How I descended from the top of mt. Shasta in August 1970 when I was 22 years old

I had to hike from the peak down to around 12,000 feet or less because there are several things like a pile of rocks on the top and other things you are going to have to walk over. but, if there is snow when you are going down (like there was in August 1970s when I did this) at some point the steepness lessened enough for me to get out my greenhouse plastic and take off my crampons (because other wise I would tumble forward trying to use them sliding down the snow on the mountain and die.

So, I put my crampons in my backpack and used my ice axe as a brake and went down the mountain at between 20 and 30 miles an hour. 

However, people today would think doing this was crazy for a variety of reasons but this is what I did in August 1970 and I was okay doing this because I was experienced enough to pull this off.

Why I survived doing this?

First of all, then in 1970 there was a strap you had around your wrist tied to the ice axe but in years after this too many people had died doing what I did when the ice axe handle got loose from their hand and it bounced quickly on the snow and the ice axe killed them or contributed to their deaths. 

However, I survived doing this okay because I'm fairly strong and didn't go so fast on the plastic that I died. So, even though I summited at about 4 pm that day I was down to Horse Camp by Sunset that day too. However, in August that might be 9 pm or even later depending upon the day. So, by sunset I met my friends at HOrse camp who had already summited and we all drove down to Marilynn's Restaurant which existed then and had Vegeburgers which were wonderful with French Fries with a BlackBerry milkshake which one might find in August in Mt. Shasta and the surrounding area often.

So, this is how I got down the mountain so quick because the snow was almost all the way to Horse camp so I slid down on plastic using my ice axe (with a strap) so I wouldn't lose it coming down and I was okay doing this.

But, today because people do things differently and usually camp at Lake Helen instead of Horse camp to climb the mountain they might see what I did as really dangerous. But, in the end what is dangerous is in the mind of the beholder from where you are then.

And what I did then worked for me to get down the mountain really quickly and to have fun doing it!