Camping Round Valley

[hikingboots]

Hi all!

My friend and are planning on taking the tram up and camping at Round Valley this coming Saturday, Jan 19th. Does anyone know if water is running at Round Valley?

Also, we plan on going to the summit of San Jacinto the next morning. Is there enough snow to do the direct winter route up Tamarack Valley or should we stick with the Wellmans route? Microspikes only or crampons? We do have snowshoes too, but didn't know if there was enough snow for that.

Thanks for any insight on the conditions.

[greatshaitan]

I would guess any water to be frozen, but there is plenty of snow for melting.

Snow level at Tamarack Valley


There is enough snow to go up through the direct route to Tamarack valley, but not enough on the slopes of the actual peak.
On the side of SJP, Miller peak dead ahead in this picture.


I recommend heading over towards the normal trail and take the trail up as it is well marked. I recommend Snowshoes as the snow got deep in some places. This was with my 36" snowshoes.


Spikes and Crampons were not needed this Saturday 1/12/13, but in one week conditions can change dramatically so I would definitely bring the pointy things along as well.

[KathyW]

It looks like there wasn't enough snow to stop you from punching through to the void between the rocks/bushes versus the snow being very deep. The snow sure is pretty thin looking, but that's not so unusual. Every so often we get a good snow year, but it doesn't happen on a regular basis. We still have February through March that might bring some good storms, but the government is forecasting that we'll be fairly dry through the spring down here in so cal.

[Hikin_Jim]

the government is forecasting that we'll be fairly dry through the spring down here in so cal.

HJ