5 ms·

Uncalculated tragedy: Death on Palm Springs' Skyline Trail

5 points by nether 11y ago

trgn 11y ago
FWIW, here's my experience with the trail. In April, about a decade ago, I found myself in Palm Springs with a free day after a conference. I did some web searches and found the Skyline trail listed as a day-hike. 15 km, about 10 hours climb. Excellent!! I went out to buy a gallon of bottled water, some jerky, some sweets and fruit, to prepare. I started at 4:00 in the morning. It was a lonely hike. One other group caught up with me, and passed me. I was also passed by a lone guy, but he came back down a few hours later. By the early afternoon I had reached the snowline, a few miles from the top, a few hundred feet below the big rock. The trail, which already had been pretty vague for a while, was now buried under snow. I had no clue it would be so bad. I either had the choice of hiking down or trying to go all the way up. If I hiked down it would be dark by the time I got there, plus I would have been on my feet for almost twenty hours. Hiking up through the snow was insane, since there was no visible trail. I waited for an hour or so, unsure what to do. Two men I hadn't seen before, obviously prepared, with crampons and trekking poles, came up. They said they were going to the cable car and said I could tag along. I decided to follow them. They just scrambled up there, not even trying to find the trail. Those few hours or so in snow were the longest moments of my life. I got genuinely anxious, sinking knee deep, sliding down every once in a while. Sometimes they'd be so far ahead I would no longer see them; it scared the hell of me. When I reached the top, I saw them talking and joking at a picnic table. My sense of relief was enormously profound. I think they probably thought I was an idiot. In hindsight, I obviously was. The hike is spectacular, 10 miles straight up. As you go up, you go from desert to shrubs to alpine climate. All the while, you have a magnificent view over the valley. I've always wanted to redo it, better prepared and in fall. The older I get though, the less appetite I have it.
- trgn 11y ago
  I got the month wrong. It was mid-March, not April.

5 points by nether 11y ago

trgn 11y ago

FWIW, here's my experience with the trail. In April, about a decade ago, I found myself in Palm Springs with a free day after a conference. I did some web searches and found the Skyline trail listed as a day-hike. 15 km, about 10 hours climb. Excellent!! I went out to buy a gallon of bottled water, some jerky, some sweets and fruit, to prepare. I started at 4:00 in the morning. It was a lonely hike. One other group caught up with me, and passed me. I was also passed by a lone guy, but he came back down a few hours later. By the early afternoon I had reached the snowline, a few miles from the top, a few hundred feet below the big rock. The trail, which already had been pretty vague for a while, was now buried under snow. I had no clue it would be so bad. I either had the choice of hiking down or trying to go all the way up. If I hiked down it would be dark by the time I got there, plus I would have been on my feet for almost twenty hours. Hiking up through the snow was insane, since there was no visible trail. I waited for an hour or so, unsure what to do. Two men I hadn't seen before, obviously prepared, with crampons and trekking poles, came up. They said they were going to the cable car and said I could tag along. I decided to follow them. They just scrambled up there, not even trying to find the trail. Those few hours or so in snow were the longest moments of my life. I got genuinely anxious, sinking knee deep, sliding down every once in a while. Sometimes they'd be so far ahead I would no longer see them; it scared the hell of me. When I reached the top, I saw them talking and joking at a picnic table. My sense of relief was enormously profound. I think they probably thought I was an idiot. In hindsight, I obviously was. The hike is spectacular, 10 miles straight up. As you go up, you go from desert to shrubs to alpine climate. All the while, you have a magnificent view over the valley. I've always wanted to redo it, better prepared and in fall. The older I get though, the less appetite I have it.

trgn 11y ago
I got the month wrong. It was mid-March, not April.