Avalanche injures two men on Mount Shasta. Climbers saved after 11-hour rescue process

Two mountaineers kept their extensive climbing knowledge close to their chest as they trekked through powder draped over Mount Shasta during a weekend snowboarding trip.

But their knowledge couldn’t overcome capricious wind gusts billowing at an elevation of 13,000 feet near Avalanche Gulf, a route featuring a 7,000-foot vertical ascent the U.S. Forest Service says is entirely crafted of snow and ice.

Drafts moved snow onto weak powder layers, which triggered an avalanche that caught the two men around 12:20 p.m. Saturday and dumped them about 1,000 feet lower on the mountain, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, which took part in a successful 11-hour rescue campaign.

One man suffered a broken femur and the other injured his knee, deputies said. The climber with a broken femur also suffered a “deep crampon puncture wound,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Fears of frostbite and hypothermia began to settle in as law enforcement were called to aid in their rescue. Strong winds cast whiteout conditions around Avalanche Gulf and stymied the California Highway Patrol’s helicopter from its extraction, deputies said.

Sheriff’s deputies and Forest Service officials begin the treacherous trek on foot to rescue the men, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The rescuers arrived about six hours after the men were stranded in deep powder. It look another four hours for first responders to safely help the man suffering from a broken femur and descend down 6,000 feet to the Bunny Flats trailhead on foot before midnight, deputies said.

“Their ordeal, and the 11-hour rescue process that followed, are reminders that no amount of experience makes one immune to the hazards encountered on Mount Shasta,” deputies said on social media.

The Forest Service warns of Avalanche Gulf: “Don’t consider this route as a cake walk.”