Mt Shasta has seven glaciers on its northern flanks. Their names are Bolam, Hotlum, Konwakiton, Mud Creek, Watkins, Whitney and Wintun. In 2002, scientists made the first detailed survey of Mount Shasta's glaciers in 50 years.
They found that seven of the glaciers have grown over the period 1951-2002, with the Hotlum and Wintun Glaciers nearly doubling, the Bolam Glacier increasing by half, and the Whitney and Konwakiton Glaciers growing by a third.
In the photo to the left, you see a view from the top of Misery Hill. The very top page photo shows climbers right about at the elevation of "The Thumb" and now it looks like a little ant hill from the top of Misery Hill.
The top of Red Banks is where I see more people turn around and go back down than at any other part of the mountain. A few possible reasons for this are as follows. Some folks have started up the mountain too late and there is not enough time to summit before nightfall. Others have become altitude sick and aspirin or other forms of analgesics just don't cut the mustard any more. Exhaustion has set in due to the extreme hard work that it has taken to get up the mountain (remember you still need to get back down).
These are some very good reasons for turning around and here are a couple more. Dangerous conditions have developed, such as deteriorating weather, or unstable snow and ice activity (avalanche danger, etc), terrain has become more difficult and going on would require climbing into areas that would exceeds ones abilities. Remember, no mountain is worth your life, and you can always come back another day.