Soon Telegraph and Thunder came into view:
Eventually we climbed up some minor gully up to the ridge above Cedar Canyon:
It's nice up here!
Climbing up at this point we eventually topped out near the south peak of Telegraph
There're some pretty cool snow structures up here
We then took a long, hard look at the terrain remaining between us and the main summit of Telegraph
and after a final push, we were on top:
Unlike Baldy last week there was no significant ice or hard snow anywhere, and we were postholing pretty much the entire time. The terrain consisted of snow that was either soft or in the process of melting. The whole day was fairly warm, so the melting is going to continue. The snow and ice sitting up in the trees would fall throughout the day. In places where the snow underneath was slushy and sticky these falling bits would roll down the hill, picking up more snow, and creating cool tracks:
The SE ridge of Telegraph in particular was full of these.
It got late, and we walked the last mile or two in the dark. This was just as well, since it made us miss the madhouse that the canyon must have been during the day.
