EISPIRATEN

left my house at 6am and was at manker by 7am.
parking lot had about 12-15 cars.lots of asians.
from the locked gate near the port a pottys
it was icy.i have no crampons and i should have
turned around after i slipped twice in the first 50 yards.

i have never used trekking poles before i i had just bought some
i pulled them out from then on it was kind of fun sliding around
at times i would not even pick up my legs just kind of slide along
there is no way i could have gone anywhere without those poles
they saved me from falling many times.

i watched some people going up the ski hut trail and i decided to try and follow them.it was way too slippery.i came back down which wasnt easy
i should have turned around but i was having such a good time,it was quiet and it smelled so fresh and clean.i will never get tired of looking
at how blue the sky looks with snow covered rock and those lil sparkles
that shine in the snow just put me in a trance.

i continued my slide up towards the notch.i seen a couple of buried trucks
along the way.with the sun as warm as it was it shouldnt be long before
they are able to get down.just before the notch where the road goes under
the ski lift it got very icy. i pretty much crawled my way till i got to
the lil water hole and crossroad section about 1/4 mile from the notch
i made my way along.on my right was a steep snow covered slope
and to my left was another steep slope going along way down
just then i slipped and fell and slid about 5 feet towards the edge
my feet went over and i tried to get grip but nothing.just ice
i was going very slowly and i couldnt stop.it felt horrible.
with my pole i managed to stop and on my stomach i had to crawl
to the sunshine where the snow was soft and i was able to stand up

going down was a lot harder than going up.
i walked slower going down
i found a nice lil spot and just kiced back
there was a lot of lil rocks coming down from above
i get hit twice with lil chips of stone...made me laugh

all in all it was a great day
winter time is a whole new game
one day soon i will have what it takes to
make it where i want to go

when i got back down to the parking lot it was madness
i had never seen so many people up there
the line of cars went all the way down to lower san antonio
ranger station.there is no way all those people were going to make it
it was funny seeing people putting on heavy winter outfits
it was warm and sunny.

Gotta get those crampons and some suitable boots! Easy peasy after that and some experience.

I'm a new hiker and don't do snowshoes or crampons.

They open up a whole new world, once you can afford it.