Skyline Yesterday 5/12/2010

[rocrat]

My wife and I hiked up C2C/skyline yesterday Wed 5/12. We had planned to a hike it Friday 5/14, but a hiking partner couldn’t make it. We hiked down from the Notch on Tuesday 5/11 to check the conditions, had the good fortune to meet a gentleman just completing the climb and his testimony convinced my wife and I to go on 5/12 due the the predicted lower temp. We started at Ramon RD / Lyken Trail Head using head lamps at 04:30, made the Skyline junction at sunrise 05:30 and stashed the head lamps. This was our first time on Skyline trail, so we took out time. Had lunch 10:00-10:45. We reached the chuts just prior to Coffmans and did have some route finding issues. I found lots of evidence of people scrambling for a trail. I can only say, use and trust your instrumentation, or backtrack to the known route and don’t budge until a proper route is identified going forward. The tricky part was that the snow was just masking the trail in some parts and in some cases the direction change of the trail. The most common mistake noted from all the tracks was that people were looking down when they should have been looking up for the next section of trail. After 45 minutes of route finding, we reached the notch at 16:15. It was harder then a Whitney ascent, but from Whitney there is no tram down and cold beer at the top. Down for me is painful, I would not want to go down Skyline.

[rocrat]

We did our short route finding hike down from the Notch carrying crampons and ice axe, they were not needed. You will find all the existing kick steps and foot holes needed to cross what little snow remains. Water was paramount. My wife and I both carried 200 oz each. That is basically two big CamelBack bladders. We sucked on shot blocks when not drinking. The shortness of this hike can be deceptive, the elevation gain more than makes up for the distance traveled. I just joined this board, but would like to thank all the regular posters for all the information they have posted about this hike, it was of great value.

rocrat

[rocrat]

Sorry, I should have included this link in my previous post. Hope this is helpful.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... tGLgsPUikv

rocrat
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[guest]

Hi Rocrat,
Congrats on a successful climb, doing ones "homework" makes all the difference, as evidenced by some recent rescues.
Maybe run into you & your wife on the trail someday.

ss

[vbmatloff]

I just joined this forum and have been watching it for a week or so. I did C2C about 8 years ago with some cycling friends from OC but can't recall exactly what time of year it was. A local group I hike with are going this weekend, but I can't make it so I'm planning my own trip June 4th or 5th with just a couple people leaving from the museum. Does anyone have a gps track they can send me either in mps, gdb, or gps format? I seems the only tricky part may be once you reach the chutes? Maybe not so much an issue in 3 weeks anyway. Thanks for any advice.

[bluerail]

did skyline today, 4 - 10' patches of snow to tiptoe through, no spikes. 41/4 hrs. trails clear

rocrat...glad to see people carrying a good amount of fluids

[vbmatloff]

A little over 4 hours sounds like you were flying up the hill!

[bluerail]

In june you will have no issues finding the trail....your issues will be: an early start to beat the heat; a fast pace, to beat the heat ; electrolytes and more than enough fluids, 5 liters anyway, to keep from being screwed at 6500'; and being acclimated well enough to the heat your going to be in.

..but hopefully, you already know all that.

..just trying to be helpful, lets hope we dont have any deaths this year on skyline.

scott..thanks again for the ride from the tram, really enjoyed visiting.

[jfr]

Does anyone have a gps track they can send me either in mps, gdb, or gps format?

See this thread: http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/viewtopic.php?p=16093

I was able to successfully convert Florian's .kml file into a .gpx file using the gpsBabel freeware utility (it converts almost any gps file type into another).

Have a great hike!

[vbmatloff]

Thanks for the thread JFR. I found Ze's gpx file and opened it on my 24k topo (like other have done) easily. Someone else said they were up there today and the trail is clear, only some small patches. Going to Kingston Peak next weekend, and C2C June 5th. Thanks..