4/26/17 A quick trip up the Ski Hut trail in memory of 79 year old Seuk Doo Kim, better known as "Sam", who tragically died on the mountain a couple weeks eariler after over 700 successful summits.
1 Nice to see water flowing in all three levels of the falls.
2 A look at the bowl with just a few patches of snow left.
3 Always a nice view down the valley.
4 The cascasdes were flowing nicely down the canyon.
5 First snow on the trail at about 7,800'.
6 Almost to the hut.
7 Made it to the hut.
8 Always an amazing view from the hut. I'm surprised how much snow there is still is on the North faces. You really can't see it from the city below.
9 Looks like a new (or renovated) outhouse near the hut.
10 Continuing onward from the hut.
11 Heading across the base of the bowl with only a few patches of snow left.
12 Nice view of the bowl.
13 One of my favorite lookout spots from the top of the bowl.
14 A few heavy patches of snow, but never enough to worry about putting on the Yaktrax.
15 It's amazing how distinct the snow difference is between the North and South faces of the peaks.
16 Almost to the summit and one last big snow patch.
17 Made it. Someone had just put down a flower memorial for Sam. I talked to her for quite a while swapping Sam stories. I'm glad I had a chance to meet him a few times and to read his numerous sign-ins on top of Iron Mountain and at my favorite secret trail near Topanga. I stayed on top for almost 45 minutes. Time to get down fast now!
18 View from the top.
19 Some new signs on top. Looks like there's still a fair amount of snow on Gorgonio and a bit on San Jacinto.
20 West Baldy and Iron Mountain below.
21 Baden-Powell.
22 360 video from the summit.
23 The falls from above on the way back down.
24 Falls again.
25 I really wanted to get down to the base of the falls since this was more water than I've seen here before.
26 From the base of the falls.
27 And a few videos since it may be a while until there's decent water flow again.