Mt. Shasta’s deadly disaster

Within hours, a perfect morning turned into one of the most hectic and gut-wrenching days on Mt. Shasta in recent memory.

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LET’S CONNECT:

[mannybsnss]

I guided 4 times in Mt. Shasta. Summited twice and had to turn back the other 2 times for safety reasons (one time I ran out of time, the other, too much wind at Red Banks). Risk assessment and turning back will keep you safe. The mountain decides if you go up, not you.

[johncarter]

I grew up in Mt. Shasta City, and have summited the mountain twice. It feels like every year there is someone or group of people that die on the mountain. Some are obviously avoidable (such as the person who tried climbing the mountain in flip flops), and others are just plain accidents. Mountaineering is dangerous. People die. And most people consider Mt. Shasta to be a novices mountain. I agree, but let me put into context what a novice mountaineering expedition truly is. The first time I did it, I was a triathlete and a carpenter. Even though I was in really good shape, it hurt a lot. You feel buzzed with a headache from the altitude, exhausted, sleep deprived, all while trying to make smart decisions. It took 8 hours to summit, but don't forget that is the half way point. I had to get back down That, I think, is the deadliest part. I wasn't fortunate enough to glissade down, so I had to walk. That took 4 hours. 12 hours of climbing.

[mikejohnson]

People who think their guide's job is to bring them to the summit regardless of conditions or extenuating circumstances are out of their minds. If the guide is telling you that it is unsafe to continue, why would you argue with them, or even be disappointed? Sure, you want to get to the top...but also want to return to the bottom, and get in your car and drive home. I honestly don't understand people sometimes.

[robertspies]

I self arrested on the downside of the Bergschrung on Mt. Darwin in Alaska. My crampons were balled up with snow and the leading leg slipped. The acceleration in the first second of the fall was unbelievable. Luckily I was traveling feet first and I was able to get over my ice ax very quickly and stop slidding. Otherwise it was a thousand steep feet to a squeeze chute lined by rocks. One of the scariest things I ever experienced. I climbed the north side of Shasta in October of 1997, aside from sinking waist deep into a shallow crevase (we were roped) it all went well and we were bliessed with good conditions.

[ShuKatashSam]

I climbed Shasta a decade ago, the warm days caused the same slick hard ice through the Red banks, happens a lot. Not out of the ordinary. We chose that path because the other side glacier had a thin ice bridge out of a nightmare and the climbers the day before tried it and said it was likely someone would fall through. I was a bit worn out by the time I got to the Red Banks, but relieved. Yes, rock hard and thick ice through the steepest part of the climb. It was about 7 am when we got the base of the Red Banks. An ice axe and chop chop chop away I went. Took me about 2 hours, but I made nice stairs that each person's foot/boot and crampon would fit into. I guess 300 or so stairs. I looked back and several other groups all followed us up. 5 other groups came up that day from that same route, all safe and no issues. Everyone got a lot of use out my effort/choice and got back down safe and had an awesome climb. Crampons were not going to stick to that hard ice knew it. This mountain can easily kill you. Being blown off Misery Hill is a common story. 80-100 mph wind and a sudden storm. That happened on Sargent's Ridge. We turned around and came down quick. Back then, you had a 1 in 3 chance of summitting the mountain. So 3 attempts, you get one summit.

[kaywin]

I facilitated this woman’s funeral in Mt. Shasta. I always wondered what had happened. Everything is so chaotic after the fact that the story becomes misconstrued. Glad to gain some clarity.

I have never been so moved by a group of people the way I was by the people who came to say goodbye to her. There were many who loved her so deeply. One of the most difficult cases I’ve ever experienced. She was taken from this world way too soon.

[johndunn]

I live 35 miles from Mt. Shasta and work in Mt. Shasta city. I've lived in the area for 44 years and, sadly, at least once a year, sometimes two or three, someone loses their life on Mt. Shasta.
My brother in law used to work search & rescue and every spring he was called multiple times a week to look for, or rescue, someone on that mountain.
It may be classified as a novice climb, but I wish they would recategorize that. Too many people take the mountain for granted and it bites them.
Mt. Shasta may not be the tallest peak in the range, but it is the largest in mass. Something that big will, and has, created its own weather. And it will do it in a matter of minutes

[goodSchnoggs]

Many years ago two of us set up a tent at the trailhead area and then realized my friend had forgotten his sleeping bag. We drove down to Shasta, rented a motel room, got up at 11:00, got prepared in a well-lit, dry comfortable motel room and then headed back up to the trailhead. Weather was a bit bad and all the climbers from the hut went part way and returned. We made it to the summit, but I do remember that at the red banks, it was a bit icy and steep, causing a little worry; "I don't like this!" I could see that a fall here would have not been good. But we leveled off a bit and continued. On our way down we found a man-made chute that banked and turned perfectly for a long slide down without the need to self-arrest. One of my most enjoyable descents of any mountain I've climbed.

[shaidan]

One of my crampons broke on the way down misery hill from the summit of Shasta. So I ended up glissading from red banks all the way down to Helen lake. At one point I lost control of my glissade and had to self arrest. It was the first time I had used self arrest "in anger" as my old instructor used to say. It blew my mind just how long it took from once I set my axe to actually stopping my fall.

As a guide, I disagree with the sentiment that the guide in this segment gave about what his job is. The job isn't to get people to the top safely, the job of a guide is to get people back home safely.

