At the time it was 1970 and I was 22 years old and 3 friends and I climbed it after the "I AM" Come pageant in Mt. Shasta that August.
It was pretty hot in town so I expected it to be warmer than it was at Horse Camp that night so I didn't bring a warm enough sleeping bag and for lightness I didn't bring a tent either to Horse Camp so the wind and the cold I started to get too cold to sleep. So, about 2:30 AM I got up and told my buddies I was going to start climbing because I couldn't stay warm enough with my sleeping bag. So, I began climbing up from Horse Camp Sierra Club Emergency Lodge towards the top of the mountain. I brought food and water and Crampons and an Ice Axe and some Greenhouse plastic to slide down on in the snow using my ice axe as a brake. However, you have to be really co-ordinated to slide down like this and have your method work for you or else you won't survive doing this. But, for me, I considered this a lot like Downhill skiing and I was up to the task of coming down the mountain like this.
then I saw it "The Burning Bush" of Mt. Shasta which looked a lot like the STar Trek Transporter room when people are whisked from one location to another like Earth to a Ship.
This changed me a lot seeing this and it said to me: "I'm not here for you!"
In other words to me it was saying that it's purpose of being there was not necessarily to contact me in this way.
So, i meditated on it a long time until it said, "If you don't leave soon your nearness to me will harm you."
So, I began to climb the mountain to the top but I was changed a lot by this experience at the time and I was very different after this for about 6 months and I changed a lot after this.
I would call this a "Holy Spirit" experience in how it changed my life a lot after this.
So, anyway my buddies passed me one by one and I was the last to summit Mt. Shasta then. I remember feeling like a 5 year old on top of the mountain and when I looked down I thought: "Can I really make it down from this peak in one piece.
The air was so thin that it was difficult to think straight I found but I knew how to breathe more than normal so I hadn't gotten air sick doing this and the mountain is after all well over 14,000 feet high and almost as high as Mt. Whitney in the Sierras.
So, then when I got down to about 12,000 feet I started sliding on my greenhouse plastic that I sat on while I braked with my Ice Axe so I didn't die. I could travel pretty fast and I was on top of the plastic with my ice axe sending up a rooster tail of snow and made it down to Horse Camp Sierra Club Emergency Lodge by Sundown and met my fellow climbers there.
This was August of 1970 when I was 22, 56 years ago this August!
Amazing how time flies when you are having fun!
By God's Grace
NOTE:
I also took my crampons off while sliding down like this because if you jammed your spikes into the snow your feet were in front and this would cause you do die when your body came over the top of the crampons. IT's just physics and ergonomics to understand this.
Also, Crampons are metal spikes you attach to your boots so you don't slide while ascending or descending and die when everything is steep snow all around you even in August of that year. And you maintain your balance using these spikes by using the Ice Axe sort of like a Cane in the snow for balance while ascending or descending.
If you aren't really coordinated you aren't likely going to survive climbing mt. Shasta in the first place.
So, unless you have a lot of endurance you likely shouldn't try to climb Mt. Shasta.
But, if you believe you can do this often you can. However, there are many who didn't survive doing this over the years too just like in Skiing and Snowboarding and Surfing and things like this.
So, be sure you are up to this before you try doing this and be sure you have enough of the right equipment too and I wouldn't try to do this alone but many people do and live through it.
another thing you need is really strong sunglasses so you don't get snow blind for a week and die up there.
My 2nd wife was snow blind for a week when she forgot her sunglasses one time skiing on Mt. Shasta too. So, if you don't have good sunglasses and sunscreen on a sunny day while going up a snow covered Mt. Shasta then going snow blind might happen to you too. and my 2nd wife couldn't see anything but sparks for a week before her eyes healed up enough to see again. This was in the early 1980s this happened. So, don't forget sun glasses or you are going to have to go down to some place like 5th Season which is a climbing Sporting goods store in town and buy some decent Sun Glasses before you try to ascend the mountain.
When you start to see purpling of everything you are close to going snow blind right then. And often even if you don't go snow blind when your eyes have purpling (what you see) your eyes might hurt several days just from the no sunglasses purpling.
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