Mountaineering For Dummies: Basics Gleaned From A Novice's Mt. Shasta Climb
Having backpacked extensively, I assumed climbing the 14,162 foot Mt. Shasta -- about a 4.5 hour drive from San Francisco -- would not be that hard. Yet while I grasped a rickety boulder around 12,000 feet, pummeled in the face by fierce snow-laced winds of 40 mph and shouting obscenities, I reconsidered that.
Rachel Stern, Contributor
Berlin-based journalist and travel writer