Skyline in rain/hail/snow

[Dave G]

Norma and I hiked Skyline yesterday and got treated to rain, hail and snow, along with stiff winds. We had originally planned to make this a "Cactus to Clouds" hike, but without enough winter gear, decided to make the warm tram station our final destination! The experience of seeing the mountain receive its first winter (OK, fall) blanket, more than made up for the lack of summit. Here are a few pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21042415@N02/sets/72157608813139350/
Dave

[Cy Kaicener]

Thanks for the trip report and pictures Dave. You really enjoy a good challenge

[SummitGreen]

Very nice photos Dave! I like the rainbow one.. Not many get to see that in person.

Thanks for the capture.

[NormaR]

There seems to be a cloud of fun and adventure over us every time Dave G and I attempt c2c. Never a dull moment that's for sure! I had anticipated that the third time would be the charm, but oh no! Mother Nature had a surprise up her sleeve!

On my other two attempts to do c2c i have driven to P.S. from Thousand Oaks caught a 2-4 hrs of restless sleep in my car since i park on a residential street near the Museum. This time i made a motel reservation, was in bed by 7:30 pm so the 2:30 alarm would rouse me from a restful sleep. Well, i got the sleep i wanted but i had not checked the weather forecast since Friday night.

The snowstorm was a suprise but the enjoyment of watching it come down was second-to-none! As we all say, "The mountain will always be there." I'll be back!...

here are my pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma8 ... rail11908#

norma

p.s. what a difference a day makes. we knew that some of the hikers on Saturday would make the summit. congrats to those that did!! not sure if anyone did on Sunday. it looked like a white-out above the tram.

[NormaR]

There seems to be a cloud of fun and adventure over us every time Dave G and I attempt c2c. Never a dull moment that's for sure! I had anticipated that the third time would be the charm, but oh no! Mother Nature had a surprise up her sleeve!

On my other two attempts to do c2c i have driven to P.S. from work in Thousand Oaks caught a 2-4 hrs of restless sleep in my car since i park on a residential street near the Museum. This time i made a motel reservation, was in bed by 7:30 pm so the 2:30 alarm would rouse me from a restful sleep. Well, i got the sleep i wanted but i had not checked the weather forecast since Friday night.

The snowstorm was a suprise but the enjoyment of watching it come down was second-to-none! As we all say, "The mountain will always be there." I'll be back!...

here are my pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma8 ... rail11908#

norma

p.s. what a difference a day makes. we knew that some of the hikers on Saturday would make the summit. congrats to those that did!! not sure if anyone did on Sunday. it looked like a white-out above the tram.

[Hikin_Jim]

Beautiful pics, Norma, particularly the one you labeled Still Life. The one of you getting hailed on is a classic too. Dave, you probably have good pics too, but since I'm using my company's internet connection, I can't see them since my company blocks Flickr.

It does seem like whenever you guys go on Skyline, something "interesting" occurs (emergency bivouacs, white outs, etc.). Now, would it be too much to ask that you guys post your Skyline hikes in advance to warn the rest of us?

[Cy Kaicener]

This weekend we are going to dream of having a day like that on Skyline except for the winds, - just like I dream of having a bad hair day. (no hair)
Anyone getting a late start will be asking for it. It might be a good idea to postpone this week rather than bake in the hot sun.

[Ellen]

Howdy Norma and Dave,

I hope your 4th attempt (November 23) of C2C was successful. I've done Skyline once in similar weather conditions and was also happy to stop at the tram. We ran into a group of desert hikers who abandoned their hike from the tram due to white out condiitions.

I've also hiked Skyline in a foot of new snow (started at the 7000 foot level). A group was following us and said they'd follow our foot prints. We finally opted to just head straight up around Coffman's Crag and concentrated on maintaining at least three points of contact. I don't want to ever do that again.

I ran into the group that followed us a year later at Flat Rock on the first annual Cy Skyline hike. I'd always wondered what had happened to them as we left before they got to the tram. They were grateful to have our footprints but also had no desire to repeat the experience.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[NormaR]

hi ellen!

it was great to see you in person! we only made it to Wellman's Divide. dave was not feeling very well and we decided that was far enough. i have GREAT respect for anyone who has completed c2c. that is one tough hike!

i didn't take many pictures but hopefully i will have a few worthy to post later this week.

Happy Thanksgiving to all on the board and a Very Happy Birthday to Cy!!

gobble, gobble!
norma

[SummitGreen]

Hello Norma, Ellen, Dave I went to the peak on 23rd, sunday. Stayed at round valley on sat night.I was wondering if I saw you guys on the way up? I was in a group of three with extremely big packs.