Tuesday - 25 of July, 2017 - Clear Creek Trailed, Mt Shasta, California
I parked my car across the actual trail starting the Clear Creek route and leading up the mountain. I slept practically a whole day in my car after my longest ever one-day-attempt (almost 27 hours) of the least technical, or as some incorrectly say misleading prospective endeavors, the easiest route on Mt Shasta, Clear Creek. It's about only 5 miles long but 7,600 foot elevation gain to the top of the 14,162 foot mountain via, for most who attempted, very unpleasant terrain such as scree, loose rocks, and even snow. In the last few years, I climbed this route more than 20 times in various conditions. As I remember correctly I turned around only two times due to the safety concerns of my team members, but never while attempting it alone. However, around 50% of people who attempted this route were not able to reach the summit. Even a couple fatalities occurred on the Clear Creek route in the past few years.
While having my second nap in the early afternoon, I heard a car approaching. For a couple of hours or so I heard indistinct voices of women preparing for the hike. I got out of my car and set in my chair next to it. On the other end of the parking lot, behind a few trees, I noticed a van and two women getting ready for their adventure. There was no one else. Minutes later they were passing me walking down the road. The first woman had only a small day-pack and the second woman carried a full size giant backpack. It was a mystery to me because normally people share the weight of their gear. That was the first red light for me. Well, I heard some people hired porters on Mt Shasta so did not worry too much. However, when they overlooked the actual trail, which was well marked, I immediately recognized they had no idea what they were doing and curiously asked, "Where are you going?" The first women gave me her facial expression with the "how dare you talking to me" attitude. The second woman, however, immediately realized my positive intention coming from being concerned about two inexperienced hikers and responded, "Oh here is the trail," pointing in the right direction. The first woman then reacted, "Oh, I understand now..."
Then they told me they were going to the Clear Creek Springs base camp area only, so my red light alert changed to green. I informed them the whole area was practically covered with snow, including springs and the creek; otherwise, it was beautiful. The second woman assured me they were prepared; they had a water filter and stove. They left.
Wednesday - 26 of July, 2017 - Clear Creek Route
Before I departed the trailhead (TH), I checked the women's wilderness passes at the register if there was any indication of their intent going above base camp, particularly to the top. (Hikers were supposed to write the camping locations and the intended route and farthest destination on their Wilderness Passes; the original white page stays in the register box and the hiker should carry the green copy. Additional Climbing Permit for $25 is required for any attempts above 10,000 feet.) There was none.
I started hiking up around 7am and reached the summit around 5pm. No one signed the summit register that day. On my way up I tried to locate the women's tent or anyone hiking up but did not spot anything. The tent could be easily seen from above regardless of the location (even in bushes) so I made a joke to myself that they hid from me well. On the way down I was retracing my previous attempt trajectory to understand my confusion about "getting lost" a couple nights before. Most of the route I glissaded down on the narrow but long snow track leading toward the Mud Creek canyon and then traversed the opposite direction (climber's left) to find the use trail which I followed down, frequently crossing flat snowfields on the lower part before entering the forest. It was already dark before I approached base camp area so I turned my headlamp on. When I was getting closer to the forest, I noticed someone's headlamp. "Who is coming so late to base camp?” I was curious. It was the second woman I met at the trailhead. Her name was Heather.
Heather cried and desperately tried to tell me that her friend, Charity Stevens, left her between 1-3pm for a spiritual mission to the top of the mountain and did not return. I tried to calm her down and direct her focus on facts which would help me to assess Charity's conditions and her chances of surviving the night high on this mountain. Charity did not have relevant experience; she had no headlamp, no gear, improper and inadequate outfit and limited water and food supply. She had Heather's cell-phone though. We immediately called her from my phone but, even with four bars, I got a message, "Not registered on network." I asked Header if she wanted me to call for emergency and on her behavior made the first 911 call at 10:27pm. Unfortunately, all I got was a message, "Out of service." Moving around to find a better spot, over the next hour I tried 6 additional times with no success. I was disappointed and frustrated the 911 phone call could not get through even though I had a reception.
