Casaval Ridge Denali Training, Mt. Shasta, March 16 -18th

Our weekend of inclement, cold-weather training on Mt. Shasta. I flew in Friday night, drank beers in Sacramento with my bro (on break from his Blast! tour), then I set off to the mountain with Mark. Highlights include our custom snow cave camp at 10,000' on the exposed ridge, climbing with two tools to the ridge proper at 10,500', several winter whiteout storms, and some route-finding through sketchy avalanche-prone terrain, then back down and to the airport to catch my Sunday night flight back. Whew, what a weekend.
 

The Mount Shasta. Casaval Ridge, our objective, is the prominent ridge on the left. Avy gulch lies at the center

Rolling up the mountain in the ol' 2WD CAR, no chains. Mark is the man as far as driving is concerned. We would later find a group of "Texans" in a lifted truck slid-out off the road on our way down from the Mtn. Some folks can't hang.
Watch out for that iiiiiiiiice!



Casaval Training from Mark Emerson on Vimeo.
Mt. Shasta during a winter training climb. Using all the skills we've learned over the last few year we wanted to push ourselves a little bit with the weather, navigation, physical ability and knowledge. Building a snow cave and learning quite a bit about what to expect in cold weather.

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Climbing Weavers Needle, Superstition Wilderness - March 3, 2012

Rob Brandl and I climbed the Needle in the Supes!... that one Superstition landmark most photographed from the Freemont saddle on the Peralta trail.

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Sport climbing at Camelback Mtn, Phoenix - March 2, 2012

I took my bro Matt out to Camelback to show him the "ropes" of leading on rock. We climbed two routes on the Headwall section of Echo Canyon.

Nestled in the town of high-maintenance people, aka: Paradise Valley

 Flaking rope and tying in. On belay...

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