Trip Report

We were a small group, we three. But what we lacked in numbers we overcame with enthusiasm for our climb of Mt. Hubris in the Castle Crags Wilderness, California. Our goal was one of the Crags' classics - the "Cosmic Wall" - a six-pitch, moderate route up a fantastic granite pluton.

After car camping in the Shasta National Forest the night before, we began our approach hike from the Castle Crags State Park (15 miles south of Mt. Shasta City) at 5:00 a.m. With afternoon temperatures breaking 100 degrees, it didn't take us long to decide on the early morning start! The three-mile uphill approach to the climb was exhilarating as well as physical. The route itself was just as the guidebook described it - a "classic". Great rock and superb views of the Crags and Mt. Shasta! We rotated leads so each of us would be able to take the sharp end of the rope a couple of times. The final pitch involved an easy, but very exposed 50-meter movement along a knife-edge ridge to the summit. After a snack on the small summit spire, we made two 100-foot rappels down into a steep gully for the down climb to the waiting pokes and scratches from the thick manzanita coverage surrounding the base of Mt. Hubris. We started our hike back to the trailhead early in the afternoon; temperatures in the shade were well over 100 degrees and we were out of water. The only thing unusual about the trek down the mountain to the cars was that we were hiking out in daylight!

Climbers: Doug Nelson, Jeff Frederick and Steve Cash (leader).