Skyline Trail Trip Report for Sunday March 16

[qonbige]

Sorry for the tardy report. 4 of us left the museum at 4:45 am. Got to the tram station after 8.5 hours. Tried to go to the top but we had to break trail beyond Round Valley and the snow was deeper than we thought. Did not have snow shoes. 2 turned back at about .5 mile beyond Round Valley. 2 went on and did Jeans Peak.

The snow from Saturday was down to about 5,000 feet. No snow shoes were needed below the tram station. The new snow surprisingly bonded rather well with the old ice/snow so conditions were not that treacherous. 2 of us were beginners; 1 of them never used crampons before and he did fine.

Quang

[Cy Kaicener]

Quang - That was a fast time for heavy snow conditions. How deep was the snow for the last 1000 feet.? This section is in the shade most of the day and the nights have been around freezing, so I would think there is still ice below the new snow.

[qonbige]

Cy, The snow was not as deep as the two previous times I was on the trail this winter. 4 to 5 inches of new snow were on that traverse. You'd think that you would sink right thru the new snow to the sleek and icy surface below but each step find easy purchase with the crampon points onto the kind of "soft" ice below. The relatively faster time for us was due to this time we did not having to wallow in the deep snow even on snowshoes. So we saved a lot of time going from the flat rock to the tram station. Saw your note about the BD? wishes to Dorren. Quang