Skyline Conditions - any recent trip reports?

[mark2812]

Ellen, Thanks for sending the TR info...we may reconsider our plans for this weekend - may wait a few more weeks and find another, safer, route for the weekend.

Thx

[Jim Bakos]

Rick put it very succinctly: “You might have saved someone’s life” (paraphrased).

Rick is my teammate, mentor and friend.

I really don’t think this board knows how much impact it has on the behavior of outdoor enthusiasts. But our (RMRU) Skyline rescues are down – that’s a good thing…

Keep up the good work!

Hike Safe!

--Jim

BTW: Rick, where have you been??

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Went up on Saturday with Karin, Steve, Tina, and Cathryn. The high winds on Friday really wrecked havoc with the plant life. Karin did continuous trail clearing up to 3 K before turning around due to time contraints. Steve waited for Tina, who started an hour later due to her faster speed. Cathryn and I continued up and reached 5 K in three hours. She headed back down as planned while I continued up the Never Ending Ridge to Flatrock. I tested out the coverage of my new cell phone at various points along the trail. Tina and Steve joined me at Flatrock and we headed up through the manzanita.

We hit snow right at the beginning of the traverse (about 7 K) and donned our crampons and ice-axes. Tina led -- she had done Skyline with Doug several weeks earlier. The last 1.5 K took a while due to the conditions and time spent route-finding. Trying to stay on the trail was difficult due to the snow -- about 2/3 of the trail was covered. The quality of the snow varied quite a bit -- sometimes icy, sometimes soft. Any time I got too close to rocks I broke through past my knees. When this happened, Steve would wryly comment about my sudden loss of height.

Thanks to Tina and Steve's orienteering skills, we reached Coffman's Crag. It was nice to go directly uphill, though the air got a little blue with our language. Lo and behold -- Mark was waiting for us at Long Valley. Cathryn also met us at the tram station. We enjoyed nearly polishing off Cathryn's food while enjoying libations. We voted Cathryn as the best person to join for a hiking snack-- she brought enough food for a battalion. Completed the day with an excellent meal at Las Conseulas.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Kathryn]

Hey Ellen,
Glad to help out! And thanks for taking me up to 5000 and giving me hiking advice. I learned a lot from you! I hope to hike with you again soon. Karin, Tina and Mark- it was great to see you guys!

Kathryn

[Cy Kaicener]

Ellen - Thanks for trip report. You had a strong determined team. With questionable weather coming up this week it seems like I will have to wait about two more weeks for good conditions.

[KathyW]

Ellen - Thanks for trip report. You had a strong determined team. With questionable weather coming up this week it seems like I will have to wait about two more weeks for good conditions.

I'm with you on waiting a while Cy - that section above 7000' might get worse before it gets better.

If anyone is looking for as tough a climb that should be safer than C2C this time of year, you might want to look at doing Iron Mountain in the San Gabriels - that's a nice hot one too for those who like the heat.

[mark2812]

Kathy- I am interested in learning more about the Iron Mtn climb, any suggestions as to where one can find trail, route information?
THx

[Cy Kaicener]

Mark - The worst part of Iron (8007 ft) is coming back down almost 7000 steep feet in the heat - similar to descending Skyline from the traverse at 7500 ft. Here are two links to find out more.
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... ain-1.html
http://angeles.sierraclub.org/hps/guides/15d.htm
http://hiking.meetup.com/664/ is doing it on May 2

Verdi's outdoorsclub.org group is doing the full c2c on May 9

[KathyW]

Yes, the hardest part about Iron is coming down. It's about 14 miles round-trip with 7000' gain and the last few miles are pretty steep. Having a hiking pole helps on the way down. The flowers can be really pretty in that area this time of year.

Here's a map of the route:

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/photos/281879706_TD7pa-X2.jpg

[Ellen]

Howdy All

I'm also concerned that the section about 7,000 ft could get worse before getting better. It will be interesting to see whether the upcoming storm will dump snow on the traverse up to Long Valley.

I cannot emphasize enough how hard it was to find the trail. New snow will not only make this traverse more dangerous, it will be even easier to lose the trail.

I wouldn't mind new snow on the summit of San Jacinto so that I could snowshoe to the summit from the tram one more time this season.

I forgot to mention that Cathryn and I saw three deer at about 4000 ft. They were gorgeous and took our breath away. This is the first time I've ever seen deer on Skyline. Our weather was also perfect the entire day.

I've never done Big Iron and would love to before it gets too hot. After reading Norris' trip report, I also want to do the north face of San Gorgonio.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen