posted November 03, 2007 01:15 AM         

ETA, quote as it sometimes wants you to log in (but this isn't the entire article):

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Whitney Glacier on Mount Shasta is growing, and scientists think global warming in Northern California is the reason.

This is not the way global warming works in most parts of the world.

In the Arctic and the Antarctic, and all along the West Coast north of the California border, temperatures are rising and glaciers are melting. Nisqually Glacier on Mount Rainier on the northern end of the Cascades, for example, has retreated by nearly a mile in the past century and continues to shrink.

But Whitney Glacier, on the southern end of the Cascades? "It's still growing," said Slawek Tulaczyk, a glaciologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

According to an article last summer in California Wild, a journal of the California Academy of Sciences, Whitney Glacier is the only ice river in the world that is larger today than in 1890.

Tulaczyk and his team, who began studying the glacier in 2002 and now have expanded their work to the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada, link the advancing frozen mass to the unique way California is being affected by global warming.

While in the short term it means more snow, their findings also contain a dire forecast: High-altitude snowpack, a steady source of water for the state as the snow melts during the summer, is probably doomed.

Tulaczyk said he and his team reviewed records dating back five decades collected from monitoring stations that measure the snowpack and its moisture content.

By comparing those statistics against temperature trends, certain conclusions can be drawn. A key conclusion is that global warming is not just about rising temperatures, but about the capacity of warmer air to carry moisture.

As California's temperature rose by 1 degree Celsius over the past half-century, Tulaczyk said, the snowpack has moved higher up in the mountains. But because warmer air in the winter can carry more water, the amount of snow falling at the high peaks has grown.

"At the higher elevations and on Mount Shasta there is more snow being dumped," he said. By their calculations, it takes a 20 percent increase in snow precipitation to counteract a 1-degree rise in the temperature.

So far, greater snowfall at the higher elevations has been able to balance out the loss of lower-elevation snowpack. But with models forecasting temperature increases of another 3 or 4 degrees, Tulaczyk said snow precipitation at the higher levels would have to double to maintain equilibrium.

That's not likely to happen, he said.

And that means that Whitney Glacier, as well as the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada, soon will begin to disappear before the summer months when their water is most needed.

In a paper published by Climate Dynamics, Tulaczyk and his team reach this grim conclusion: Greenhouse-driven temperature increases will "result in the loss of most of Mount Shasta's glacier volume over the next 50 years with near total loss by the end of the century."

In a separate paper, the research team says the same thing will happen in the Sierra Nevada.

"Glaciers exist only where snow can persist through all of the summer," Tulaczyk said. "So, disappearance of glaciers on Mount Shasta would mean also that there will be no summer snowpack on the mountain. The mountain will be more like most of the Sierra Nevada. It will have a winter snowpack that will completely melt in spring and summer."

This phenomenon may pose serious challenges to agencies that manage the state's water supply.

It also may be bad news for Nestlé USA, which is planning to build a 500-million-gallon-a-year bottling plant in McCloud, tapping springs fed by Mount Shasta. It has a 50-year contract that could be extended another 50 years

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I'm not sure I buy that global warming explanation. Overall, I do believe that global warming is real (but caused more by the sun than humanity, though we should adapt anyway), but the explanation here just didn't make sense to me. Warmer air may carry moisture higher up, but won't the air above that ALSO be warmer? And why is Mt. Shasta unique if this is the dynamic involved?

All in all, it reminds me too much of whenever a summer is too hot, it's "proof" of global warmer, but when winters get particularly cold, and blizzards happen where they never happened before, that's ALSO proof of global warming. It reminds me too much of the "reasoning" of certain religious groups (like where everything "proves" creationism, for example, including carbon dating dinosaur fossils).

All in all, I'd much prefer an explanation that is as unique as the manifestation of this.

The other warning in the article didn't make much sense to me either. I think flood damage becoming more common is the actual risk.

