recent c2c trail conditions

[MikeH]

Okay, thanks to several of you for the advice. Now some of my own. I've learned a lot about water management climbing for the past 30 yrs. This includes C2C, where it is very useful to know where the lowest snow patches are in Spring. You don't need a stove to make water when it's warm, just a bottle with some water in it. A Nalgene 1 ltr. bottle works best - wide mouth is easy to put snow in. For cold weather or alpine climbs, bottle must be 2/3rds full, but only 1/2 full in warm weather like we will have this weekend. Dirty snow is not a problem, just scrape off the surface, and play it safe with a lil' ol' iodine tablet (wait 20 min. for it to work). You can make a lot of extra water this way, as long as you have some left when you hit snow. My advice is to start out before sunrise with 5-6 ltrs of water, half in the form of Gatorade. See y'all out there! :lol:

[mknuth]

Greetings, all.

I'm the Alaskan who was curious about the super-early start time proposed for this weekend's hike. If one wanted to go all the way to the summit, it makes sense to leave that early. That probably isn't an option this weekend, however, in view of the wilderness closure due to the fire.

I went up from the Museum to the tram today, leaving at 6 a.m. I lucked out with wonderful weather. Indeed, it was a bit chilly this morning. Made it up in 7 hours, 20 mins. Most dramatic moment was when I accidentally scared a mother quail; her chicks were not even three inches big yet. Fortunately, they all got back together again.

Air quality was excellent, thanks to the winds of late (which I believe turned the fire back on itself -- if so, that would be terrific).

I went to the summit last Friday and did not need any special equipment. Did use poles, but would have been okay without them. (No postholing.) What was really helpful was my GPS unit. The trail to the summit is part of the mapping for the area. Ran into four other people on that hike, so there are probably a lot of footprints by now. The snow on top is new to me ... it's crested like frozen waves. Fascinating.

At any rate, but for the closure of the wilderness area, I'd say that C2C is quite feasible now for those with good hiking experience.

Thanks to those who have posted helpful hints. The best was the recommendation of taking a gallon of water for the tram part of the trail. I used almost that much.

Cheers,

Margot

[Hikin_Jim]

Okay, thanks to several of you for the advice. Now some of my own. I've learned a lot about water management climbing for the past 30 yrs. This includes C2C, where it is very useful to know where the lowest snow patches are in Spring. You don't need a stove to make water when it's warm, just a bottle with some water in it. A Nalgene 1 ltr. bottle works best - wide mouth is easy to put snow in. For cold weather or alpine climbs, bottle must be 2/3rds full, but only 1/2 full in warm weather like we will have this weekend. Dirty snow is not a problem, just scrape off the surface, and play it safe with a lil' ol' iodine tablet (wait 20 min. for it to work). You can make a lot of extra water this way, as long as you have some left when you hit snow. My advice is to start out before sunrise with 5-6 ltrs of water, half in the form of Gatorade. See y'all out there!

Sure, scraping off the old snow and stuffing the clean snow ("scrape n' stuff") into a Nalgene is great in warm weather.

With the above, my thinking was that on the portion of the route that is most commonly done (Palm Springs to the Tram), the snow patches would be so small that when you scraped off the top layer, there would just be bare earth or rock underneath, in other words that the patches would be so thin as to be unusable. I wouldn't want to count on them anyway. Up above the tram, I think "scrape n' stuff" would work great. You do have to be a bit careful when relying on "scrape n' stuff;" it doesn't yield much water on cooler days.

As a general rule, when water is really cold, you might want to wait more than 20 minutes for the iodine to kick in, but usually with "scrape 'n stuff," I just drink the meltwater without the iodine -- of course I go a bit away from the trail before collecting the snow! Haven't had a problem.

[FIGHT ON]

Hey miketheblock,
I thought he was talkin about below the tram. Above the tram I don't know. The other guys know.

[MikeH]

We hiked today from the museum to the tram. The trail is not posted or otherwise closed in any way. A check with the authorities confirmed this. The flower show may be a bit past it's prime but was still impressive, esp. prickly pear in full bloom from 3500-5000'. The trail proper is snow-free, but there are snow patches begininng at approx. 7500'. Many are quite large and are very close to the trail. The weather was near-perfect, 65f at 5:30am and about the same at the tram at 12:30pm. We were charged $11 each to ride the tram back down, a new experience for us. How long have they been doing that? Since we spent mucho $$ on beer and fries up there, it didn't seem fair.

[AlanK]

We were charged $11 each to ride the tram back down, a new experience for us. How long have they been doing that? Since we spent mucho $$ on beer and fries up there, it didn't seem fair.

I don't recall when we started paying, but we got dinged as early as January of 2007. I asked at the time and was told that they have always charged, just not enforced it effectively. It is a business, and I see no reason why the round trippers should subsidize those of us who only go one way. The place to really save is in bumming a ride back to your car -- taxi fare is a lot more than the tram ride!

[JimBones]

AlanK, You're right about the taxi. I solo'd Skyline on Thu. the 1st. I'm used to going up on the weekend when there are tons of people to canvass for a ride back to town . I took a taxi to Las Casuelas (their fabulous Mexican food is my reward for burning so many calories), and it cost me 22 bucks! My work schedule has changed so I'm going Thursdays for now. B.T.W. I'm going again this Thursday at 0200. Anyone interested- let me know. Desert Museum at 0155. JimBones

[KathyW]

Has anyone done the whole C2C recently? Is there much snow left between Long Valley and the summit of San Jacinto?

[pdforeme]

I have to ask--why the 2am start time....its not that hot (?)

[FIGHT ON]

For me I'd been just taking everyones word for it. I don't want to start at sunrise and experience first hand how hot the rumors are. After coming down the tram it's pretty obvious. At least it was last week and it was cooler than it is normally. It's pretty neat to hike in the dark and see the sun rise.