does anyone ever DESCEND c2c?

[MojaveDesertWind]

I've lived out here in the desert for 3 years or so now, and I've been putting off doing Cactus to Clouds for a long time... because...

I'm highly philosophically opposed to the existence of the Tram. It really bothers the hell out of me, and I've made a little pledge to myself that I wouldn't support it financially (i.e. ride it and pay for it).

so I've been putting off doing Cactus to Clouds because if I were to do it, I would also have to come back down, and descending 10000' sounds... well... awful.

has anyone done it? how bad is it?

[AlanK]

Rick Kent did it in February, 2006: http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=1117

I have heard of others doing it. It's on my list of things to do sometime. If I were as young as Rick, I would never have waited this long!

[cynthia23]

Interesting questions. Yes, two people I know of have done it--Pavel and Bill. But they are both Ironmen--that is, they compete in the Ironmen contests. They also do a lot of ultrarunning things like the Death Valley marathon. Their level of fitness is extremely high. I believe their weekly mileage is at least a hundred miles of running. They run much of C2C. YOu are talking about a 36 mile day with 20000 feet of gain/loss. Your fitness level needs to be extraordinarily high. It's very hard to just do a regular C2C. IMHO to do and up-and-down C2C you need to have a level of fitness that is in the professional/competitive athlete range.

I personally went up Skyline to 7000 feet one day, then came back down. By the end of the day I had to lie down several times to rest my trembling thighs. Also, I started to fall a lot, because your knees and thighs lose their ability to grip and stabilize. Which was obviously hazardous. On one fall I narrowly avoided breaking my arm. I would not try this again.

You could climb up to Round Valley, camp there overnight, do the peak the next day, and then hike all the way back down, but this would necessitate carrying a full load of camping gear up Skyline--and then, even worse, carry it back down--which quite possibly would actually be worse.

It seems to me the key to doing an up-and-down C2C is being a super fit trailrunner who has done many ultramarathons. For a regular hiker, I just don't think it's doable ...what I would suggest is starting with just trying to go up to about 5000 feet, and then come back down. This will give you a good sense of how do-able the whole thing might be for you. But try it very soon as the heat will soon make coming back down impossible/hazardous.

Anyone else know if others have done an up-and-down? Maybe Guest has? Zip? Or others?

[magikwalt]

I agree with Cynthia! I have been to 5,000 and went back down as a member of our party didn't believe they could make it. I felt the trip down would be harder than the trip up and didn't want to leave him on his own. By the time we reached 2200ft he was wiped out. No quads left at all. I am far more picky about who I'll go to the midway point with now.

I do remember a couple post here on the site to someone having done the hike up to the tram only to find out it was closed for maintenance and having to hike back down.

[zippetydude]

I've done most of it up and down. More than anything else, it's unpleasant going back down. The first four miles are tough enough going up, but going down, they're the last four, and they're full of jolts and twists that give you a good chance of hurting a knee, or ankle, or...

... like Cynthia23 said, it's easy to fall. It would take one slip to break an arm and have a really rotten day. I broke some ribs once (on a different trail), and had several miles to go before I got to my car. Ugh. Your chances of a slip are much increased many miles into a run/hike.

On the other hand, it'll be a huge chalenge if you go for it. Be sure and post if you do it, and maybe we can say hi along the trail.


z

[AlanK]

I should add to my earlier comments that I would not consider doing both ways on my first C2C. Unless you're Rick Kent or an ultramarathon runner, it's pretty crazy. Since you don't seem to have the option of doing a one-way version first, I think that the suggestion of doing a partial hike the first time makes a great deal of sense.

[zippetydude]

Alan makes a good point. I didn't do the whole thing the first few times - I went up 3, then back down; up four, then back down; up 5...

Again, it's just a bit tedious. A very good idea would be to start at Ramon instead of the museum if you're going up and down - the Ramon route is not so steep, so it's a better choice going down. I did almost all my up and down trips that way.

z

[magikwalt]

If I "had or desired" to hike off from the top of either the tram or San Jacinto it would be down to Idyllwild and not back down C2C. I spend a lot of my day evaluating risk exposure and the down side of hiking down C2C after completing the summit or even the tram for that matter would be way too much exposure.

If riding the tram back down doesn't sit well with you, where would your compass be with regards to walking inside and refilling with their water or knowing that the Mountian Rescue teams regularly use the tram to go up and retrieve hikers.

[KathyW]

I've gone up 5000 feet and come back down with Cy. It's not the trail, but the heat that's the big problem for me.

The idea of hiking back down into 100 degree temperatures just doesn't appeal to me.

[marmot]

i made it to five thousand feet once, turned back, the trip down killed, and took longer than going up.....

it just kept going, and going and going, desert hump after desert hump after desert hump...