How not to do Skyline

[Tony]

Went up Skyline on November 17. Snow in patches from 4400 feet, some ice and loose wet snow on the traverse made it quite slippery, but not enough to make spikes necessary. Just my group on the trail.

Having done Skyline three times before, I made elementary errors. I dropped my phone at 2800 feet and noticed it was missing at 4400 feet so had to run back and get it. That taught me that, yes, it does get warm, even on a cool day, to go back down. My group kept on going so I had to run up to 5400 feet before I could catch them. Usually I figure Skyline is doable on a cool day without water, but I used 700 ml water (70% of my supply) in catching my group, plus I was quite tired when I caught them. Fortunately, the remainder of my water supply was Coca Cola. Also, on the plus side, I had worn my lightweight racing shoes, so the run down and up was not so bad, but on the negative side, I had worn my lightweight racing shoes, the non-existent grip of which was no fun in the loose snow on the traverse. I also completely forgot about desert cactus on the way down and it is quite instructive how much easier it is to see something above foot level when going up than to see the same thing below foot level on the way down. Which is to say that I ended up with a carpet of cactus spines in both legs. I discovered too that taking them out is a lot harder than putting them in.

So at least that minor amount of idiocy was easily survivable, though this summary does not quite tell the whole story.

First post

Tony

[Sally]

Thank you for the trip report, Tony. Sometimes a TR doesn't paint a really rosie picture but at least maybe someone else can learn from it! It sounds like you added an extra 1600' vertical, both up and down, so your total vertical is close to doing a whole C2C! Wow, I am worn out just reading about it. (I am glad you found your phone after all that!)

[Ed]

Your good humor is impressive, Tony. I would have left my cell phone there, but then it is a clamshell antique, long overdue for replacement. Last time up I realized I had left a glove on the ground when I picked up some trash. I would only have had to drop down 300-400' to retrieve it, but that is a lot for me. Well, it was not a very good glove anyway, and perhaps it will still be there the next time.

Your story reminded me of the time a member of my party had to trudge up about 1200' of snow on Mt. Williamson in the Sierras to retrieve an expensive camera he left there. Not long after he shredded his hands into a bloody, painful mess, because he forgot to put on his gloves before glissading, then lost control and had to self arrest with bare hands. It made a big impression on me, of how abrasive snow can be. He reminded me of that character in Lil Abner who always had a dark cloud over his head pouring rain in his face (I suspect most people on this discussion board are too young to get this reference). Not his trip. Never climbed with him before, and thankfully never after either.

[Tony]

When I told my wife I had to go down to get my phone, I meant go down (to the museum) and on the way get the phone. But she made it clear that she expected me to re-join the group for the rest of the hike. I had no choice. My son-in-law called the phone every minute so I would have a better chance of finding it. It was ringing when I found it.

[Cy Kaicener]

Here is an article about the dangers of doing Skyline out of season in hot weather
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/201 ... /30886951/