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Basic Alpine Climb - Mount Shasta/Avalanche Gulch

Successful early season ascent via Avalanche Gulch. Excellent weather and surface conditions.

Karl Themer Karl Themer
May 26, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • We travelled on snow from the trailhead at Bunny Flats (6950') to the summit.   Bootpacks are well established on this route, snowshoes were not needed.  Route finding is fairly easy, this route is essentially a straight line from trailhead to summit.  The route is at its steepest between 11400' and the top of Red Banks at 12800'.  The grade is still moderate, it looks much steeper when viewed from the trailhead than it actually is.   With good snow conditions as we had it is possible to travel unroped the entire way.  There are no crevasses on this route.  There is some rockfall hazard in Avalanche Gulch and we saw a few rocks that had rolled to the edge of camp at Helen Lake.  Climbers should generally ascend the right side of the Gulch until arriving at the top of Red Banks.  We enjoyed excellent weather with sunny skies and no wind on most of the route, although the summit itself was very windy.   The spring at Horse camp at 7900' has been excavated and running water is available.  At Helen Lake camp (10400') we melted snow for water.  Note that there isn't really a lake there.  There were hundreds on climbers on the route on this long weekend. 

    There is an information desk at the trailhead which was staffed when we were there.  There is also an outhouse and a machine to purchase climbing passes ($25 per climber, credit cards accepted) at the trailhead.  A separate wilderness permit (free) is also required and available at the trailhead.  There is no need to visit a ranger station elsewhere for permits.

Most of the party left Seattle early on Friday and arrived at the trailhead late afternoon.  The two leaders left Seattle later in the day and arrived at Bunny Flats at 1:15 AM.  There is plenty of parking along the road and this was a very busy weekend with cars on both sides for over half a mile.   Everyone camped at the trailhead to help with acclimation.

We started organizing on Saturday morning at 8:00 and we were ready to go at 9:00.  Everyone obtained a climbing pass ($25), a wilderness permit (free), and a wag bag at the trailhead.  Everyone had camping gear, an axe, helmet, and crampons.  We also brought harnesses and one rope and two pickets for the group but did not need them.  We followed a bootpack up the East side of the Gulch for about an hour, then studied the map to find Horse camp on the West side.  We overshot the camp by about a hundred feet and since everyone had enough water to get to camp we decided not to go back to it.  Treeline is at about 8000', the rest of the route is exposed to the sun.  We took breaks at 8000' and 9200' before arriving between 1:30 and 2:00 at Helen Lake (10400') to camp.  The camp was very busy with many parties, as some were leaving we were able to move in to the established tent platforms.  It was warm, sunny, and calm with no wind.  We spent about three hours melting snow and preparing meals.  There is a good view from camp up the route to Red Banks, but the portion of the route beyond Red Banks is not visible from camp.

We got up a around 2:30 AM on Sunday.  Many other teams were also up and some were already underway.  We were moving at 3:20.  It was still calm and it was not cold.  We made a slow ascent with much traversing to avoid going straight up.  I noticed that other climbers who did go straight up were not faster than us.  Many of the climbers on the mountain had skis.  There were a number of guided teams, it appears that one guide with two (very) short-roped clients is standard guide practice on Shasta.  Still most of the climbers travelled solo.  It is a great route to learn and practice good cramponing technique.  At around 11500' the slope steepens but we had excellent snow conditions and we were able to continue traversing higher.  At about 6:00 AM at 12200' one participant felt unwell and decided to return to camp.  One leader accompanied the participant back to camp and the other leader continued with the rest of the team to the summit, with radio contact maintained between the two leaders.  The summit team topped out a few hours later and reported high winds and a crowded space at the small summit.  Everyone was back in camp by 11:30 AM.  We packed up and departed Helen Lake at 12:45 PM.  We enjoyed some long glissades in soft snow below camp.  We stopped at Horse camp with the spring and the Sierra Club cabin on the way down.  We arrived at the trailhead at 2:30 PM.  The team had dinner in the town of Mt Shasta and then started the drive back to Seattle at 4:30 PM.  Overall a great trip.