Most of all, I'd like to know what the more interesting locals at Mt. Shasta think of this, as there are some very interesting people living there with some interesting beliefs about their locale. I've met one who claimed she WAS a Lemurian and could teleport (she refused to do it "as a parlor trick" though). I've met some other interesting people that are either from there, or were drawn there. Maybe one of those odd sorcerers and the like are the reason for this weirdness. Or maybe the Lemurians that are said to live within the mountain (if you want a more academic look at the folklore, then click here) are doing it.

posted November 03, 2007 02:22 PM         

Spiritual
Native American lore of the area held that Shasta is inhabited by the spirit chief Skell who descended from heaven to the mountain's summit. Since then, many other faiths, particularly New Age groups, have been attracted to Shasta -- more than any other Cascade volcano. Mt. Shasta, California, a small town near Shasta's western base, is a focal point for many of these religions.

According to the Forest Service as reported in documentaries such as In The Light of Reverence, local Indian tribes, particularly but not limited to the Wintu, still practice healing rituals at the springs that flow from the mountain, and there is constant low-level conflict between the Indians and the New Age groups which have laid claim to the area as their personal sacred site.

The history of New Age fascination with Mount Shasta can be traced to the publication of Frederick Spencer Oliver's fantasy novel A Dweller On Two Planets. An indifferent, unmotivated student who was often ill, Oliver composed the novel at the age of seventeen. According to the foreword, his parents were awestruck that he could have engaged in such a sustained endeavor, and believed the novel to have been divinely inspired. They promoted it as a work of channeled wisdom, and it is still in print today. The novel is about the Lemurian race who traveled to Mount Shasta when their continent sank beneath the ocean and are now said to live inside the mountain in a series of tunnels. In the years subsequent to the publication of Oliver's book, many seeking people claimed to have encountered Lemurians at Shasta.

Guy Ballard's I Am Activity and Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Church Universal and Triumphant are probably the best-known among numerous groups to attempt to participate in, or redefine, Shasta's spiritual heritage.

Many of these cults hold that races of sentient beings, ostensibly superior to humans, live in or on Shasta, or visit the mountain in UFOs.

Lenticular clouds sometimes form over the mountain. This is a fairly typical meteorological phenomenon over high places on the earth, which is often seen and mistaken for unidentified flying objects.

Mt. Shasta is also the site of a Buddhist monastery, Shasta Abbey, founded by Houn Jiyu-Kennett in 1971.

Mount Shasta City hosts 16 Christian churches. If the membership roles are combined, they would account for approximately 25 percent of the population.

Creational Myth
Mount Shasta has long been sacred to the Native North American Indians of Northern California. For the Shasta the mountain was at the center of creation. Their creation myth, shared by the Modoc people, goes like this:

The Great Spirit created the mountain from above, cutting a hole in the sky and pushing down ice and snow until a mountain was formed that pierced the clouds. The Great Spirit then used the mountain to step onto the earth, creating trees and calling upon the sun to melt snow to provide rivers and streams. He breathed upon the leaves of the trees and created birds to nest in their branches. When he broke up small twigs and cast them into the streams, they became fish. He cast branches into the forest to become animals; large animals sprang up when he threw down logs. The largest of these was the grizzly bear.
The Shasta and the Modoc believed that the Great Spirit took up his abode on the mountain. His daughter, who fell from the mountain, was raised by grizzly bears and married one of their clan. Their children were the first humans. In punishment for violating his authority, the Great Spirit condemned the bear to walk on four legs and scattered their progeny all over the world. The Shasta have mostly disappeared. Chief White Eagle, whose tribal affiliation is unknown to me,holds a weekly sweat lodge ritual at Stewart Mineral Springs. The ceremony is popular with the locals and the guests of Stewart Mineral Springs.

Revived Native American culture has recently begun to celebrate on Mount Shasta - including the Sun Dances.

