Tramshoe to Summit Dec 14

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Indie Jack, Sally and I put on our snowshoes at the ranger station. Took the trail down to the Sid Davis drainage and followed the summer route up the right hand side to Tamarack. I was hoping that this last system had dumped enough snow to allow us to go cross country over the chinquapin. Nope After some bushwhacking, we intersected the old Tamarack trail. Made our way up through the forest to the main trail. At the Miller switchback, we took the winter route up the ridge to the summit.

It was quite pleasant on top -- very little wind and great views of clouds covering the Inland Empire. Coming down the ridge was sure a lot more fun than going up. Slogging down the main trail to the forest was a drag. If it hadn't been so late in the day, we would have taken off our snowshoes. We retraced our steps through the forest and back to Tamarack, minus the bushwhacking. We were treated to beautiful alpineglow as we came back the drainage. At least we didn't have to battle our way through tourists up the cement switchbacks. Caught the next tram down and enjoyed a lovely dinner at Las Casuelas.

Recommend microspikes and snowshoes for anyone going up this weekend.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Sally]

Hi folks,

Although the snow wasn't as deep as we would have liked, it was still gorgeous up there. There's nothing prettier than un-trammelled glittery snow, and the trees were still flocked. I was prepared for the -5 degrees with windchill that the weather report predicted, but it wasn't even close to -5.

I need to get my snowshoeing muscles back in shape. It felt like I was using muscles that I don't use for regular hiking. That last push up the ridge was hard work!

Thanks Ellen and Jack for a wonderful time!

[zippetydude]

The sisterhood of the traveling snowshoes...

I'm glad you two get a midweek chance to get out and have fun. When I take a look at your posts at work, I can vicariously enjoy the wilderness through the eyes of friends.

Thanks for the update.

z

[bluerail]

I get jealous and cry..

[lilbitmo]

Ty and I followed the path of least resistance today - that would be the ladies & Jack's snow shoe tracks across the lower brush covered section of Miller Bowl over to where the main trail comes up from Wellmen's Divide then up to the Miller San J saddle and on to the summit - thanks ladies for leaving us a somewhat compacted snow track - I was punching through here and there on the way up but not too bad - on the way down it was much worse.

Wore my new mountaineering boots for the very first time - not as bad as I thought they would be - but it's an entirely different way of walking, used to lower cut mid-winter boots that allow lots of freedom of movement.

Ty and I were the only ones on the summit all day - 2 to 3 inches of fresh snow (grupel) was hitting us in the face on the decent back through Tamarack Valley and the Sid-davis drainage - so more snow is falling but we need at least another 2 feet to make it a fun bowl climb.

Thanks again for breaking the trail, might be hard to find now though.