After losing the previous weekend to a conference in Chicago, I was chewing at the bit to get back into the mountains. Skyline is always a seductress and Superman (Rick Kent's) trip report closed the deal. It was wonderful to see Skyline sporting new growth and beautiful wildflowers. The temperature was cool and humid. I love it when I don't overheat on the Never Ending Ridge and made good time to Flat Rock and up through the Manzanita. Put on microspikes at the "thank you Jesus" rocks (also known as strap on point) and took my time through this section as I don't like traversing on snow. Got to Coffman's and a flash of bright pink caught my eye. I turned around from looking at the magnificent crag to see a sled nestled in the downed tree below me. Hmm... that's going to be a pain to pack out. Ate lunch at Grubbs Notch, scrambled up the rocks, had the usual celebratory post-Skyline beer, and caught a ride back to my car with two nice guys visiting from San Diego.
Fast forward to Sunday. It was cold (25 degrees) when Lance and I started and windy. The snow was in awful shape -- scalloped from multiple travelers and icy. The wind picked up significantly as we approached the base of Miller Saddle and was absolutely howling at the saddle. Heading up the ridge was pure drudgery -- the closer we got to the summit mound, the more we broke through the icy crust. Very energy intensive. Finally peaked out -- Lance's Kestrel weather station showed minus 4 degrees -- so we beat it to the hut for lunch. We'd worn microspikes on the ascent but I donned snowshoes to have a wider platform for the trip down. Got back to the tram -- still 25 degrees.
Just checked the Long Valley tram cam and it's SNOWING!!! We may have some nice play time in the white stuff yet.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
- i was a lil worried yer friend would never stop talking...but thats bout it. 
