I went back to my mountain. Two weeks ago, I had aborted my attempt after I saw that there was nobody else on that trail. If I was to have an accident, a slip or something, there would be no one to call for help.
The following weekend I did not return, because I stayed watching the fiasco that is my home country soccer team today.
Over the weekend of February 6, the weather forecast was very good, so I made plans to return to the mountain.
On Friday the 5th, I had to work from my office, so I got my gear ready in my car the night before so I could start the drive to the town of Shasta from my job. On Friday, I went to an outdoor gear store that is about 15 minutes from my job to rent the snowshoes; these are the only part of the equipment for these trips that that I still don’t own.
The night before, my car gave me a low tire warning light. I fixed it in my garage, problem solved… Until the next day leaving the outdoors store, the warning light came back on.
By coincidence, there was a tire shop very close to the store where I was. I went there and explained to them what was happening with that little light, and that I thought it was better if they checked the tire. The guy that was closest did not even have to take the tire off, because he saw a nail on it right away. They got to work and fixed the tire. Things were going very well, because if I had not gone to that place I would have had a flat tire in the middle of who knows where.
I went back to work, finished my day, and started my drive to the small town of Shasta.
I slept at a hotel in that town on Friday, and on Saturday, I was at the trailhead after 9 in the morning.
At the trailhead parking lot, I saw a ranger that was waiting for his partners for a training they were going to do. I asked the man his opinion about the convenience of carrying snowshoes. He told me that he thought I wouldn’t need them, because the snow was firm; that it was possible my steps would post-hole in some parts, but not very deep.
I thanked him for his opinion and went back to my car to continue with the final preparations of my backpack.
A couple of people that were close to my car, also getting ready to climb the mountain, did carry snowshoes. I talked to them and they told me that it was not their plan to climb to the top but to do an extended hike using those things.
The downside is that eventually you have to carry those things somewhere in your backpack, and they weight between 4 and 6 pounds.
An advantage the snowshoes offer, something which has helped me quite a lot in my other trips, is that most of them come with heel brackets that can be used when going uphill. Those brackets keep the feet in horizontal position; so the climb ends up being very similar to climbing steps.
I decided to bring them, even though I was well aware that those 4 extra pounds would eventually cost me, but the advantage hiking upwards was something very real and of great benefit to me.
I started the hike at 9:50 in the morning, which I think is the earliest I’ve ever started these hikes. The sky was clear, and the temperature was very pleasant. I got going without the snowshoes. I reached the tree line in exactly one hour. I stopped for a couple of minutes to rest. I wasn’t exhausted, but I had planned to stop every hour for a short break.
My next stop was a little over an hour later, at 11 and 15 where I had the first section of steep slopes in front of me. It was time to get the snowshoes from my backpack and get on them. What a blessing those things are for steep hills like the one I was about to climb.
At 12:05 I was already at an altitude of 9,060 feet, and I stopped to rest for a moment. I re-started at 12 and 10.
I was unable to keep with my plan of taking a break every hour, because the steepness of these slopes made me take a break again at 12:40, at 9,640 feet. How do I know these numbers? Well, because I had brought a sheet and a pen with me, and wrote that info every time I stopped to rest.
I knew I was close to my target for the day. That site is called ‘Helen Lake’, despite not being a lake at all. It’s about 10,200 feet high, less than 600 feet of altitude to gain from where I was at the time. In distance, I estimated it was about 3/4 of a mile from where I was.
5 minutes later, I continued. I calculated that it would take me about an hour and a half to reach Helen Lake. I thought that if it ended up being that time, an hour and a half, the first part of the hike would be very successful.
I have never been a fast hiker; also, since I was hiking alone without anyone to push me, and with no need for speed (so to speak), I just tried to save energy and complete my trip.
I ended up arriving at Helen Lake at 1:20! It took me only 35 minutes from that last stop! It was absolutely unbelievable to me. In all, it took me only 3 1/2 hours to hike from the parking lot to Helen Lake. I beat my record by an hour! Now, to get going setting up the tent and preparing everything for sleeping; since the plan was to start the summit attack before 3 in the morning, I should try to get to asleep early. However, there were two things I needed to do, melt snow and prepare my food.
Crónicas de Mao 