Skyline Trip Report - Thursday March 12

[Async]

My first Skyline ascent. Awesome climb that I'd repeat in a heartbeat.

Every March, my running club meets in Palm Springs for few days of running in the desert and foothills.
My hiking partner and I decided a year ago to tackle the mountain in March 2009. We studied the map and forum trip reports. The lessons learned from rescue accounts here on the forum and elsewhere were very helpful to avoiding similar problems.
In January, on an earlier trip to Palm Springs, I practiced hiking up to the picnic tables in the dark, and we also scouted the very top of the trail from the tram station down.

On the big day, March 12, my wife dropped us off at the museum at 3:30. It was warm enough for t-shirts and shorts at that hour, but our packs were heavy with 1.5 gallons of water each, ice axes, crampons, snowshoes, warm clothes, food, etc.

We made good time in the dark on the first half of the trail, reaching Flat Rock by 7am, in time for watching the sunrise over Joshua Tree. We cooled down a bit during our break, so we put on light jackets, only to take them off about 20 minutes later as the sun began to heat up the mountain side at 4500'. We encountered the first significant snow field at 6000' or so. There was no dirt in sight at the other end of the snow, so we paused to put on snow pants, gaiters and crampons. Of course, just around the bend, we encountered plenty of rock and dirt, so the crampons came off.
We continued climbing up the bare trail to about the 7500' foot level, looking for the beginning of the traverse to the right. We had a highly detailed GPS tracklog from someone here on the forum, and excellent map, but the beginning of the traverse was not apparent. Now I know why it's recommended to climb this hike with someone who's done it before. We found a reasonably good spot to begin the traverse, so once again we donned the crampons and got out the ice axes. My climbing buddy took a tumble near the start of the traverse to the right, but executed a textbook self-arrest and came up laughing. The rest of the traverse was uneventful. We had Coffman Crag in view for a good part of the way, and knew to turn uphill before reaching it. We finally found a snow chute near the Crag that did not appear to end in an overhanging cliff, so we began our uphill slog. The snow was old and soft, so we didn't get much purchase from the axes or crampons. One step up often resulted in a half a step sliding down. We improvised a little and plunged the axe handles deep in the snow in front of us, and then pulled up the slope.
My climbing buddy was doing fine on this stretch, but I began to feel the affects of the altitude and the exertion. I stopped every 25 yards or so to catch my breath. But his coaxing, and the knowledge that cold beer awaited us at the tram station finally got us up to the lip of Long Valley shortly after 1:00. I was ready to break out into song, but I didn't want to startle the tourists up there in the Valley.
Lessons learned? Pay attention to all the helpful hints and warnings, here on the forum and elsewhere. Snowshoes are probably overkill at this time of year, but ice axes, crampons, and experience using them are essential. Hike with someone who's done it before. Train by hiking at similar altitudes. And, finally, I highly recommend the Fat Tire ale at the Tram bar.

[Cy Kaicener]

Thanks for the trip report of snow conditions - and congratulations
Those of us who are thinking of going up in the next few weeks need a report like this to know what gear to bring and what to expect on snow conditions.

[Zé]

well done!