When Sacramento Bee photographer Kevin German read our Outbound story in March about a Mount Shasta woman who intended to climb Mount Everest, he developed his own attitude for altitude.
The 29,032-foot Everest was out of the question, but Northern California's Mount Shasta -- at 14,162 feet -- presents a classic challenge for alpine adventurers in these parts. Though German (pronounced ghur-man) was raised in Washington state, he most recently lived in the flatlands of the Midwest. Getting in shape and getting to the top of Shasta was a stiff, if not steep, goal.
Still blanketed with snow and icy patches, and quite fresh with overnight freezing temperatures even at this time of year, Mount Shasta is no place to climb on a whim. Avalanche warnings have been issued as late as June (in 2005) and falling rocks are frequent. Read the park's injury and incident reports at www.shastaavalanche.org/accident.htm and you'll see how often people are ambushed by weather, slippery slopes or ambitions that exceed ability.
Aware of the downside of his goal, German, 26, soon learned that two fellow photographers were planning a Shasta summit this summer. German felt comfortable joining his friends Jonathan Kirshner, 28, of the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., and Andreas Fuhrmann, 37, who works for the Record Searchlight in nearby Redding. Kirshner, a former Record Searchlight photographer, had two successful summits in five tries up to that point.
So the trio set a flexible time frame in which to make the climb -- June and July, the peak season for Shasta summits. German got to work planning his climb, getting in shape and collecting the proper gear. His group made the climb safely and successfully on June 30-July 1. We asked German how they pulled it off, in the event others might like to try.
Q: When did the thought enter your mind to climb Mount Shasta?
A: When I read the story on Laurie Bagley in March, about her quest to climb Mount Everest. (Bagley, 44, summited Everest in May and has returned home to the city of Mount Shasta, which lies at the mountain's base. She'll be the subject of an Outbound profile later this summer.) I was impressed that Laurie holds the record, for women, for the shortest time climbing Mount Shasta.
Q: So, reading about a climb is one thing. Climbing is another. What got you motivated?
A: It always interested me to climb. But I didn't know if I could physically do it. I thought of her attempting to climb Everest. That was empowering. That really got me going.
Q: Why Shasta?
A: It was close enough. My buddy (Kirshner) has climbed Shasta. To that point, he'd succeeded on two out of five tries. He was trying again and asked if I wanted to come along.
Q: You say, he's experienced but not a professional guide?
A: He's experienced but definitely not a professional.
Q: Is it wise to go with someone other than a professional?
A: It's different for different routes. We could have taken the beginning route, Avalanche Gulch, the most heavily traveled route.
Q: So even though this is your first time, and the leader of your group is not a pro, you opted to take a more-difficult route?
A: The guy who led us (Kirshner) had been up that route (Avalanche) before. Plus, we wanted to travel on different terrains.
Q: What kind of terrains?
A: We planned, and actually did, take a route through Whitney Glacier. On a very busy weekend of climbing … we were the only ones on that route.
Q: So, let's back up: You started your push to prepare in March or April?
A: April. I wanted three solid months of training.
Q: What kind of training?
A: To get in shape again. I was in the gym five days a week, two hours a day, core exercises. I was lifting, doing each muscle group. I got up to running 35 miles a week. The longest run was eight miles. I would do four miles on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and eight miles on Tuesday-Thursday. During those months, I lost 18 pounds. I went from 186 to, well, now I'm 168.
Reach Kevin German at kgerman@sacbee.com. Reach Bob Ehlert at behlert@sacbee.com.
