Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta, peak, northern California, in the Cascade Range. A dormant volcano (4,317 m/14,162 ft) high, it is a scarred cone with lava flows and a snowcapped summit; it is spectacular in its isolation over surrounding mountains. Five glaciers encircle the mountain, the longest of which reaches to the 2,900-m (9,500-ft) level. From its western slope rises a secondary peak, about 3,660 m (12,000 ft) high, called Shastina. Although Mount Shasta has not erupted in modern times, steam vents are still to be seen on its cindered slopes. It was discovered in 1827 by the Canadian fur trader Peter Skene Ogden and was first climbed in 1854.