Ok plans have changed, C2C on Tuesday Dec. 30th

[Norris]

Interesting post though. Re current conditions, hopefully randyspevak will post later today or tomorrow if he in fact went up Skyline today. My guess is that snowshoes, crampons, and ice axe are required equipment right now. Doing full C2C in these conditions would definitely be a workout.

[randyspevak]

My plan for today has been postponed due to an ankle ding rock climbing. I will report when I do go. My plan is/was to take crampons and an axe. Is there still a restiction on the upper route Jan1 to June 30 due to lambing season?

Anybody gone up Snow Creek this year?

[Cy Kaicener]

Randy - Rick Kent went to Snow Creek on Mar 2 2008. Now there may be avalanches. Spring is the best time to go. (April)
http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/3 ... -2008.html

[stobbart]

the weather was very favorable but when we got to the base of the hill that you climb to the left of koffmans crag before crossing over to it the snow got to 2 feet deep. there was no more trail to follow and it was getting dark. we ended up being helicopter lifted out. But i will head up and conquer this hike as soon as the snow melts. Any idea when that will be? And I will post pics later in the week.

[Hikin_Jim]

...we ended up being helicopter lifted out.

Can you give us more details of your rescue? How did you notify Search and Rescue? How long before they were able to get to you? How cold was it when they finally reached you? How many were in your group? Did they have to conduct multiple flights or did they take you all out in one flight? Did they say whether or not they were going to charge you for the rescue? Were any in your party in really bad shape?

[Perry]

More importantly, is this even true? Remember the fake posts on the San Gorgonio board?

[stobbart]

The hike started off with me, 2 of my friends and my girlfriend. About 2 hours in my 2 friends decided it was to much for them and were going to go back to the car and pick us up at the bottom of the tram, so it was just me and my girlfriend. At about 5 o'clock I realized we were not going to make it and that we would need to be rescued.

We had just climbed down a hill before the final ascent to the top. So I had to climb back up the hill (about 50 ft elevation gain) to get any cell phone reception (thank god for verizon service and the V750 adventure phone I had). I tried the ranger station and the tram station but all I got was recorded messages. I called my dad and told him the situation and he said he would get in contact with someone. After about 40 minutes I headed back up the hill to make a call and see what was going on. A sheriff had sent me a text message so I called him and they knew about us and were going to send a helicopter. About 30 minutes later it flew around and found us after no mroe then 5 minutes. They they flew off. Another 30 minutes went by and nothing happened so I went back up the hill and found out that they had no place to land so they had to fly back and get people and equipment ready to do an airlift and it would be about 30 minutes. Well 90 minutes later they returned and lifted us up one at a time by harness.

The temperatre was low 30s the rescue people told us and just the two of us fit in the helicopter so only one trip was needed. Once we landed and the sheriffs asked us some questions one and they told us we could go I asked about how much it would cost for all this. They said that it would cost us nothing, that the bill gets sent to the county.

But other then spending 5 freezing hours in the cold the trip was absolutly amazing. It is definatly in the top 3 hikes I have ever done, and like I said, once the snow melts Ill be back up there to finish it. Any idea what month this will be?

[Norris]

stobbart, if this past year is any guide, the Skyline trail will be dry by mid to late April but there will still be snow on the upper part of the mountain. So if you want to do C2C at that time, you will still need to carry snow equipment of some sort. On April 19 of this year, there was no snow at all on the upper part of Skyline, but the trail from Round Valley to Wellman divide was not broken. So cross country travel was required to get to the summit. The snow was melting out on the upper mountain, leading to horrible postholing if you didn't have snowshoes. So if you want to do the full C2C in spring (before the upper mountain is dry, or before the trail to the summit is trodden down) plan to carry the snowshoes you didn't take this time

[kevin trieu]

...thanks Jim for the encouragement and reminding me to take some pics I figured all I would get was warnings but every serious hiker should know that they need to test their limits one day and can never be swayed...

Why didn't you hike back down? Any serious hiker would. Was your limit tested? Was your back up plan to call the authority if you get in trouble instead of bringing survival gear to bivy for the night? If you were not able to get in touch with anybody, what was your contingent plan? Just curious.

[Perry]

If this is a fake post, then Stobbart (a troll) wants a bunch of people to worry and ask a bunch of questions. For now, let's not take this too seriously. I'm looking into this and waiting for some replies. I don't think this story is real. A couple hikers I have corresponded with also think this sounds fishy.