so, who's going snowshoeing?

[robpollard]

Thanks for the pictures. As usual, your pictures make a winter trip look so enjoyable.

Looks like a new sign on the summit?

[AlanK]

Looks like a new sign on the summit?

And a nice one at that.

[Ellen]

Howdy All

Well, I finally got to try out my snowshoes that I've had since 2004 and never used

Lance and I took the first tram up and were hiking at 8:20. Thanks to Kathy and other snowshoers, the trail was nicely groomed all the way to Round Valley and the snowshoes stayed in the pack. We ran into ranger Carl past Wellman's divide. It's clear he loves his work, he was grinning from ear to ear. He had snowshoed up Jean, across to San J and was headed back to help with tram tourist casualties in Long Valley.

I put on my snowshoes and Lance opted for his crampons. We constantly heard huge shards of ice falling off the trees. The sound of them dropping and landing was somewhere between chimes and a guillotine blade. I clumsily followed Lance uphill -- we were actually on the trail periodically. The snow had consolidated enough that I wished I had brought my crampons. On the other hand, I was finally able to test out the snowshoes. It's too bad no one from the forum saw me, as I'm sure it was entertaining.

We approached the summit from a different angle (north-east) compared to the summer. At this point I suspect we were following in Kathy's snowshoe steps. It was glacially cold and windy at the summit -- 25 degrees ambient temperature and 8 degrees with the wind chill. The summit sign actually had ice hanging off both sides Another snowshoer (Brian) was at the top and a man and woman arrived shortly after us. We huddled behind rocks, ate a quick lunch, and started back down.

We had just started descending when I had my first snowshoe "incident." I went from "skiing" to falling forward and sliding down-hill face first in the snow. Lance turned around just in time to catch me doing my face-christie. We continued down and were very happy when we wound up back on the south side on the mountain out of the wind.

After several more of my pratfalls due to loose snow, we came out on the old Tamarack trail into Round Valley. (Note -- this was due to Lance's route finding skills -- not mine ) We took off snowshoes and crampons and headed back to Long Valley. As we approached the last stream crossing, we ran into numerous people in tennis shoes dragging their small children along the snow covered trail.

The walk up the pavement to the tram was reminiscent of Los Angeles traffic gridlock. About the time I thought I'd seen everything, several woman came down carrying large purses. We entered the tram station, went directly to the boarding area and nearly suffocated while waiting to ride down. Dinner at Las Consuelas was the perfect end to a spectacular day.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Brrr Blond Hiking

[AlanK]

It's too bad no one from the forum saw me, as I'm sure it was entertaining.

But no blood, right? (Face plants are perfectly acceptable for first time snowshoers.)

[KathyW]

Ellen:

Did you go up on Saturday or Sunday?? I didn't get the first tram on Saturday, so I didn't start hiking from Long Valley until about 9 am on Saturday.

Kathy

[Ellen]

Howdy Alan,

You're right, based on the absence of blood, it was a succesful hike. I'm happy to learn that face plants are acceptable adverse events for first time snowshoers

Howdy Kathy,

We went up Sunday -- it worked better for Lance. I hope to hike/snowshoe/crawl with you again in the near future.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[KathyW]

Ellen: Ah - now that makes sense to me - I was wondering why I didn't see more footprints on the summit than I did because I know you would have gotten up there before me if you went on Saturday.

The trail must be packed all the way to the summit now.

I thought about you when I snowshoed over the snow covered manzanita where the old trail from Tamarack Valley it.

Kathy