Mt. Shasta

On Friday I spoke at my mom's Elementary School, Bethesda, to Mrs. Evans' 5th grade class about climbing Mt. Shasta. They were studying landforms and geology and already knew many facts about one of California's tallest peaks, like how tall it is (14,162'), where it's located (45 miles south of the CA-OR border) and how it was formed (stratovolcano). They also knew quite a bit about mountainclimbing includeing the equipment a climber needs, and why climbers start their ascent in the week hours of the morning. At the end of the presentation they bombarded me with those insightful questions without true answers that only children can ask: "What's taller, Mt. Shasta or a tornado?", "If a tornado hit Mt. Shasta, what would happen?", "What if an earthquake hit at the same time?", and "If Shasta erupted, would there be a big crater?"