Hi All, having just triumphantly summitted Mt. San Jacinto yesterday by the little known "regular trail route", I feel somewhat equipped to report on conditions from the tram to the peak. They are as follows, but reliability may have been somewhat compromised by the fact that I had a violent migraine and/or mountain sickness. In my hazy blur of pain, ceaseless complaining, and intermittent dry-heaving, some details may be less than pristine. I'm pretty sure I made the peak, but I may be imagining that part....
Tram to Round Valley: hard-packed snow and ice to R.V. Quite slippery in places, naturally at all the places where it would be bad to fall, like into the creek. Use caution, and the rocks.
Round Valley to Wellman's. Hardpacked snow and ice, but if you wander off the "trail", which is easy to do, you quickly find yourself postholing into punchy foot deep snow. Lots of holes. Ankle-twisting conditions.
Wellman's to Marian's saddle. Traverse, being in the sun, is mostly quite dry. Shady part has snow--fairly well-packed, but there are many punchy, hole-y spots. Off-trail snow is mostly no more than a foot or two deep, if that. I fell in several holes, but you will mostly just get scrapes. Holes are not deep enough to be really hazardous. Parts that are packed are slippery/icy.
Marian's saddle to Mt. San Jac peak: traverse is mostly dry, with some packed snow. Jean Saddle to peak is packed snow/icy. The boulders at the peak have snow on north side; south side is easier to scramble being mostly dry.
I did not do the Tamarack route of course, but I would imagine the snow there is very punchy and not very good for snowshoeing.
Overall conditions are reminiscent of late Spring--like late April or May. But still, we were also surprised by how much snow there still was in spots.
We did not bring crampons, but kept saying we wish we had. But, we'd have been taking them off and on as there were so many dry stretches. Problem was, the icy stretches were long and nasty. Best solution would be those instep crampons you can keep on in all conditions. I felt my poles were a must coming down. I would have fallen badly without them, although certainly I saw some sure-footed people managing quite well without them. I would definitely NOT recommend doing this in running shoes, although I'm sure one could. I just personally would not feel safe. Even with my poles and heavy-tread Lowe snow boots, I fell twice yesterday, once nearly into the creek at the bad spot. (of course, that might just be me, admittedly. But I also saw other people fall.)
Conclusion: experienced mountaineers, uber-fit trailrunners like Zip and Perry, and people from Montana, will find conditions no big deal-to-barely-noticeable. All the rest of us will find it a little challenging, so be prepared with good gear--poles, good-tread boots, and gaiters for the inevitable postholing. However, this certainly isn't alpine mountaineering. You definitely won't need the ice axe.
The peak was lovely, in the ten seconds that I managed to spend up there before bolting dizzily back down. Someday I'm going to carry an oxgyen tank so I can actually spend some time there. There's a beautiful view up there---I think.
A big shout-out to Dave for loaning me his poles, to the Securities Lawyer who kept me from falling into the creek by grabbing my pack, and to Rangers Eric and Kris for giving me a ride up the ramp of doom--I was definitely on my "last legs"...Bless you all for your kind help.
Later gaters ..