I had not been watching his satellite positions as closely the past two weeks. In fact I hadn't check in a couple of days. I needed to send him a satellite text so I got online and accessed his map location. I was NOT expecting to see that he wasn't on the trail. He was MILES away. He was on his way down from a 14,179 foot climb from Mount Shasta. Trying to play the cool mom, I went ahead with my text. Now to put in perspective. This is what I saw on the satellite. The closer the lines are the steeper the incline. I could see it was not only very steep, but it is also a glacier so I knew there would be snow up there.
Our interaction is as follows:
Me: Wow! You climbed Mt. Shasta!
Zach: Yeah, we saw it for a week and decided we had to climb it. It was AMAZING! Got good pictures until my phone died right before we glissaded 3.5k down the side of it.
I had to laugh at his response. Mt. Shasta isn't something you just go out and decide to climb. And his comment about glissade meant that he slid down the mountain in the snow instead of hiked down. To do that such a great a distance is crazy.
Hours later that I saw his hiking partner had posted a video of part of the glissade so I knew they had reached town. It has taken me over 1,500 miles but I didn't panic, tell him he was crazy, or a hundred other things that I might have done the first week of the trip. Instead, I found myself glad he was able to take time out and enjoy the journey.
When we spoke he was pretty excited about the side trip.
This is what they stared at all week that made him want to climb it:
After talking with Zach, they did everything they could have done to make sure it was a safe ascent. They picked up crampons and helmets before they went up and checked in with the ranger station for the best route. It took them over 7 hours to hike from the base to the summit and with the glissade took only 2 hours to come down. Zach said they had long runs and shorter ones on their slide down the mountain.
The video chat was so much fun. I got to see both Liam and Alex over the phone instead of just see pictures of them. Zach took this epic picture of Liam at the top of the mountain. He said bad weather was coming so they had to get off the summit quickly.
What an adventure! Zach's dad, Jeff, had a rough week of chemotherapy so it was nice for him to take a break and get to talk to Zach as well. Jeff has two more treatments left in his fight against Colon Cancer. We have said before that perseverance, a positive attitude and your faith can get you far in life. We pray for continued safety for Zach and the hikers that are with him. We pray for divine healing in Jeff. I thought it appropriate to put Zach's bible verse he chose for the journey on his blog today.
Another picture I wanted to post is one in his campsite. Zach has learned to do without a lot on this trip. His setup is fairly simple. He has been blessed with great weather most of the trip. To all the hikers out there on the PCT, take care and be safe.
I am hoping the link to Liam's video works, if not I will put it on his Facebook Page.
We are so amazed that God is working through you to provide support to families that are undergoing a battle with colon cancer. Thank you so much for your support! Please continue to support Zach's Charity by clicking on this link:
PCTWithPurpose
The video of the glissade from Liam can be accessed here: Glissade down Mt. Shasta
#pacificcresttrail, @ccAlliance, #PCTwithPurpose
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