Why This Journey?

Mt Shasta

In June, Cai & I decided to try and ski two volcanoes in the Pacific North West. While they were both a lot of fun, they were very different experiences, and this has caused me to ponder.

We attempted Mt Shasta having spent a week touring along the West coast with my sister. On the way out to meet her at Santa Barbara, we had stopped in the Southern Sierra with the hope of skiing a line from University Peak 13,594; however, the snow had already departed leaving us with a hike up Kearsarge Pass 11,709’ and a little extra time to explore Hollywood. So, after driving from LA to SF and beyond, entertaining Cai’s cousin on beaches, and eating good food, we rocked up to Mt Shasta a little sluggish without being fully acclimated. The bottom line is we were slow, and when combined with the altitude, and the spicy snow conditions, we bailed a mere 600’ from the top. It was a wise decision, and we still had 4,700’ of interesting skiing for our efforts. However, there was a nagging doubt that we might have been able to summit.

Fast forward a week, and we were heading up to Mt Rainier. Unfortunately, snow conditions had left the upper mountain unsafe, so we knew we were only going up to Muir Camp. We did not get up particularly early and left the parking lot at Paradise around 6:30 am, and yet we were back down for lunch. A little bit of extra fitness and good acclimatization had left us able to travel at much higher speeds. We are definitely thinking of coming back next year to ski the Emmons route in a day.

The upshot is I want to be fitter and far more prepared for anything I choose to do. As I enter the golden years, I recognize the need to increase my fitness and strength while I am able. And it has left me pondering about a suitable challenge to kick start the process.