"My first 14'r! It was a smoky summit of Shasta with LC and AK via the Clear Creek Trail. Day one we hiked from the parking lot to base camp and woke up @ 1am on day two for a summit bid. We were the first up the route, hitting the top at ~8am, back to camp ~11:15am (some glissading), before packing, snacking and to the car by 2pm. All told took us about 11 hours moving time from car-to-car. Was a busy day on the mountain, probably 60-70 people going for the top we saw. Temps were pretty nice, not too hot, not too cold." — zachmitch • Jul 26, 2024

"Icy snow made the ascent more challenging than expected. On the way back, I witnessed the helicopter rescue of a skier caught in an avalanche above Helen Lake (not on the standard Avalanche Gulch route)." — Taras • May 3, 2024

"May 13, 2023. Camped on snow at the trailhead the night before. Started from Bunny Flat at 4:11am. Skinned until just above Helen Lake and cached my skis at the rocks above Helen Lake at 11,200 feet. Solid boot pack up to Red Banks. Multiple small avalanches from the past week were along the cliffs, climbers left on the way to Helen Lake. One larger avalanche was evident in Avalanche Gulch drainage, you had to cross the debris field to continue right of the Heart to Red Banks. Windy on the ridge to Misery Hill, but not too bad with a hardshell. Summited straight up the summit pinnacle and descended via spiraling down and around the easy way. Sticky, potato snow on the ski back to the trailhead. " — runningvegan • May 13, 2023

"Mostly beautifil day below 12k. Red rocks still had snow to climb in. Above 12k had incredible winds. Near Misery Hill winds strong enough to throw me to the ground. The dip between Shasta and the hill had the winds subside" — Irrationalist • Jun 10, 2022

"May 14, 2022. Started at 3am at Bunny Flat. Reached Helen Lake at sunrise. Wind started up on the final stretch to Helen Lake. Whiteout conditions soon after continuing on from Helen. Seven or so climbers came back down after calling it quits and we continued up. One other climber joined use. Once we reached the base of the Heart conditions cleared up, but the wind gusts continued. Wind funnels blowing ice and gusts that blew us to our knees and pelted us with ice. One other climber was up at the base of Red Banks then she came down and went back up to that area again. We continued to the base of Red Banks and the wind conditions continued. We called it and headed back down. Lots of skiers were headed up from Helen. Lots of guided groups were headed up to Helen. Used microspikes in the morning up to Helen then switched to crampons. " — runningvegan • May 14, 2022

"Shasta summit yesterday via avalanche gulch in a great weather window. Camped at Helen Lake the night prior, which is still completely snow-covered with at least a dozen well-dug snow platforms. Good snow for barebooting up to the heart, then switched to crampons for the rest of the climb. We heard one natural rockfall climbers right of the gulch at about 3 AM. We took the large gully variation up through the red banks climbers left. It was thinly covered with a fair amount of ice at the bottom. Above the red banks and up Misery Hill was mostly thin snow and ice patches with large sections of loose rock. From Misery Hill to the base of the summit block it was well covered. The west side of the summit block was very icy, and probably the crux of the climb yesterday. Snow softened considerably by late morning in yesterdays heat. We opted for a small down climb through a narrow gully skiers left nearest Thumb Rock. Mushy snow made for a quick descent, though human-triggered rockfall became an issue around the heart from climbers above. Below Helen Lake, we found ourselves postholing substantially, and the snow was melting quickly below treeline." — wacbravo • May 4, 2022

"Change of strategy to conquer this winter climb. This time arrived at Bunny Flats at 11:30am and climbed up to just below Lake Helen. Setup my tent behind a large rock to shelter from the 40 mph gusts coming down Avalanche Gulch. The wind died for around 3 hours in the middle of the night. Then just after midnight the winds kicked up hard. After tirelessly checking my anchors and fly for 3 hours I made the decision to break camp and head down. The winds were up near 60 and the blowing wind made visibility nearly zero. This mountain has my number!" — oregon-mt-goat • Feb 20, 2021

"Left bunny flat at 7 am under clear skies and light winds. By 9 a mean looking lenticular appeared over the summit. Got to Lake Helen at 10 and grabbed a bite. Climbed 6-700 feet more before realizing that this cloud was going nowhere for the day. Backed out and was back to the car by 1. Give it another try soon..." — oregon-mt-goat • Jan 16, 2021

"Left Bunny Flats trailhead at 2:30 am. Snow was nice and firm, easy walking without crampons until breaking out above the trees after Horse Camp. Made it to Lake Helen at 11,000 ft and decided to turn around. The snow conditions in Avalanche Gulch were hard pack and ice with no give anywhere. I did not feel comfortable being able to arrest myself if something happened in those kind of conditions. I have never seen The Heart this exposed so early in the season. Hopefully the mountain gets more snow before the end of the season or its gonna be a dry summer. " — oregon-mt-goat • Feb 21, 2020

"Alpine start Lake Helen before 2am, up Avalanche Gulch route. Clear day with a great sunrise, made for a nice shadow of Shasta on the valley. Lots of snow for June, had to use crampons all the way up. With all the snow, coming down after the thumb, we where able to glissade most of the way. Hardest thing I have ever done, but worth the experience!" — colleenmarie512 • Jun 23, 2019