Lance, Karin, Steve and I took the first tram up. We met Scott from Hemet in the boarding area and invited him to join us. I had hoped to bag Miller, San J and Jean in snowshoes but was open to other adventures.
My work week had not ended well. On Thursday I developed a middle ear infection and lost half a tooth after biting down on an apple. I had a rip roaring ear ache from Thursday night on. Fortunately the broken tooth didn't hurt. By Saturday morning I felt feverish (on antibotics) and couldn't hear well. Combined with my impaired vision, it made for an interesting day.
Steve rented snowshoes while we obtained our permit. Soon we were heading up the Sid Davis route. Lance roared up the drainage while we struggled along behind him. Once in Tamarack we discussed our options. I had a wild hair and we followed tracks heading up a steep hill. It turns out these were made by Alex the week before. We wound up on the saddle between Harvard and Cornell. Lance and Karin wanted to climb Harvard, so Steve, Scott and I followed.
It's been a while since I've scrambled up rocks, as my hands reminded me. At one point we had to go over a fallen tree and had to be careful to avoid an intimate relationship with the jutting, broken branches.
We stopped just below the final block of rock.
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We had tremendous views of San Gorgonio, the desert, and Cornell.
As my balance wasn't great, I made use of the "crab manuver" going back down.
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We traversed along the south side of Cornell and had to scramble around and over rocks and through trees and brush. By the time we reached the west side of Cornell, Lance and Karin had the bug to climb Cornell. Steve, Scott and I had enough rock climbing for the day and wanted to head over to San Jacinto.
Dropping down into the saddle between Cornell and Miller peak was tiring and time consuming. I could hear Lance and Karin yelling at me from near the top of Cornell as we reached the saddle. We then had the unenviable task of climbing up the east side of Miller and traversing along the south side towards the Miller saddle. Heading up the Miller saddle seemed to take forever. I was grateful for the cool breeze and even happier to reach the top of San Jacinto. I had just enough time to drink some honey sweetened tea and ready my camera to snap Steve's first ascent of San Jacinto in the snow.
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Scott had enough fun reaching Miller saddle and headed back down. The requisite group photo at the summit.
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Karin and I put on our snowshoes for the descent while Lance and Steve kept on their microspikes. Lance, Steve and I used our microspikes for the ascent, Karin used crampons, and Scott used in-step crampons.
Steve carried his rented snowshoes the entire hike without using them. We had the ritual dinner at Las Conseulas before heading home.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen