Mount Shasta

Some fun facts about Mount Shasta-

- it is located in Northern California, about an hour south of the Oregon state border
- it is actually a volcano
- last time it erupted was 1786. it erupts on average every 600 years. soooo... we're good
- it tops off at a nice 14,179 feet, which makes it the second highest mountain in the Cascades Range (tallest being Mount Rainier) and fifth highest mountain in California (tallest being Mount Whitney, which also wins for highest mountain in the contiguous US)

Brad hasn't climbed a mountain since he went on his Mount Rainier trip. That was almost four years ago- talk about life getting in the way, huh. At the beginning of the year, we decided it was high time for him to get back at it. Mount Shasta is the first one down. He went with his brother Neil, who lives in California. This was Neil's third summit of Shasta. We are about the same distance away from Mount Shasta, so they just met there and headed up together. They climbed up to base camp the first day (about five hours), then woke up nice and early at 3AM and headed to the summit. Brad said it was crazy windy and not very fun for the first half. Things got better around 6, when the sun made a better appearance. All in all, a great climb for him and much easier on his body than Rainier.

At Horse Camp

Red Banks 

Doooown at the bottom was the starting point

Just breathtaking 

 Shasta's lone shadow

 Again... freaking breathtaking

 The Mountain Man

 Shasta summit!

 Aaaaand give your wife a heart attack with the full shot. Yes, I am a wuss (but would love to do this)

 Getting ready to glissade (aka slide on your bum down the snow/ice)

Next one planned is a local mountain, South Sister. It's also in the Cascades Range. Oh, and some family hikes in between :)