I spent with Heather about two hours calming her down, marking the trail across with a red tape and an arrow made from rocks pointing their tent hidden in the forest (that's why I did not see it) and explaining the strategy what she was supposed to do, or rather what she was not supposed to do, to keep them "both" safe before the rescue was going to come the next morning. I thought about staying there and at first light look for Charity but found more important and obligated to notify the authorities as soon as possible. However, for the night I hanged a headlamp high on a tree pointed out toward the upper part of the mountain to mark the exit location for Charity. Based on my previous experience, I was confident Charity was able to survive the night regardless of the altitude; it was much warmer than two days ago when I got hailed several times on various elevations.
I hiked down to my car, drove out of the forest to the place I was finally able to make an emergency call successfully which happened to be at 1:58am, almost four hours after my first attempt. "911 what's your emergency?" ...I was then transferred to another 911 dispatcher (the Sheriff office, I guessed) and was informed Charity called a few hours ago and the Rangers were scheduled to pick her up in the morning. The dispatcher also asked me if I wanted to help. I said, "Sure!" and she responded the Ranger from Mt Shasta Ranger Station was going to call me at 6:30am. I said I was going to drive there and spend the rest of the night in my car on the Mt Shasta Ranger Station parking lot.
Thursday - 27 of July, 2017
Nick Meyers, the Lead Climbing Ranger at Mt Shasta, called me around 7:30am; he knew me because of my frequent climbs of various routes on Mt Shasta for many years. "Hello Marek. I found a note with your name and phone number on the car of... at the trailhead..." he said. I was a bit disappointed they did not pick me up but obviously explained everything I knew and how to find the women's tent in the forest. He said he was going to call me later.
Soon after the Ranger Station opened, I talked to the personnel inside (they knew me too) expressing my disappointment of not picking me up and my concern about the missing woman. I was assured that the two best Rangers went to meet her and bringing back. That was a convincing argument for me at that time and decided to rest and relax and spent most of the day by Siskiyou lake near the Shasta city. I desperately needed a bath and dry my clothes after two long summit attempts over the last three days, especially because my plan was to continue climbing a few additional routes on North side of the mountain.
Friday - 28 of July, 2017
Worriless, assuming everything ended up happily, although surprised the Ranger Nick Meyers did not call me, I was slowly getting ready to relocate to the North Gate trailhead to continue my climbing journey. Around 10am, however, I got a phone call from Heather. Nervously she was trying to tell me she was in a motel in Weed and... but I immediately interrupted her with a simple question, "Did they found Charity?" "No," she answered. I was shocked. More than one day passed practically for nothing! At that moment anything else became for me irrelevant. How was that possible they could not find a person on a basically vast but flat terrain mostly covered with scree? For me, it was a RED light. The only explanation, I thought of at that time, was she stepped on, slipped and fell down one of the steep snowy slopes toward Wintun Glacier. She did not have any ice axe and crampons. There were many steep slopes covered with snow from the top of the mountain all the way down to Clear Creek springs area and between Clear Creek route and Wintun Ridge and then Wintun Glacier routes. I did not accept that scenario though.
I drove to the Mt Shasta Ranger Station immediately and expressed my disappointment, frustration and concern. I was explained that there was already a huge Search & Rescue operation in progress with 50 people and multiple helicopters looking intensively for Charity from the summit all the way(s) down the mountain. For me that answer simply was not good enough, not a valid argument anymore. I notified them I was going to search for Charity by myself. I still wanted to notify the local Sheriff, Jon Lopey, the commander in charge of the official Search & Rescue team, and asked for the location of his base and rushed there. Sheriff shared some information about the searched area and the last probable Charity's location at which she made the 911 call.
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