Note: Tree line is where the trees begin to stop growing because of altitude, temperature and changes in precipitation. In other words the snow gets too deep for trees to grow, the avalanches are much more extreme, the soil might not be right for them to grow, the temperatures might be too cold in winter for them to grow, the air might be too thin for them to do well, etc.
The things that almost did me in on the mountain were all above tree line by the way. Most people who haven't spent much time above tree line (it's different and changes depending upon how far north or south of the equator you are too. Where it's warmer like in the Himalayas for example, the tree line is much higher that close to the equator and I found bananas growing at 9000 or 10,000 feet in a valley for example in the Himalayas when I was there in 1985 and 1986.
But, the closest I came to death was actually from freezing to death in a "white out" between Bunny Flat at 6900 feet where I parked my car and Horse Camp in December of 1970 with two college friends when we realized we had walked with our snow shoes in a big circle and couldn't find our way and the hand held GPS locaters hadn't been invented yet because it was 1970 not 1990 or after when they became more affordable.
So, in order to survive the night we took off our snowshoes and dug a snow cave to ride out the White Out Blizzard.
What is a "White Out blizzard"? It's a snow storm so fierce you cannot really see more than your hand in front of your face so you cannot locate where you are without some kind of GPS device. Since it was getting darker and colder we knew we likely wouldn't survive the night unless we dug a snow cave to try to survive this and somehow we did.
The next experience that was almost fatal was in the 1980s when I was skiing above tree line again and got into an avalanche so I struggled to stay up on top of the snow while about a city block sized avalanche moved down the mountain with me in the center of it. I thought it was going so fast that I was going to be killed on the trees the avalanche hit. But, luckily the trees stopped the city block sized avalanche so I didn't get my head smashed up against a tree at 20 to 30 miles per hour which was about the speed of the avalanche going down the mountain into the trees. Even then I was waist deep in snow with my shirt off because it was a warm day. So, I struggled and got the tips of my mountaineering skis to come up through the snow and skied out of it. Luckily this was possible so I survived.
But, as a climber climbing the mountain you are even more vulnerable than I was in these two situations.
For example, if you are climbing up from Horse Camp up the valley towards Lake Helen, when you get just beyond Lake Helen where many people camp and leave their backpacks while they climb the mountain and back down to Lake Helen, the steepness (especially in summer if there is no snow) like there likely won't be this summer, becomes very dangerous because of rockfalls.
As the mountain becomes steeper above Lake Helen little rocks can dislodge under the climbing boots of the climbers above you. and if you don't notice these rocks coming down upon you all it takes is a fist size rock traveling at 60 miles per hour down the steepness bouncing off the ground into your head and it's all over. So, you have to be aware when the snow is gone of this problem because of the number of climbers there are now in the summers climbing mt. Shasta. They aren't trying to kill you but they accidentally might if their boots dislodge a little rock which then dislodges a bigger and bigger rock until you get something bigger than your fist hitting your head at 60 mph or more coming down that very steep mountain above Lake Helen on Mt. Shasta.
So, the point is that in Alpine conditions you can have foggy situations where you cannot see anything and then you might have rocks coming at you that you cannot see but might or might not hear either. Because of this year around you have to be careful of rocks or avalanches (depending upon the season and conditions) year around.
There is a saying: "Ignorance is bliss" and that is true as long as you survive all these things but many do not and also are not aware of the hazards they face. For example, just above the paved road at Bunny Flat there is a bench made of cement for people to sit on observing mt. Shasta dedicated to two 18 year old boys who died on the mountain climbing it for the first time likely put there by the boys' parents to let people know this mountain can be dangerous and often is.
Though Mt. Shasta is my spiritual home from when I was little I still respect the danger of this beautiful mountain which is why I'm still alive today after all my experiences over the years on and around Mt. Shasta since I first remember it driving by it to Seattle from San Diego when I was 4 years old and my parents let me get out in the cold snow and play until I cried because my hands were freezing from the cold snow.
Note: I found out GPS devices hand held were invented in 1989:
Did you mean: when were handheld gps devices invented
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