With incredible terrain and conditions for improving your glacier travel skills, Mount Shasta is a bucket list item for many mountaineers. Built up by countless strata of hardened lava, this stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range stands at 14,179 ft (4,322 m) and is as such the fifth highest peak in California. Delve deeper into the intricacies of glacier travel and expand your mountaineering horizons with fellow female outdoor enthusiasts and your expert guides. Learn more about crevasse rescue techniques, snow anchors, and ice climbing while conquering a glacier route on Mount Shasta’s north side. Your certified female guide will help you acclimate in this mountainous region prior to the summit climb on the Hotlum Glacier or a similar route. Feel a sense of accomplishment as you and other like-minded gals crush your mountaineering goals and walk away with a more refined sense of self.
Build out your mountaineering skill set on this glacier travel course on Mt. Shasta with an all-female team full of strong women! Sharpen your existing crampon and ice axe skills as you let your female guide teach you more about snow anchors, crevasse rescue techniques, and ice climbing. Prepare for a summit climb on the Hotlum Glacier or a similar route, instill confidence in other ladies, and revel in the far-reaching views in this mountainous heaven.
Kick this adventure off by arriving into the town of Mount Shasta and checking into your hotel. You’ll meet your guide and teammates and you’ll have a welcome dinner together in town.
Meals: Dinner
Accommodations: Hotel
Start the day off by having breakfast and you will meet your guide and teammates. The guide will carry out a thorough gear check and the group gear allocations will be distributed. After you’re done repacking your backpack, you’ll get to the trailhead and hike all the way to the basecamp. In the process, you’ll cover a vertical gain of 2,500 ft (760 m). Depending on the weather and other conditions, this approach hike may take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. You’ll be carrying heavy packs on your back, so get ready!
Meals: Dinner
Accommodations: Camp
Get ready for a day full of mountaineering skills and snow climbing practice. After your breakfast at camp, you’ll review ice axe and crampon skills. Then you’ll continue to review team rope travel and team arrest and continue working on snow anchors and glacier skills. You’ll return to camp early for dinner and an evening briefing and your guide will discuss the plans for tomorrow.
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodations: Camp
Continue improving your mountaineering skills and listen to your guides as today glacier travel, anchor building, and crevasse rescue will be the focal points. Return to the camp early to enjoy your dinner and for an evening briefing so that you know what to expect on the following day. Today could also involve moving up to an advance camp or even making an early summit bid if necessary, but this depends on the route and weather conditions.
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodations: Camp
Since today is the summit day, you’ll have to wake up early. The alpine start is typically around 2 or 3 am. The summit bid usually involves 7-9 hours of ascending and about 4-5 hours of descending, meaning that you’ll be moving for a total of 12-14 hours. The standard turnaround time is at noon for safety purposes. After you return to the camp, you’ll have the remainder of the afternoon free to get a well-deserved rest.
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodations: Camp
Have your breakfast to start off the day and pack up camp before descending back to the road and coming back to the town of Mount Shasta. Cap off this mountaineering adventure with a celebratory dinner.
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodations: Hotel
In the blink of an eye, this trip has come to a close and it’s time to say goodbye to your all-female team. Check out from your room and head home.There are no activities planned on this day, but climbers often choose to coordinate a final team breakfast on their own.
57hours is committed to providing safe outdoor adventure experiences. We require all guides using our platform to have a COVID-19 safety plan and to make the details of that plan accessible to travelers. In most cases, group sizes will be reduced, guides will avoid overcrowded locations, and other safety measures will be met depending on the location and activity.
We also expect clients to respect local regulations and take measures to protect themselves, guides and the communities they’re traveling to. For more information on COVID-19 measures on Mount Shasta, CA, please refer to the Official California State Government and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Please contact us if you have any questions or require further information. We are happy to provide you with the most up-to-date information!
What you get in this adventure:
What’s not included:
This tour is quite challenging, and you need to be in excellent physical condition to attempt it. Plan to be in your very best physical condition before a summit attempt. You should concentrate on endurance and strength training. You should be able to run a trail half marathon or hike 10-12 miles (16-19 km) while carrying 45 lbs (20 kg), without feeling extremely tired at the end of the day. You will spend five days on your feet encountering some mentally and physically draining technical routes as you climb on Mount Shasta. You’re expected to have previous hiking and backpacking experience.
In order to participate in this guided glacier travel course on Mount Shasta, you need to have basic mountaineering experience and know how to use ice axe and crampons. This 5-day course is designed for the emerging mountaineer who wants to deepen their essential glacier travel and mountaineering skills while building on a pre-existing foundation of crampon and ice axe usage.
The team gear including ropes, mountaineering tents (double occupancy), kitchen equipment, team medical kit, and emergency communication will be provided by your guiding service. When it comes to the technical gear, you’ll need:
Here’s a list of the personal equipment you need to bring:
Dress comfortably and for the weather in clothes you can move in. We suggest bringing clothing appropriate for the season. Layers are best and don’t wear jeans.
You can rent:
The equipment rental location is in the town of Mount Shasta and should be picked up the night prior to your outing. If you need to rent gear, let us know and we can help make arrangements.
Group sizes:
Glacier travel courses on Mount Shasta can be arranged for larger groups. Contact us to make arrangements.
Min. age requirements:
If your group has skiers under the age of 18, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.
To get to Mount Shasta, most people fly into Rogue Valley International, only 1.5 hours away from the town of Mount Shasta. From there, you can rent a car or take a bus to get to the town. The closest airport, however, is Redding Municipal Airport, just an hour away. Some bigger airports include Sacramento International Airport and Reno-Tahoe International Airport, about 4 hours away.
Once you and your guide agree on the details of your itinerary, you will meet your teammates and guide for a welcome dinner in town after you check into the hotel in the town of Mount Shasta. The guide will choose the appropriate terrain dependent on conditions and the ability of the group.
A $500 deposit to secure your place is due upon approval of the participant’s request to join an expedition.The balance of program fees will generally be due 90 days prior to the starting date of the program. Once the trip is confirmed by the guide, the cancellation policy stated below applies.
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Sunny is such a wonderful leader! I have gone on two expeditions with AWE and both were fantastic. The small group was a lot of fun. Sunny encouraged and challenged us throughout the trek, and had a high level of awareness and flexibility that made our trip safe and successful even when obstacles came up. I would highly recommend Sunny and AWE.