My intrepid hiking buddy Lance and his friend Val summited San Jacinto on Christmas day
Here's Lance's trip report:
Getting to Palm Springs was interesting enough. It was the windiest he had ever seen it -- an almost complete whiteout with blowing sand on 111. It created an odd aberration with Val's truck -- the warning lights came on and remained on. Lance surmised that the static electricity that was generated with the blowing sand shorted something out temporarily. It was OK when they came back after the hike.
The hike was cold, mid 20's most of the time. The trail was extremely slippery. He brought crampons but did not use them. Not too long after Round Valley they took a right turn, following some well established footprints towards the peak. At a certain point the footprints stopped because the going was too hard.
They soldiered on with the grade getting steeper by the minute. At times they were mired up to their waists in snow or manzanita entanglements going up steep (40 degree) slopes. (Note -- both men are over 6 feet tall). Lance's poles disappeared up to his hand grips.
It was extremely hard going for about three-quarters of an hour. They expended an extreme amount of energy to get back to the trail, which was barely visible. Once back on the trail, they got to the top without any further real drama.
The wind was too cold to stay at the top. After taking pictures, they went back to the cabin and ate lunch in the relatively toasty 25F temperature.
In spite of the severe circumstances, it was a picture-perfect white Christmas on the mountain -- as clear as a bell with brilliant sunshine.
Amazingly, their round trip time from start to end was only 4 hours and 50 minutes including lunch and other stops.
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Miles of smiles,
Ellen
