As I neared the Ski Hut, I was finally out of the clouds and could see the bowl and surrounding ridges. I met Greg and Matt from Long Beach near the ridge where they were taking a break after snowshoeing up from the hut. I also saw 2 other guys across the canyon descending the Bear Canyon trail.
As I continued higher the rime became thicker and thicker. There wasn't really a lot of snow, maybe 6" or so, but the ice was covering everything. There was a good layer of ice under most of the snow and most of the rocks were covered in ice as well.
A few hundred feet from the summit I met a guy named Bow or Bou??? from Santa Monica. He had came up from Bear Canyon and was descending the ski hut trail. The wind on the summit wasn't too bad, but it was very cold. It was nice and clear up high, but there were clouds at about 8000' that blocked most of the views except for the higher peaks in the area.
After a few minutes on top I started heading down. I caught up to Greg, Matt and Bow a mile or so before the fire road and we all descended through the clouds together, reaching the trail head about 20 minutes after dark. I gave the guy that started in Bear Canyon a lift back to his car then headed for home.
I uploaded more pictures to my Picasa page.
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