It was a strange series of events, all seeming to conspire against me:
First, during a sleepless night, I turned the volume down so low on my iPod alarm that I slept right through it! I was awakened when Blooty called to tell me she was about to lose phone service in the canyon and would be along shortly. Aghast, I jumped in the car, spilt all my coffee and skidded going over Laurel Canyon. I got to the T/H at 7:00 -- 1 1/2 hours late -- probably my latest start ever.
The plan was to do Register Ridge, so I booked it up the trail hoping that if I found my partner, she would still be talking to me. At least Blooty had left me a message in the register, so I knew which route she had taken.
After probably my quickest ascent to the BackBone, I was treated to a brief break in the weather and photo op:
![Image](http://lh4.ggpht.com/_UWhgUyvBB7g/S_q02TDYuPI/AAAAAAAAJZw/0OktAIa-zC0/s800/PICT0018.jpg)
I finally met her below the crest of the East Bowl as she was descending with Phil, who had come up via Bear Canyon. What a trooper! She turned right around, went back to the summit with me, and we descended the normal ski hut trail.
On the paved road, we ran into GigaMike who was taking a late jaunt up the hill.
All in all, it was a crazy, wonderful, & very surprising end of season playday in the snow! Thank you, Blooty!
A few additional pics and short poorly shot videos (with the incorrect date) are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/x3 ... directlink