He's back...Mt. Shasta Man!

Departing on Thursday Josh and fellow BAWT mountaineer Josh headed off for Shasta City to acclimatize before the official program began on Friday evening. For once in his life Josh was known as "little Josh" while his fellow teammate was called "big Josh."

On the way up they passed some of the fires that have plagued California in June.

Their campsite for the first two nights had some friendly visitors. Friday evening the team gathered and spent time getting to know one another and the guides that would take them up the mountain. On Saturday morning after gear check the team departed for a four hour hike up to 9,900 feet to base camp. Once camp was set up the team was put through snow school learning how to self arrest, glasade, use an ice axe and crampons and the different mountaineering steps.

Saturday night was an early night as the wake up call for the summit bid would come at 1:30 a.m.

After a brief breakfast, the team, divided into two rope teams and departed for the summit. The guides determined that the turn around time would be 12:00 p.m. in case the thunderstorms that had been forecast rolled back into the area.

Sunrise on Mt. Shasta

brief snack and rest on the trek up

a look at what lays ahead

At the beginning of the trip it had been determined that the team would take the west face route up Shasta but because of conditions, the guides decided to take everybody up the more difficult eastern face. The snow fields were "punchy" and soft and the scree slick and challenging. Josh's rope team dropped first one, then another climber at rest points on the mountain as some of his teammates were too tired to carry on. The second rope team also had to turn around before they reached the summit. Josh and his guide, JB took a brief moment to scarf down some food for extra energy and charged on ahead. Afte 10 hours of climbing, they reached the summit, 14, 162 feet.

Josh's guide describes the experience of climbing the mountain as spending 10 hours on a stairmaster. Fortunately the trip down only took two hours as they were able to glasade.

Back at base camp, they celebrated with a glass of champagne each, compliments of the BAWT representative. Josh has come home on a high. This has been one of his most memorable life experiences. He has tons of stories that he'd be happy to share including ones about wag bags and tumbling rocks.

A huge thank you to our friends and family who helped make this trip possible. Thank you both for your prayers and support. This has been one of Josh's life dreams and to know that he could do something like this while supporting a cause he is passionate about made the experience all the more fulfilling.

Though he returned home on Monday evening, in some ways he is still on the mountain.

For my part, I'm thrilled that he had a great time and even more happy that he is back safely. Lola as you can see is also thrilled, she has been inseperable from Josh since he returned home.