[Kimberley-Z]

Nick Meyers, the Lead Climbing Ranger for USFS, is awesome, experienced and quite aware of the subjective and objective hazards on Mount Shasta; he was quite correct, one must not fall. We had an old saying during my days of rock climbing and mountaineering, falling is unthinkable. In my opinion, this accident was 100 percent preventable. The mountain guide, Ms. Webster, made a bad judgement call on taking two inexperienced clients up Red Banks on very treacherous ice, the objective hazard. This was the main causal factor of this accident although there might have been other factors too. In my view, the two clients were the weak link in this climbing team. In the past, we have had to back off of peaks in the Sierras for all sorts of reasons, weather, rock fall, route finding problems and running out of time, one of the mountaineer’s enemies. The mountain guide’s job is to get the client up and down the peak, safely and in one piece, health and safety is first and top priority, no matter what, even when an objective hazard, the glaze/ice was encountered, the guide, Ms. Webster, should have had her clients turn around and back off of the peak and return to base camp. Sadly, she paid with her life. With that being said, the guide ought to be checking the client’s qualifications, competence and experience before climbing any peak as the health and safety stakes and liability can be quite high in the sport of mountaineering.

[johnshreve]

I made Mt Shasta an annual event. I'm not a "mountaineer", but I equipped myself well and paid close attention to weather and conditions. I ended up making 8 attempts over the years, summitting 5 of those times. On one of those failures, I got into the glissade chute much earlier in the day than I ever had. It was too frozen and self arrest never had a chance. The universe allowed me to stop before Lake Helen, and I had zero injuries. But I knew I went by several rock outcroppings and NONE with my name on them. On a subsequent climb, I avoided that chute (for obvious reasons), but my alternate path took me right back into it, and I once again had no control. For a 2nd time, I got stopped with no injuries. These were the last of my annual climbs. The mountain was telling me something and now I heard it. I gave away all my mountaineering equipment and sighed heavily.

[ftincyclist]

Roped together???? Shasta does not have Glaciers. It only has a small snow field.
But I fell on Shasta Aug 1997. Was around 13, 0000ft, around 1300 in the afternoon I had a crampon come loose on my left boot. I was on blue ice ona steep decent. I fell and slide a good distant tried rolling over to try different ice ax arrest. But the ice was to slick and hard. I came to a stop when my right boot caught and ice wall and stuck, as I was stopping I kept hearing loud breaks and popping sounds. When I stopped and was assessing my damages, my right foot was flipped backward and the bottom of my boot was facing me. I broke my right Fibula, my right ankle, and my right foot. Not a good thing to do at 13000 feet.. I would again like to thank the mountain rescuers the many teams that help get me down to 10000 ft around 2000 hours it was getting dark and thunderstorms rolling in.. Thank you to the California state hwy patrol helio that found a small break in the thunder storms as the storms was rolling in and picking my Hypothermia body up..The team at Shasta hospitality surgery and the whole nursing staff that took care of me while I was there.. My condolences to the family of the snow border that died on Shasta that night.. A heavy snow fell that night The view of the mountain from my hospital bed with fresh snow at sunrise was a site I will not forget..

[diegomontoya]

When the climbing Ranger said, "There are places where you must not fall, " I thought that was an interesting statement. Growing up in Snohomish County, WA, in the shadow of Mount Pilchuck and way off in the distance, the majestic Glacier Peak, Mount Baker and of course Tahoma to the south, many of the volcanoes are both breathtaking and unforgiving. I only know enough about climbing to know what I am capable of, and what to steer clear of. I consider a ton of the mountains I climb in the Cascades to be "must not fall" places. There are a lot of steep hillsides with boulders and trees that will definitely "break" your fall. Many of the interior cascade mountains are covered in snow into June and July. Shasta is unique that it really isn't part of the Sierra Nevadas, but the southern edge of the Cascades, almost to Oregon, and should be treated as such.

[jimvick]

Like 10 year ago on Rainier on the traverse from the Emmons to the Winthrop Glaciers and on up to the summit there was a large patch of rime ice on a steep slope with a high penalty for failure... I always had a file in my pocket in case I needed to "touch up" my crampon spikes so they would bite it... We took a 15 minute break, passed the file around, then made our way to the summit. Descending that patch was a rush... I know what the ranger means when he says, "There are times in mountaineering when one must not fall."

[BrianSweeney]

Something I hadn't considered or really heard or read about (until I was rocketing downhill at terminal velocity) is that sometimes snow is too soft for successful self arrest. You always think that the snow that is bulletproof is what will get you, but snow soft enough to give away when plunge a tool into it can simultaneously be firm and fast enough to kill you as well. It's like the ranger says - some places are just no fall zones without further qualification.

[javiersavinien]

I summited on June 9th, 2022. The rangers told us to take an alternate route to the summit due to the ice. We had originally planned to take this one. Thoughts and prayers to the family.

[Jenesis]

I did it a few years ago via an overnight trek. We set up tents at the base of the bowl and summited the next day. We zigzaged the bowl, not going straight up. It is a beautiful speak with all around views.

[nomadiclivingart]

Rest in Peace Jillian 💓 May you be remembered for ever through your bright spirit and through the individuals you have graced throughout your journey. May your story be heard and felt deeply. May your heroic story be the cautionary tale to save so many others. May the individuals you directly saved with your life for ever carry you on and save others in your name. May your story remind us all that nature is in control of our lives, no other force.

[stevenmalmberg]

I too was there 16 years ago and suddenly slid about a half mile with no injuries luckily…

[lisaschuster]

My husband tried twice to get to the top when he was in peak condition and failed. It is a tough summit.