Snowshoing to SJ Summit on 12/19

[Kathryn61]

I had a very exciting experience snowshoeing for my first time on Saturday. I went up with Ellen, Karin and Norma R. The conditions were quite icy for most of the way. Ellen, Karin and I used microspikes and Norma used crampons for most of the way up. Ellen or Norma can better tell you at which point we switched to snowshoes. It was a beautiful, sunny day and not at all too cold. At the summit, we had fantastic views as well. My favorite part of all was glissading down parts of the mountain! I want to thank Ellen, Karin and Norma for bringing me along as we had a blast! I especially want to thank Norma for her help and guidance during some of the tricky sections that we enountered. Norma, your mountaineering skills on ice are very impressive! Looking back on this, I wish I would have had crampons and an ice ax that day as occasionally my microspikes felt inadequate. I hope to snoweshoe with all of you again soon!

Kathryn

[zippetydude]

Hi Kathryn. I'm glad you 3 had fun. Great job making it all the way up and surviving! Steve probably told you we had to turn around due to ice just before the summit.

A couple of years ago some guys went on up, then couldn't get down and had to call for rescue. How embarrassing. We didn't want that.

Fernando went on up the last little bit, and when he looked around about 1/2 way to the top, he realized he couldn't come back down, even if he wanted to. Fortunately, hvydrt was up there at the same time and showed him a somewhat safer route down further west. Fernando said, "I only thought I was going to die once..."

Hmmm. I guess that's good?

Anyway, I just ordered myself an ice axe and I'll be looking forward to playing in the snow all winter now!

z

[NormaR]

Girl's Gone Wild!! Saturday was a blast tramshoeing with Ellen, Kathryn and Karin. Thanks Ellen for the invite!

I used my crampons for the way up and the girl's started in microspikes and switched to snowshoes around Tamarack Valley. At some point on the way down i used my snowshoes for a bit, but crampons worked best for me. We had loads of laughs and lots of fun enjoying the snow, the scenery and the joy of friendship. I made two new ones! WooHoo!

Kathryn, you did great for your first time ever spikin' and shoein' in snow. Don't ever say "you can't" cuz "you can" girl!


the rest of my pix are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma8 ... oTramshoe#

[bluerail]

Wonderful pictures Norma, glad you guys had a great time and everybody is safe!

[Rick F]

Kathryn, Karin, Norma, & Ellen,

Congratulations on a great trip! What a classic day, thanks for posting. I hope my group gets similar weather for our attempt on January 2nd.

[Sally]

Nice job, ladies! Thank you for sharing your experience and photos. I had always thought hiking to the summit of San J ended with the first good snow, but you have shown me otherwise. I'm hoping Santa brings me snowshoes and crampons and an ice axe. Then I'll need someone to show me how to use them. I hope I can hook up with some of you some day.

[Kathryn61]

Thanks Zip and congratulations on the ice ax!
Norma- great pictures! Thanks for taking and posting them and thanks for teaching me some skills and keeping me from slip sliding away! Your cool composure when I started to get scared really helped!

[Ellen]

Howdy All

I had a wonderful time with Team Artic Wolf on Saturday I considered calling us Team Cougar but didn't want to offend anyone.

The snowshoes went on at about 9.5 K. I followed the tracks that we made during our descent from the Sunday before. We headed up the Miller saddle to the ridge and then made our way to the summit. There was still some rhime ice on the highest trees. We had lunch in the San Jacinto bunkbed and breakfast.

The descent was much icier than I expected. I had a few tense moments where I regrouped behind a tree trying to get over my fear of sliding down the slope. I took off my pack to get out my ice-axe and watched in horror as my SPOT fell off my pack and shot down the slope First the 2008 rescue and now this

In retrospect, we should have headed back to Miller saddle as this was a more gradual descent.

Norma -- thanks so much for helping Kathryn and me when I was battling my demons. You are a mountaineering goddess.

Looks like I'll be heading back up San J to see if I can rescue my SPOT. (That last sentence just doesn't seem right). At least it was in tracking mode when it ran away.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[zippetydude]

Ellen: I hope it's still visible! I'm glad you mentioned that, maybe it would be a good idea to put the slippery little thing on a lanyard like an ice axe - I think I'll do that with mine. I'll help you look for it if we're up the mountain at the same time over the holidays.

As far as finding the descent spooky, I'm with you. I'm glad you didn't slip and get hurt this time! At least you had your SPOT with you, for a while anyway, and went with friends this time.

Have any of you ladies practiced with an ice axe? My total experience is ordering it online and watching the youtube video. Maybe Norma, since you were the one who got them through that dicey area?

Anyway, it might be fun to get a few people together and make a fun trip out just to practice. Go up San J or San G, in an area where there's a safe run-out and then practice repeatedly. It sounds kinda boring alone, but it could be fun with a bunch of us.

z

[Kathryn61]

Zip: I think you have a great idea and I'd love to go along on a self arrest with an ice axe trip, especially since I love glissading so much. But I also think it's great training so that we can be prepared just in case we do end up in a tricky a situation, or worse an accidental slip. So, count me in!
Ellen: When are you planning on looking for your SPOT? I'd like to go with you.

Kathryn