Iron Mountain

[ximphony]

I just hiked Iron Mountain (out and back from Heaton) as my final training hike for C2C today. Man, that is one respectable hike. I knew going in that it was gonna be tough, but there were still times during the hike where I was taken aback by how relentless it was. Some of the steep uphills near the top just seemed neverending.

Anyways, I have a couple questions for you veterans out there that have done both this hike and C2C:

1. How does the steepness of the C2C hike (first part, PS up to the tram stop) compare to that of Iron Mountain? If it's consistently that steep (or steeper) for the first 10 miles, I am gonna seriously be suffering...

2. I have to plan a reasonable time to meet some friends up at the tram stop and then do the rest of the hike to the summit of San J with them. I initially estimated about 6-6.5 hrs to the tram (as it took me 6 hrs to dayhike to Whitney summit). It took me roughly 4.5 hrs from car to summit of Big Iron today. Does my initial time estimate still seem about right?

Thanks!

[Cy Kaicener]

Iron Mountain is perfect training for Skyline or c2c. The last two miles of Skyline is 2700 ft gain to Long Valley which is similar to Iron after you drop down at the 4300 ft level. The first part of Skyline is about 3000 ft of gain in three miles - then 1000 ft gain in the next two miles - then 1500 ft gain in the next four miles to Flatrock where you get your final 2700 ft gain. That last section after Flatrock seems bad because you are starting to get tired, but you dont have to worry after doing Iron in such good time. After Flatrock at 5900 ft
the steepest section is 1700 ft gain in 1 mile before the traverse at the 7500 ft level. The last mile is 1000 ft gain. After Coffmans crag at the 7900 ft level is the last steep part which is helped by 32 switch-backs to 8400 ft.

I estimate that you will do Skyline in five and a half to six hours at the most.
The tram will be running again after this weekend. The great thing about Skyline is that you can take the tram down.

[ximphony]

Thank you very much for the info Cy. I'm looking forward to trying C2C for the first time next Saturday. It's gonna be a definite physical and mental challenge for me...