I haven't hiked with Lance in ages, so when he wanted to hike from the tram Sunday, I said yes
Warned him that I would be slow due to being sore and tired the PCT to tram hike. Alarm went off 5:30 AM and I thought "What the HECK am I doing?" 
We were the first car in the parking lot at 7:30 AM
Hmm...was that an omen? The first tram was delayed by 30 minutes due to ice -- another warning 
Walked downstairs and saw that the outside temperature was 20 degrees F 
We donned microspikes due to ice on the cemet switchbacks and were buffeted by winds as we headed down to get our permit. There were footsteps in the snow but these were gone by the time we reached the stream crossing. Lance led and I followed in his footsteps as we made our way to Round Valley. It snowed the entire time. I removed my fleece cap to cool off but put it back on when we discovered my hair was starting to freeze
the temperature without wind chill was 10 degrees F.
We slogged past Round Valley up towards Wellman's and discovered a backpack with a sleeping pad jammed into the crotch of a tree. It was completely iced over -- had probably been there at least one night. We lsot the trail after Wellmans but Lance found it again. Continued our way up -- the wind was really blowing now and it was bitterly cold. My fingers were numb inside my mittens
Lance suggested stopping at 10 K or 12 noon, whichever came first. I heartily agreed.
We stopped by a tree where the main trail intersects with the old trail and hunkered down for a quick snack. It was 0 degrees F without the wind chill. My hands "went to the bad place" (as Tina says) and I suffered through the agony of the blood coming back. I discovered that I'd left my lunch at home
Clearly my brain as well as body was recovering from the PCT to tram hike. Knight Lance gave me some pistachios I recommended that we take Tamarack back down and Lance agreed. I believe I said, "Let's get the hell out of here."
Lance led us down through the trees. Once out of the trees, we made our way through sections of manzanita -- the snow wasn't deep enough to cover it completely. Thanks to Lance's excellent orienteering skills, we intersected the old trail heading into Tamarack Valley
It was a relief to get back into the trees, which provided a bit of protection from the artic wind. I felt very depleted and was not tolerating the cold very well. Made our way over to the Sid Davis drainage and took that back to the main trail. Once there, we saw that our morning tracks were completely obliterated. Also ran into two really nice guys from San Diego who were very happy to see us and followed us back to the ranger station.
We gave a conditions report (including the location of the pack) to the ranger before heading up the cement switchbacks. I had a quick draft beer to celebrate being warm before we hopped on the tram. Patrick was our conductor
We had just left the docking station we he announced that we had to return. Apparently someone in the lower car was having issues and needed to go down. As we returned to the deck, Patrick cheerily announced "Welcome to Mountain Station!!! please exit..." We laughed and were soon on our way down again. My first time flying the tramway 2 and 1/4 times Had a wonderful meal at Las Cosuelas before heading home. I didn't feel warm until I soaked in a hot bath, donned flannel PJs, and hopped into bed.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Team Artic Wolf
worst part is, I gotta work all week and will be out of town till Sunday..plus, I just bought the annual tram pass and I really need to use it a lot to make sure I make enough trips to make it worthwhile, so I am ready for many summits this winter 
I would love to do it that quickly next year. I'll bring a bungee cord and catch a ride with you 
