Some notes on trail and snow conditions:
*From the end of the ramp for the tram until we reached an elevation of about 9200 ft, everyone in the group used microspike style traction(something that uses an elastomer harness – ie microspikes, trail crampons, yaktrax, ICETrekkers).
*At 9200 ft, we started postholing, so we used snowshoes. Snowshoes were used all the way to Miller Peak and across to San Jacinto. For most of the ascent, the snow was perfect for mountaineering/backcountry snowshoes; hard enough that our snowshoes had something to grip to, but not so hard we were sliding around. We did find some isolated areas of powder that made the climb a bit more difficult.
*On our descent, we used snowshoes all the way back to the ranger station. Since the snow has softened significantly, the snowshoes were useful at elevations below 9200 ft. To keep using our snowshoes, we stayed north of the lower sections of the Sid Davis Route.
I've posted a few photos on my blog (full trip report and gallery coming later). You can see them here:
Trail/Snow Conditions: San Jacinto & Miller Peaks, 1/23/16
