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Basic Alpine Climb - Mount Shasta/Avalanche Gulch

Very lucky to have the perfect weather window to climb Mt Shasta

Ambrose Zhi Ambrose Zhi
July 04, 2024
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Bunny Flat TH is where we started the approach to Mt Shasta - Avalanche Gulch route. The road to TH is paved FYI. Summit pass ($25), wilderness permit and human waste packout bags (don't forget to bring your own Toilet Paper) are available for self-issue at Bunny Flat. An electronic fee machine at Bunny Flat TH has been recently installed. 

    The entire trail was covered in snow, and I sure contemplated skiing the whole thing next time. With that said, the snow was melting fast.

    The weather was perfect (5-10 mph wind and bluebird day) over the two days we were on the mountains. Overnight temperature was below freezing from Helen Lake basecamp (about 10,400") to Mt Shasta summit (14,179").....I still remember how painful it was to put on my frozen 3-season mountaineering boots (they were wet from spring slushy snow the day before) at 3am lol

Mount Shasta Avalanche & Climbing Information Center (link) has a climbing advisory page that gives you updated general conditions & climbing information about the climbing routes. I highly recommend you to check it out when you plan your Shasta climb. And here is my GPS Track.
High level trip plan:

Day 1: (Mostly driving) Friday
We started from Seattle - Friday morning at 5ish (May 24th)  - 2 cars (4 climbers in total....one person bailed very last minute). We made multiple rest/gas stops along the way. BTW, Seven Feathers Truck & Travel Center probably has cheap gas.
We arrived at Mount Shasta Ranger Station around 3ish (9 hours of driving). We picked up our climbing permits and free human waste bags there. We then got some supplies in Shasta city before driving over to Bunny Flat TH. We got to the TH around 6ish. Some of us slept in the cars, and the rest camped on snow.

Day 2 & 3/ Saturday & Sunday: (Start climb and end climb)
Detail to be followed below

Day 3rd night & Day 4 Monday (Rest and drive back to Seattle)
We got a motel room in Weed, CA on Sunday afternoon. It was nice to shower and sleep on a real bed :) The next day, we hiked Black Butte (trail mostly in decent conditions) before our long drive back to Seattle.
Shasta Climb Trip Summary
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Looking at Shasta from Bunny Flat TH
We started hiking around 8am and made it to camp (Helen Lake at 10,400") a little before noon. Spent rest of the day doing prep work for summit day and resting......definitely felt the altitude but not too bad. As for the camp, it was a zoo but expected. There was a designated bathroom area with limited privacy FYI. We all went to bed between 6 and 7pm
Looking at Avalanche Gulch Route from Helen Lake Base Camp
Looking at Avalanche Gulch Route from Helen Lake Base Camp
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The Zoo
Everyone woke up around 2am and left camp for the summit bid at 3am on Sunday. It took us 3 hours to go up the Avalanche Gulch route from Camp (10.400") to Red Banks (12,800"). We decided to take a longer break there to recharge, eat, and apply sunscreen. It also got windy and chilly from that point on, so I put on my alpine down parka that I also used for Rainier summit a couple of years ago. As a matter fact, it never warmed up enough for me to take off the parka until we started hiking down from the summit around 9ish. After the break, we pushed on and hiked up Red Banks to Misery Hill (13,800"), and it sure was a misery up there lol. Once we reached Misery Hill, summit was in sight. It was a long slog to the summit, but we made it right around 8:35am. 
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Looking at Shasta's Shadow from the Base of Red Banks
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Climbers Hiking up Red Banks with Misery Hill Also In the Background
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Looking at Shasta Summit from Misery Hill
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Summit Photo
We started heading down around 9am and made it to camp a little before noon. We got back to car around 4ish.