By Free Republic | Created at 2025-01-18 09:07:22 | Updated at 2025-01-18 12:17:37
3 hours ago
Mount Shasta rangers rescue 'particularly unprepared' climber — a goose
San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com ^ | Updated Jan 14, 2025 12:14 p.m. | By Matt LaFever, North Coast Contributing Editor
Posted on 01/18/2025 12:47:52 AM PST by thecodont
Every year, thousands of climbers test their skills on Mount Shasta, California’s fifth-highest peak and the second-highest volcano in the Cascade Range. In 2023, around 5,000 to 6,000 people attempted the roughly 14,180-foot climb to the summit, with about half reaching the top.
In December, rangers from the U.S. Forest Service encountered an unexpected climber: a goose attempting to summit Mount Shasta. According to a Jan. 12 post on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest’s Facebook page, Forest Service rangers Nick Meyers and Eric Falconer of the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center were on routine patrol when they came upon “their first attempted ascent of Mount Shasta by a goose.” Found at around 10,000 feet in the Old Ski Bowl area, the goose appeared to have flown off course and was described in a social media post as a “particularly unprepared Mount Shasta climber.”
“Upon our rangers’ arrival, the climber (flyer?) had on only one layer of down and was neither prepared for the temperature nor overnight camping,” the post elaborated.
Meyers, the lead climbing ranger and director of the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center, described the rescue as a rare and memorable experience.
“From the very first moment we identified the situation, we acted on instinct: to help out,” Meyers told SFGATE. “The first step was to catch it. I didn’t think I’d actually catch the goose, but as boys being boys, we tried.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
TOPICS: Humor; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: california; geese; mountshasta; rescue
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
1 posted on 01/18/2025 12:47:52 AM PST by thecodont
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
