XC summit attempt on Christmas

[Ellen]

Took first tram up, put snowshoes on at Ranger Station. Trail is broken in to Round Valley/Sid Davis junction. Went up Sid Davis breaking trail to lower and upper
Tamarack. Brush was covered but did break through. Tried to go up to Miller Saddle but sank in to my hips. I had to rock back and forth to extract myself so called it at 12:30 and headed down. Still sank in too much. Bottom line, beautiful snow but needs to consolidate.

Merry Christmas,
Ellen

[zippetydude]

They will make a Disney heroine animated version of you one day Ellen. Of course, it will be years from now and free of current Disney political correctness. The title will likely be "Blood of the Blond on the Snows of San Jacinto" or some such. Probably will pirate at least a little Hemingway. Mayhap circumstances will favor "Ask not for whom the blood spills, it spills for thee" or even "A Farewell to Harms - A guide to surviving Skyline". In any case, thanks for the TR. Enticing. Gotta check this out...
z

[Ellen]

Howdy Z



I sure wished that I had you, Scott, and Steve helping to break in a route. This snow plow ran out of gas. Sinking in the snow covered brush is bad enough, but when one sinks even further while trying to get out, sheesh

Some photos:



Upper Tamarack



At about 10 K, looking up at the Miller Saddle. Made it part way up before turning around and heading back down to the little forest. Even going downhill I sometimes sank in up to my hips and had to rock back and forth to get out.



Heading down towards Cornell.



Snowshoe tracks on the right from summit attempt, snowshoe tracks on the left coming back down after having a snack in the forest.





An exquisite White Christmas on my favorite mountain.

Miles of smiles,
Elln

[Ed]

And no mention of the cold. Ellen's down mittens must have served her well.

My current rule of thumb is that it takes 8" of season-to-date rain In LA to produce 40" of well-consolidated snow above 9k. The LA Times reported 5.43" today. So trailbreakers may need a backup crew with loppers until we have another good storm. Of course, that rule of thumb is a SWAG, for people familiar with the term, personal experience is always better.