temps, high winds and around 4-6″ of new snow kept us in constant motion all the way to the top, only to be greeted by the warmth of the sun and a view that always inspires. Really good skiing out there right now too!!”

With more new snow this week, the climbing and skiing continue to be excellent on most routes on Mt. Shasta. As of now all trailheads are open and the upcoming Memorial Weekend looks to be a busy one here.

Mountain weather continues to be unsettled this week. Weather systems tend to be short lived this time of year, but can still pose significant challenges. Our guides are mountain professionals and watch the conditions closely while in the field. We can often plan our climb around potential weather windows and still have great success in poor or unfavorable conditions.

We are always so impressed with our guests and their desire to climb Mt. Shasta. We were thrilled to climb with Vy and Andrew this week from the Send It Foundation.

SEND IT’S MISSION IS TO INSPIRE POSITIVITY, COURAGE AND GRATITUDE IN YOUNG ADULT CANCER FIGHTERS THROUGH THE GIFT OF OUTDOOR ADVENTURE AND COMMUNITY.

Congratulations to all our climbers this week, it was a true test and we experienced all of what Mt. Shasta can offer. Joe summed it up pefectly “…that was one of the best experiences of my entire life” Yup, we have to agree!

See you on the mountain!