Ben and I met a lot of nice people on Mount McLoughlin and almost all of them were on a ski pilgrimage to Mount Shasta. You can see Shasta off in the distance so maybe pre gaming on McLoughlin takes some of the anxiety associated with skiing the unknown away? It could also be that Mount McLoughling gives you an opportunity to break up a long drive. Or maybe backcountry skiers can’t resist such an obvious snow covered slope. We’re drawn to them like ants to a discarded sandwich. It’s definitely not a prestige mountain. Which feels kinda rude to say. There could be someone out there who trained for a decade just to ski Mount McLoughling. And after that fateful day he solemnly hung his skis above the fireplace. Then stepping back to survey his work he put his arm around his long suffering wife and signaled with a subtle nodding that this chapter of his life was over. He had done it. He had conquered Mount McLoughlin.