I feel like this was a far-Nor Cal version of an FKT you’d see in Europe— going from a town to the top of the prominent mountain and back was a very worthy adventure and I appreciate those who dreamed it up! It was also fun to chase Ashly’s shadow again after a few years away from the FKT scene.
Day started out pretty straightforward. I left the high school a little after 7am and had an uneventful pretty casual trip up to Horse Camp on the lower trails. Filled my water at Horse Camp from the spring and then was off to Lake Helen. When I got to Lake Helen there was one tent pitched, and between the camp and summit I only saw 4 people, which seems like a real rarity on Shasta these days. Tagged the summit by myself and tried to not get blown off the mountain (it was very windy, but not actually that cold), and then made my way back down.
From a conditions perspective, things were pretty prime. Snow line started halfway between Horse Camp and Lake Helen, and I timed it well to have pretty firm snow on the way up and softer snow on the way down. It was veryyyy windy— gusts up the gulch and then pretty consistently windy between Thumb Rock and the summit. There was also a bit of new snow from a storm that had come through the day before, which between that and the wind mostly covered the millions of boot tracks.
For gear, I wore tights, a sun hoody and gaitered trail runners from start to finish, and also carried micro spikes, poles, extra layers and a helmet. I know helmets aren’t usually standard for this FKT, but as someone who’s seen a lot of head injuries happen on this mountain and as a new mom who has no business getting badly injured right now— it added to my risk plan and wasn’t a big inconvenience to carry while running and wear above Lake Helen.
Fun day out and honestly I’m a bit surprised with how well it went overall.