Powder Mountain - First tracks of 2010-11 season

December 5th, my opening day. 

7.5 feet of snow so far and more coming in tonight.

Looking out from the condo.  25 degree's, no wind, and

Sunshine.  Niice start to the season.

First chair up and the place is empty.

Sunday morning crowd at the high speed chair.

Where is everyone?



The lift to this area isn't open yet this season. 

A short hike and I'll have freshies all day.

Someone beat me to the top.  

Checking out my first run.  We've only had 7 inches over the last 7 days. 

Only 2 inches of it fell yesterday and still untracked.

My work is done here! 



The snow was exceptional.  Powder everywhere.

What a day.  Tomorrow is supposed to bring

3 - 6 inches, should be good! 

Cactus to Clouds - 10/9/2010

Cactus to Clouds - 24 miles, 10,000 elevation gain.  It follows

the Skyline trail out of Palm Springs - elevation  500' -

to the summit of San Jacinto - elevation 10,834' -

and then back to Tram station - elevation 8,516'. 

To complete a C2C2C - return back to Palm Springs museum -

about an additional 10 miles.

 C2C = 24 miles 10,000 gain 2,000 loss 

C2C2C = 34 miles 10,000 gain 10,000 loss

Considered to be the toughest day hike out there.  That is

if 34 miles is still considered a day hike. 

With the goal of a complete C2C2C, we get a 2am start. 

It was 60 in Palm Springs and getting

 colder.  Hoping the sun will warm things up a bit. 



I've done Skyline twice before this attempt.

A few pics (from an earlier trip) of the lower Skyline trail.

On weekends there are usually 30 +
hikers doing Skyline. 

About 5 miles to go to the notch and Tram station.

We'll head for that big smooth rock and

up the chute on it's left.  3 miles from here to

flatrock.

Back to the current hike -

7 miles in and the first sign of sunrise.  A little slow going in

the dark - no moon at all. 



Took a short break to eat and watch the sunrise.
Cold and getting colder.  We had to get
going - Hector forgot to bring a jacket.   

  

This is just above flatrock.  Between here and the notch
is the roughest part.  Relentless.

We met this 72 year old guy at flat rock.  He's climbed this over 

 50 times. Man is fit!

 I can still hear him, come on Larry,

almost there!  Friggin 72 year old mountain goat.

Below the tram station.  Just a few more minutes to the Notch.

At the Notch - just under 12 miles with 8,000' of elevation

gain - 6 hours 10 min.  That completes the Skyline portion of the trip. 

The guy standing next to the women in pink is Fern - Mr Ambassador of the Skyline trail.  The nicest

guy you'll ever hope to meet and an absolute
freak of nature (fast and fearless).

We got our self issued permit for the peak and headed out. 

Another 5.5 miles and over 2,000' of elevation to the top.

Looking back towards the Notch. 

It's been easy hiking since the notch but we are whipped.

 

Just below summit.  Stunning day.  Crisp and clear.

Say's it all - we are there!

Summit house built from stacked rocks.   

Break time - 10,834' - 19 miles

Nice views!

It's hard to see but Salton Sea is to the right.

San Gorgonio to the north.

Now the decision, C2C and down the tram or C2C2C?

Decided an ice cold beer at the
tram bar sounded better than
another 10 miles.  We'll have to give it
a go another day.

Met up with a few guys I'd met on a previous
Skyline hike.  We paid the 12 bucks for the ride down
and caught a ride back to Palm Springs.

Perfect day!

San Gorgonio via Vivian creek

With the Cactus to Clouds to Cactus coming up on Oct 9th, a tough
hike was in order.  5am at the ranger station but no permit
available.  I met Edgar and his group from Hollywood.  They

have a permit for 8 but only 5 showed.  I'm In.

From the trail head you climb 1,200' to

Vivian Creek in 1 mile.  From there the trail

mellows out and you can just cruise. 

I hung out with  "Hollywood" to Vivian Creek.

Put in the Ipod and headed out.  Weather is perfect,

55 and clear.

High creek camp in just under 2.5 hours.

I'm supposed to turn around at 4 hours but

it looks like I can make the summit in 4-ish.

Over 10,000' and at least 5 miles from the trail head!

OK, I'm alright with the smoking but the littering...come on.

San Jacinto and a look at the Cactus to Clouds route.

The trail pretty much follows the left ridge.  Start at the museum in

Palm Springs (elevation 700') and hike to the summit (10,634').

Then back down to the tram - about 16 miles and over 10,000'

of elevation gain!. 

Oct 9, no tram.  Add 10 miles and 8,000' of

down.  We'll be starting about 2am.

Just below tree line and I can see a fire came through here.

All of the tree's survived.  

  

Nearing the summit and looking back

for any signs of the Hollywood gang.  Place is empty.

For no permits being available, where is everybody?

Besides the Hollywood group, I've only

talked to 3 other hikers.

Nice to know that after 4 hours and 8 miles I'm heading

in the right direction.

The summit in view.  It's more of a bump than a 

summit but it is what it is.

8.6 miles in 4 hours and 10 minutes.

Another personal best!

Edgar and the rest of Hollywood!

I'm sure they all made it.  Probably 1.5 hours to go from here.

The trail is in great condition.   I was able to jog

out for a 2 hour and 35 minute exit. 

6 hour 45 minute - 17.2  mile round trip.

Me and T on Whitney

Travis called and said he wanted to climb the

Mountaineers route.  It doesn't take much to get me interested

in a Whitney hike so I told him to get his gear ready, I'll be there Friday.

We were at the visitor center by 4:00 and were able to 

get permits.  We headed over to the Pizza Factory

for some of the best pepperoni pizza there is.  Then it was up to

 Tuttle campground - 5,120' - for the night.   

The saying goes "Sleep low - climb high".

I've always liked Tuttle.  It's $5.00 a night with

clean bathrooms, only 3 1/2 miles from

trail head, and nobody is ever there.

We got a 5:30 am start and were at the ledges as the sun came up.

The climb above the ledges heading to Lower Boy Scout lake.

This is where you start asking yourself "why am I doing this?" 

Someone has put a lot of work into these cairns.  They

really make it easy to follow the trail, at least

up to Iceberg Lake.

Pounding up the slabs.

Travis with the chute behind him. 

We're ready for the real climb to begin but 1st we

needed to filter some water at Iceberg lake.  That's 

where we picked up Craig.  His climbing partner was sick and

needed to descend.  He really wanted to summit

so he came with us.

  

The climbing is pretty cool all of the way up the chute. 

 

A view up the east buttress. 

We go up and fade right into the chute.

A quick water break, 10 minutes to the notch.

 

Craig - happy to be past the scree.

That 1st move into the North Face is a little tricky.

Half way up the final 400.  Lunch. is waiting.

Up the final chimney to the top. 

A look back down.

The summit pic!  Well done.

Me and T at the notch ready for the trip back down. 

It's a real butt kicker - maybe harder than the up. 

We ended up getting back to the trail head at 5:15 - another

12 hour Whitney hike.  This was both Travis and Craig's

1st Whitney hike and they started with the

Mountaineers route.  Sweet!

  It couldn't have been any better of a day!