New Age
The town of Mount Shasta, at the foot of the mountain, is headquarters for several New Age and other spiritual groups, some of whom regard it as a source of cosmic energy. Mount Shasta allegedly is a major energy grid point. For those who believe, it is therefore an initiation point whose energies awaken those who come to meditate, have sweat lodges and other rituals, or just to experience the energies.

Its energy is reputed to be magnetic. Over a hundred sects and groups regard Shasta as a sacred place, one of the nine sacred mountains of the world. It is considered by some an entry point to the fifth dimension. New Age groups revere Shasta as a great mother, a source of spiritual nurturance.

Every spring at the time of the full moon of Taurus, the Mount Shasta Wesak Festival, in honor of the Buddha is held for 3 days. This corresponds to a festival held in the Himalayas at the same time.

Mount Shasta is allegedly the home of the mythological underground city, Telos.

Guy Ballard claims to have met the ascended master St. Germain on the slopes of Mount Shasta in 1930.

Care to tour the SHASTA CAVERNS? call
1-800-795-CAVE year round tours are available!
Click here for some awesome pictures taken inside!!!

*other sources used: www.lakeshastacaverns.com www.crystalinks.com

posted November 03, 2007 06:47 PM         

Thank you for posting this information, my friend in spirit!

I would definitely like to visit some day!

Now please tell me, what exactly do you mean by

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I get a peaceful and serene feeling while walking about the mountain, the energy level inside the mountain however is a different story, LOL!

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I wouldn't mind living in or by Mount Shasta! That would be SO cool!

Hey, speaking of the Natives, I noticed a few years back, that if you lexigram "mountain", you get "Manitou"!!!!
A tribe in COLORADO's name for God!!!

posted November 03, 2007 07:47 PM         

The surounding water is also well known for strange creatures of sorts.
When I was about 8 years old, my family and I went camping on a house boat at lake shasta. I saw many types of water snakes and was even wound up in some! I was terrified having grown up right on the ocean. I really was'nt aware of water snakes natural to fresh water areas, LOL! Fisherman in the area told us about crazy mutations they'de found through the years. At one point we saw a collection of odd creatures at the local gas station just 20 or 30 miles north of here. They had stories attached as well as the fishermans picture beside them touted as the discoverer.

If you are able, I would highly suggest you visit!
It's just 17 miles North of Redding, California
When we have company from out of town it's always a cool activity to share.
So I've found myself exploring it again and again over the years.

posted November 03, 2007 08:57 PM         

Since I have a height phobia I think I would pass up that bus trip. I started sweating just reading about it. LOL

posted November 04, 2007 02:24 PM         

Ummmmmm? No clue?
Wow, I did'nt stay in the water long enough to find out, LOL!

But, now you made me curious so I went searching on the web...
Concensus says: some do, some don't!
Water moccasins obviously do...

I called some guy that does fishing tours out there and he himself did'nt know the types and species names of the particular ones found in Lake Shasta. He said some are all black (like the kind I remember so vividly) and others he's seen are yellow and black... He was kind enough to share the Local US Forestry Services number with me as well as another crazy story about an event that recently took place out there!
Goes like this:
A 17 year old girl was attacked by a group of otters at the base of the lake. Apparently otters are quite territorial? She was injured enough to require an ambulance ride to the hospital but was released only a few hours later.

He said that he did'nt believe the snakes had really been a big issue this year.

posted November 04, 2007 08:04 PM         

There are many different places in northern califoria within comfortable driving distance that are of interest and exciting to a spiritually inclined sort.

Mount Shasta is filled with energy to the point of being almost addictive.

posted November 05, 2007 06:01 AM         

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There are many different places in northern califoria within comfortable driving distance that are of interest and exciting to a spiritually inclined sort.

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posted November 10, 2007 09:43 PM         

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There are many different places in northern califoria within comfortable driving distance that are of interest and exciting to a spiritually inclined sort.

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oh, do tell! I am always up for day trips, would love to hear any suggestions...thanks!

I have wanted to get back up to Mt Shasta all summer..... a local paranormal investigation group went up a couple weekends ago, am curious to know what they found.