Sunday Conditions

[Vnthali]

Looking at a summit attempt on Sunday (7 Feb). Weather looks like it will be mostly cooperative. I'll be keeping an eye on the updated forecast until we step off from home. We're planning on taking the first tram up and then snowshoing to the top. Our route plan follows the Sid Davis drainage to Tamarack Valley and then up to the saddle between Miller Peak and San Jacinto Peak. Doubt I'll get a chance to use them, but I'm bringing my crampons and axe along for good measure. Any advice from the many experienced folks on the sight will be most appreciated.

[Norris]

Unless you are really familiar with the area between the ranger station and the start of the route, and certain you can navigate by sight to the start of the particular gully that forms the start of the Sid Davis drainage (despite tracks running in every direction), a GPS loaded with a track to follow might be a good idea. There are lots of tracks on the mountain, and it is easy to fall into the trap of following someone else's path thinking it is going where you want to go. Even experienced snowshoers can fall into this trap That said, it's hard to go far wrong, worst case you end up in Round Valley instead of Tamarack, then follow someone else's track from there to what you hope is the summit, end up at Wellman's Divide, then follow someone else's track to what you hope is the summit, end up at the summit of Jean, and so forth

[Vnthali]

Thanks for the advice Norris. I'll be running a GPS with my map & compass . My main concern is the weather forecast staying about where its's at right now. I'm not interested in hiking in a white out. The temperature looks like its gonna be cold enough to keep the snow relatively firm for at least the first half of the trip.

[sdtrackrunner]

I'll probably head up on sunday as well. From what I experienced a couple days ago, the upper east face would be a good place to at least have an ice axe if not crampons. The easiest way up would be to just crampon straight up the face... that is if you aren't on skis.
There might be a couple new inches of snow from fri-sat for us too.