Met Glen, Ericka, Ania and Randy at Mill Creek ranger station for a car pool up to South Fork. We ran into Lindella and Tony getting a Forsee permit
We took the same route up as on my last trip -- up the right side of Christmas tree hill. I was amazed at the amount of snow melt in just two weeks 
We wore microspikes until we started up the ridge (I call this Charleton's left arm/shoulder), where some of us donned snowshoes. It's easier on my bad ankle to climb with ascenders. Erika and Glen stayed in microspikes. Once we intersected the San Gorgonio backbone, we made our way east to the summit of Charleton. The summit box was just visible under the snow.
We enjoyed a companionable lunch, then went to look for a good chute to glissade down. I warned everyone that I would be nervous -- I haven't glissaded down Charleton for two years. We found what looked like a good starting place and Randy and Ania led the way. The snow was powdery towards the top and I felt in control -- which is essential for me to enjoy glissading. Everyone was great about waiting for me and warning me of areas that were a bit icy. Erika, Ania and Glen were having so much fun that they climbed back up to repeat part of the glissade. I followed Randy down.
The snow got consistently better as we lost elevation. By the bottom, I was having a blast. Unfortuantely, I'd forgotten to put on gaitors on the summit. I didn't notice anything was wrong until Randy asked me why blood was pooling around my right boot. Turns out, I sustained the glissading equivalent of cycling "road rash" -- "snow rash." Due to being numb, I hadn't notice that the skin off my right calf was being flayed off.
Randy wrapped my bandana around my calf and covered the blood so the others wouldn't be freaked out.
Once regrouped, we started making our way back over to the west side of Christmas tree hill. I was concerned that if we stayed in the chute, we would wind up mired in South Fork meadows. The snow had softened up considerably and we post-holed occaisionally. Finally got back on Terra Firma (the trail) and ambled back to Glen's truck. We enjoyed a great meal at the Oaks and completed the celebration by sharing a huge piece of warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream. Umm umm.
Thanks everyone for a lovely day. Now I want to go back and try that glissade again.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
