Hiking Mt Shasta via Avalanche Gulch (4k)

Mt Shasta Trail Hike through Avalanche Gulch - We set out to climb Mt Shasta on June 22nd, 2018. This hike too two days and went up through Avalanche Gulch in order to reach the summit of Mt Shasta at 14,179 feet. It was a difficult yet rewarding experience. Be sure to prepare and have the right gear if you decide to try and hike it.

Other people on the hike:
Amie - @Agirlinthewild on Instagram

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:24 Gear & Hotel in Mt Shasta
0:48 Bunny Flat Trailhead
1:10 Starting the Hike
1:44 Horse Camp
2:26 Hiking to Helen Lake
3:20 50/50 Flat
3:49 Helen Lake & Setting up Camp
5:07 Hiking to Red Banks at Sunrise
6:29 Red Banks
6:50 Hiking to Misery Hill
7:17 Misery Hill
7:45 Base of the Summit
8:10 Mt Shasta Summit
8:47 The Descent & Glissading
9:32 Outro

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Gear:

Music:
Lakey Inspired

[richardgorbett]

One tip they didn't mention but make sure to remove your crampons before glissading, it can cause nasty injuries if you don't. Also, great video!

[tedbrogan]

Major respect. Glad to see you're on the 14K club. Shasta is intense. Congrats.

[knovmuc]

I'm 14, and ever since i've seen this mountain after I climbed mt lassen, its been a huge dream of mine to one day complete this, someday I will climb Mt. Shasta.

[rodkoehler]

I've lived on Mount Shasta at 4100 ft. for 28 years, but haven't hiked it due to my fear of heights. But your video of the experience really helps me know what summiting is like. Until this point I've only read about and looked at pictures of climbing Mount Shasta. Thanks!

[realtymatters]

Hat off to your daring adventure! Thanks for filming this trip.

[stephanieganowski]

I just summited Shasta 4 days ago! :) Now I’m watching all the videos haha. This one is great !

[emstnjowtolmsn]

While most climb Shasta in two days, a one day trek is possible as well. I climbed Shasta in July 2017, and after the heavy '16/'17 winter, there was actually more snow there in July than you had in June of '18. Started at 11pm from Bunny Flat, passed through Lake Helen at 2am, summited at 9 or 10am, and back to the car at 2pm. Was so difficult physically and mentally. And yeah the section from Lake Helen to the Red Banks is very tough! I believe it's actually around 2700ft in just under a mile. Congrats on your summit!

[ApeMan]

You did a great job showing how hard the hike is. Shasta is no joke and you need to have some mountaineering experience and common sense to complete the trip safely. I watched a gal slide over 1000 feet from the red banks before finally stopping luckily with minor injuries. Everyone needs to learn self arrest skills before attempting this hike. Totally worth it though. A sunrise from the red banks is pretty epic! Congrats on completing the hike. As a native Northern Californian Shasta is a very special place to me.

[kxrv]

I’m so jealous! Watched after your mention of it in your I-5 roadtrip video. I attempted Mt. Shasta for my 40th milestone birthday in 1996– but never made it to the top and never went back. Now I am 65 it’s not going to happen. Took the same exact route you did, but we spent the night before at the Bunny Hill trailhead to get some altitude acclimation. While I am an experienced backpacker I had never used full crampons or an iceax before. There was alot more snow on the mountain when we did it. Also stayed at Helen Lake and had a horrible night’s sleep. Should have gotten up at 2:30a like you did… instead finally dozed off when we should have gotten up. Oversleeping until it started to get light our summit attempt was really doomed from the start. By the time we were climbing up the chute to the Redbanks the snow was getting soft which made the going even tougher. Unlike the notorious Everest climbers that same year we set and honored our turnaround time realizing when we got to the top of the Redbanks that we didn’t have enough time or energy to make it safely to the Summit and back. So we turned around and glissading back down to Helen Lake in a few minutes what had taken us hours to climb. I am disappointed still that we did not make it to the summit, but watching your video confirms we made the right decision that day

[arizonatimelesstourist]

Nothing like a coffee shop to get your day started. Absolutely beautiful scenery. I'm sure filming made this trip a lot harder. Well done and congrats on making it to the top!

[jasonmhorton]

Awesome! Your videos have inspired me to hike more of California. Living here my whole life and I've only done a few major hikes and smaller hikes. Your video style is great too, keep them coming!

[nora_nayeli]

Damn that’s admirable. I’m terrified of heights but I think that’s one of the coolest accomplishments ever.

[arjunski]

I went on the same day as you. I see my dad and I were in the video! We made it to Misery Hill though. Congrats on reaching the peak! The winds were brutal!

[ktpinnacle]

Well done. Made this hike twice - in June of 1980 and then again in 1981. Only made it to the Thumb (red banks) in 1980 due to some in our group having altitude sickness. But made it all the way in 1981. Went straight from the cabin to the top. Misery Hill lives up to it's name, indeed. There was a lot more snow on the peak back then.

[markrodriquez]

You made it! Some day I want to do this one! But I'm still a beginner right now. I'm gonna enjoy the hills and peaks in SoCal soon. Mt. Baldy is on my list. You sure looked pooped when you got back to the motel, you didn't even take us to a restaurant. Thanks for the video.

[lukepittner]

Your video came up in the suggested video list while I was watching some C# programming videos. I had just climbed Shasta myself, so I thought I would watch it. And then I realize that's my REI Passage 1 (orange/gray) tent with me in the door to the upper left of you while you are flattening the snow for your tent at about the 4:00 mark. And my tent again at the 4:30 mark. My friends and I did it on Friday the 22nd. But we stayed at Helen Lake and hiked out Saturday. Nice video by the way.

[vilstef]

The shadow of the mountain is great and beautiful!

[SoundLegion]

Fantastic video! I live right under this mountain and have never climbed it. I would absolutely love to do it and you gave a great idea of what it would be like. Looks like an amazing thrilling experience

[mottopanukeiku]

Great footage and narrative- thanks for posting! I went up a few weeks ago (mid June 2023) and it was like an entirely different mountain. The entire mountain was deep in snow from the big '22/'23 winter. Even the Bunny Flat trailhead was under snow and the cabin at Horse camp was almost buried up to the roof. We camped at 50/50 Flat and got an alpine start but the weather went from bad to worse with 40 knot winds and fog/semi-whiteout halfway up to Red Banks plus deep post-holing most of the way up. Turned around near the base of Misery Hill with 80 knot gusts and complete whiteout. Luckily we had very good guides. Would absolutely love to do it on a blue-bird day. Perhaps next year :) Cheers.

[amarir]

Well made and informative video. Thank you for all the tips and reflection on your climb. I'm hoping to climb this next bear, but I definitely have a lot to prepare for. Thank you for sharing! :)