Skyline Conditions

[mtrob326]

My adult son & I took our inaugural run at C2C on 11 Feb, with the expectation that we might need to use our microspikes & trekking poles to reach Long Valley. (We planned to rent snowshoes from the Adventure Center to reach the summit from Long Valley, if needed.) We instead found snow on the ground starting at around 6,000 ft, quickly transitioning to deep, postholing-type snow transitioning to ice-crusted snow all the rest of the way up to Long Valley. As others noted above, there really wasn't any trail to follow other than some faint snowshoe tracks, likely from a couple of days earlier. Through a combination of electronic GPX tracks & chart, an old-school compass, and paper charts as backup, we managed to hike & crawl our way (literally) to Grubb's Notch. What normally would have taken us less than 5 hours took over 11 hours and the possibility of an overnight on the side of the mountain.

Although the conditions were different than what we had expected, we felt sufficiently equipped with gear, food & water. What WAS concerning was a 20-something Marine who caught up with us, but who was clearly unprepared. He was wearing a hoodie, daypack, sneakers & no gloves. And he didn't bring any form of navigation, instead unsuccessfully attempting to download a chart onto his smartphone while on the mountain. Once we got well up into the snow and he was still following us, we felt morally obligated to make sure he made it all the way up to the ranger station with us, otherwise it seemed that he could become another statistic on the Skyline Trail.

The slow progress prevented us from making the full trek to the summit & back, so we'll have to return another day!

[Ellen]

Howdy MtRob

Thank you so much for your intervention on Skyline on Feb 11 -- yikes I absolutely believe that your humanitarian aid averted a SAR mission.

My last Skyline was on January 19. Normally it takes about 6 h -- this time it took 8.5 h. Several friends snowshoed down to us a bit below Coffman's Crag. Without them breaking trail for us going up from the Crag, we would have probably been out another hour. The powder was mid-thigh.

The last time I used ice-axe and crampons on Skyline was in the winter of 2010. Followed the crampon marks along the traverse -- don't care to ever do that again.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Swordphish72]

No traction devices needed until the Traverse. Shin to knee deep postholing snow after that. We did NOT take the usual trail. We went directly up the gulley below Notch 1(2?) and walked from the top along the Desert View "trail" back down to the tram. A friend walked towards Grubb's Notch and did not see any tracks. I'm surprised that after 2 weeks of clear weather that no one/group has beaten a trail in. Please don't go up without any traction device, you can definitely leave snow shoes at home.

Thanks for your report, I typically hit the C2C annually and always bring an ice axe, mountaineering boots, crampons, spikes in addition to my 10 essentials. I'm a Mountaineer from the PNW and have climbed all the volcanoes in WA, so I have some experience with technical hiking/climbing. The conditions after the traverse sound treacherous this year, especially around the ice chutes, requiring some skill. You mention to leave snowshoes at home, I've been going back and forth on bringing or not bringing, just wanted to get your two cents on that. You mentioned ok to leave leave them at home.

Last February I plowed through this section and to the top only using microspikes, I did post hole but it was not too bad. This year of course is a different animal with all the snow. I do see 3 inches of new snow in forecast this week. I would not try my attempt until later next week, so it looks milder and any fresh snow should melt or turn into ice as we head into next week.

Also, the gps track I have takes me the normal route, you mentioned that you went up the gulley at 1,2. Any pointers on location of this route on map? Gps track?

Thanks for your input.

[Swordphish72]

I appreciate your response! Thank you. I did find "notch 1" and "notch 2" on my map, however I will stick to my .gpx track as you suggest. I will leave snow shoes at home, that's actually a relief. I will just plow through snow if I have enough time for a summit bid. This time I'm not soloing and bringing one of my climbing buddies. We're actually attempting St. Helens this Sat together for an early bid for the summit! Then Skyline/San Jacinto next week.

Thanks again,
Mike

[Ed]

I appreciate your response! Thank you. I did find "notch 1" and "notch 2" on my map, however I will stick to my .gpx track as you suggest. I will leave snow shoes at home, that's actually a relief. I will just plow through snow if I have enough time for a summit bid. This time I'm not soloing and bringing one of my climbing buddies. We're actually attempting St. Helens this Sat together for an early bid for the summit! Then Skyline/San Jacinto next week.

Thanks again,
Mike

The summit of St. Helen's? I turned back on St. Helen's on one of my early climbs. Like to joke that I've climbed it, since it is surely lower now than our turnback point.

Looking at the videocam and weather forecast at the tram station, it looks like very little more snow, and continued melting.

[bytebit]

Just wondering if anyone has gone up Skyline, going on the established trail/route--all the way to Grubbs Notch? Also, if anyone who does this route within the next few weeks--thanks for your report. I've gone up the route in the snow/ice in the past when it was a bit more than ankle high and I could make out the trail as well--along with my gps track. But not since 12/11/16 -- David

[Swordphish72]

Summit rim I should say... . It's a good conditioner for Rainier, so we like to hit it and Adams before June!

[Swordphish72]

Thanks for all the advice! My buddy and I completed a successful C2C to the summit today. We went the normal route through the traverse, (up Grubbs Notch) using crampons and ice axe. No problems at all. It was actually more sketchy up top past Wellmans.

[Ed]

Thanks for all the advice! My buddy and I completed a successful C2C to the summit today. We went the normal route through the traverse, (up Grubbs Notch) using crampons and ice axe. No problems at all. It was actually more sketchy up top past Wellmans.

I'm impressed. Nice to have a trip report from people who know what they are doing. Were there tracks all the way to Grubbs Notch? Would trekking poles and microspikes have been sufficient?

[Swordphish72]

Thanks for all the advice! My buddy and I completed a successful C2C to the summit today. We went the normal route through the traverse, (up Grubbs Notch) using crampons and ice axe. No problems at all. It was actually more sketchy up top past Wellmans.

I'm impressed. Nice to have a trip report from people who know what they are doing. Were there tracks all the way to Grubbs Notch? Would trekking poles and microspikes have been sufficient?

There were a few tracks up Grubs, however majority of tracks were seen going up notch 2. We followed gps track from last March. Two trail runners ahead of us only had Microspikes, so it is possible, however I wouldn't advise yet. Maybe in a week Microspikes ok. It's really starting to melt out up Grubs, dirt is present in spots. We were hiking in crampons over dirt and rocks in places.