by XtremelyInspired » Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:56 pm
May 31st Ascent of Skyline Trail Completed Safely.
I started the hike at 1 AM, but it was still very warm out from the day before. Fortunately, it was overcast and cloudy out most of the day. The weather conditions could not have been better!
It took me and a friend eleven hours to hike to Long Valley from the Art Museum. I am 49 years old, 6' 2", and weigh 230 pounds. I trained intermittently before this climb and was not fully in shape for my age and current weight. My knee was throbbing badly by the time I got to the steep switchbacks just before Long Valley, and I suffered from a minor blister high on my right heal. Losing twenty to thirty pounds may help reduce the strain on my knees. In comparison, when I was 47 years old and weighed only 218 pounds, it took me ten hours to reach Long Valley from Ramon.
The key take away from this climb was that it was extremely important to begin the climb around midnight. In my current condition, it may have been even better to start the climb at 10 to 11 PM rather than at 1 AM to make sure that I was at over 6500 feet of elevation when it started heating up.
Notes: The gate up to the Tram was closed. We had to park near the Visitors Center, and take an Uber ride down the hill after the climb. The WiFi at Mountain Station was not working for me. So, I had to quickly order the Uber ride while riding down on the tram when I still had a mobile data connection available. I put the destination for Uber driver as the Art Museum. So, the Uber driver could make a few extra bucks and could justify the expense of driving up the road to the Tram Station.
Last edited by
XtremelyInspired on Tue Jun 06, 2017 9:09 pm, edited 5 times in total.