My Magnificent Conquest of Mt. San Jacinto, Not.

[cynthia23]

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 ..

[KathyW]

Cynthia:

Congrats on making the peak and thanks for the report for beyond Round Valley - I figured it would be mixed conditions.

Was it Miller Saddle that you went to or did you go all the way over to near Marion and then over Jean Peak before going to San Jacinto?

Kathy

[cynthia23]

Errr....you would ask me that. I just followed the main regular trail. I may be mixing up Miller and Marion, I forget which is which. After Wellman's, doesn't the trail traverse the east slope of Jean, go to the saddle between Mt. San Jac and Marion (but maybe it's Miller--it's the "front" or east peak, anyway,) then traverse back (southwestish) toward the saddle between Jean and San Jacinto? But where does Miller come into all this? I forget. Is that the one on the back of Jean?

Anyway, I'm just talking about the regular trail, not any of the offtrail routes.

Hope that helps??

[magikwalt]

Congratulations on a great accomplishment. I was giving thought to trying early on Saturday but gave up as I went through 7,000ft. My hiking partner wasn't going on and I knew my resolve would fade quickly as I hiked on alone.

I'm a sucker for the cold beer waiting at the Tram Bar.

[cynthia23]

Not sure if you're gratulating me, Magik, but I hasten to add that I only was doing tram to peak, not C2C. Now if it was C2C be sure I will loudly toot my horn. But great congrats on KathyW making it past the tram station. Psychologically, that's the hardest part ...it seems to be crying out to you as you stumble by ... come to me, Cynthia! come, drink my beer!

The Siren Song ....

[magikwalt]

Migraine, heaves and hiking alone...Still made the summit and yes its worth an Atta Girl. I spend a great deal of time hiking alone and the hardest part is not having the team cheer going when you are having a bad day. Getting past the tram station is my next big challenge. Its hard enough to find someone with the correct pace to go to the tram with much less someone who is crazy enough to walk past it.

I'm sorry your trip wasn't pleasant but happy you made your destination and returned safely.

[dataguy]

Cynthia,

Thanks very much for the detailed report of the conditions from tram to summit. I'm planning on doing this hike on Saturday 4/7 as conditioning for Whitney in June in case anyone's interested in joining me.

[cynthia23]

Hi Data, and welcome. Are you gonna do tram to peak, or the base to peak (C2C)? If the latter, I am told that Whitney is actually quite a bit easier ...

By the 7th, conditions will prob. be drier/different (though yesterday there were clouds and maybe some precipitation up there), but I'm sure we'll get more posts as time goes on ...

Good luck!

[KathyW]

Miller Saddle - I gone to that saddle a bunch of times on the way to San Jacinto but I've never made the detour over to touch the highpoint. Next trip I will.