I spent a lot of time from about 1969 until 1980 visiting the area around Horse Camp Lodge because during the summers we (a friend and I when we were in college) knew the caretaker there. Then when the other caretaker wanted to get married and do something else from April to October other than rescue climbers on Mt. Shasta so they didn't die my best friend took the job for a couple of years. Back then you were 5 days on and two days off from about April or May to about October in the Fall depending upon the weather both times of year.
However, this time I thought I could ski up to Horse Camp without any problems at 66 and found that wasn't the case. I think my real problem was I was just too enthusiastic and not thinking enough about my age, my heart medicine I take or the anti-biotics I have been on Amoxicillin and since yesterday when the doctor was told I couldn't take three Amoxicillan a day without going brain dead as in "Duh". So, I never even tried to do three a day or maybe I wouldn't have even known my name. So, I only took two a day but sometimes I couldn't drive a car I was so out of it so I didn't. It would be like me drinking a 6 pack of beer or a bottle of wine(which I don't because I'm pretty allergic to alcohol like my Dad and Grandfather were too).
So, the doctor gave me a Zpak (Zithromax) to take instead which I have had to take lots of times for bronchitis before my hypothyroid condition was diagnosed. However, now I take Armour Thyroid there are no side affects and no bronchitis for me basically ever. In fact, I might almost guarantee I would be dead now without Zithromax, Sudafed (until I had a heart problem) and Coricidan (after my heart problem.
So, today I thought "Oh. I'm going to tie some snowshoes (I have some great ones) on my day pack when I ski down and my new (as of last year) mountaineering metal edged skis with more cross country bindings.
However, I was wrong in thinking I could do this without acclimatizing myself to the altitude because I have lived at Sea Level on the Northern California coast for a lot of years now and not in the mountains at 4000 feet. So, driving up having been on antibiotics and not sleeping well wouldn't have been a problem if I was still 20s or 30s or even 40s. But, sometimes at above 65 now enthusiasm just isn't enough to carry me through and this was one of those times.
Basically, I was okay about half the way up on my mountaineering skis. The snow was perfect for the small center strip of riffles to keep me from slipping back as I and my friends cross country skied up the gulch. We saw several other snowboarders and mountaineering skiers coming down who had gone all the way up to Lake Helen (I don't know why they call it this because most years it is snow year around). Then we noticed a high altitude helicopter dropping off skiers on the top of the 14,161 or so mountain and letting them ski down to Lake Helen and it was picking them up there when they had skied down. Obviously, You would have to be a really really good skier or snowboarder not to die doing this because of the steepness of the mountain at that altitude and also you would have to manage the altitude yourself so you didn't have problems.
I climbed the mountain to the top in August 1970 and felt like I was about 5 years old because of the thin air at that altitude.
However, yesterday I got up near Horse Camp and realized something was wrong. I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong because it was altitude sickness from not taking enough time at 3500 feet for my body to be able to deal with 9000 feet and working so hard. So no matter how fast I breathed I still was having trouble not seeing little stars or spots before my eyes and I was noticing my mental acuity was reducing and I was shaking a little and when I fell in the snow from this it was very hard to get back up. Then one of my bindings wasn't working right so between all these things as I pulled up to Horse Camp Lodge I was a little scared because I wasn't sure at this point whether my binding problem was just snow that needed to melt out of my ski binding or whether it just wasn't going to work for me at all. Luckily when I stood my skis up vertically in the snow some melted out and they were sort of okay but not perfect.
Then I found I was having a lot of trouble on the way down. Finally, I got down about 500 feet vertically and felt nauseous and knew what it was. I had all the classic symptoms of altitude sickness which would occur with me because I was pushing so hard at too high an altitude before I was acclimatized to it. So, for example, I likely would be okay at 11,000 or 12,000 feet riding in a plane or car but not if I was really exerting myself like I was yesterday. So, it became sort of a nightmare wondering if I was going to make it down or not in this compromised condition. I haven't had this near a thing to wondering if I would make it down for a lot of years now. Luckily, my friends stayed with me even though he was having his own problems different than me because he was 63. I decided I wasn't ever going to try to ski up to Horse Camp again. I might hike up in the summer sometime but this was just too close a call.
Also, because of my altitude sickness and physical exhaustion from dealing with it I fell bad two times, one time when I landed my own fist hit me in the mouth when my elbow hit the snow and I thought I had knocked some teeth out. But, I realized I was okay just stunned. Then when I was almost to the car I didn't see a rock sticking out of the snow and was moving pretty fast so when I landed it drove some of my teeth into my lower lip and it bled which wasn't fun either. So, I took my skis off and walked (staggered to my 4 wheel drive truck). I guess it is really nice to be young and healthy when you are doing stuff like this.
But, anything you can walk away from I call a successful adventure. But this one took me to the edge of what I thought I was going to actually survive which isn't something I want to repeat again.
However, I could barely walk this morning because of all my bumps and bruises but that will pass.
Also, they put a new metal roof on top of Horse Camp Lodge emergency stone shelter since I was there last. Also, they put a metal contraption covering the front door so people don't have to dig all the way down from the roof when it is 20 to 25 feet to get into the front door which often happens there from about February to April or May. However, this isn't this year. Because of the drought mostly there was only about 3 to 5 feet of snow as well as some patches that were still bare even at this altitude.
So, it might be melted out completely even at Horse Camp by late May or Early June the way the temperatures are going right now. The temperature as we ascended on our mountaineering skis was in the 70s even at this altitude. So, I was just wearing a hat to protect myself from the sun and special mountain climbing glasses to protect me from Snow Blindness. At one point it got so bright that I doubled up with mountain climbing glasses and ski goggles to protect my eyes. My face didn't get parboiled in the sun because of the hat and sunblock but my lips really hurt from the windburn and sunburn today.
So, I guess the lesson here is be very realistic when you are dealing with a mountain like Mt. Shasta or others. You can be having a wonderful time and then things might just start going wrong and you hope you will be alive out the other end of those experiences. People die on Shasta above about 8000 to 9000 feet almost every year for a variety of reasons. I'm just glad I wasn't one of these statistics this time.
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