looking to summit this weekend

[Cobyrne]

Hey forum,

A total amateur posting here. A friend and I are looking to make it to the summit from the tram this weekend, but neither of us have done this leg of the journey, so I had a couple of questions. I have done a summer cactus to tram.

What time should two fit young men leave the tram to return before before dark? (it is a lot easier to find this information in regards to summer hiking)

We would not mind descending in darkness given a well marked trail... Is this the case? Should we follow a well marked trail? will this necessarily be the fastest route up?

Third, cross country skis may be brought for the down hill (or possibly the up hill) Does anyone have recommendations on bringing these or not? Will they just be extra weight if I also need to bring snow shoes?

Thanks in advance! (I frequent this forum and know how frequent/thoughtful your guys' responses are)

sincerely, Colin

[Sally]

Hi Colin, I would have liked to respond to your questions, but I haven't done Tram to Summit yet this winter. I'm just curious - Did you go and what were the conditions? What equipment did you take and use?

Sorry for late responce, I hope you had fun!

[cjermain]

I figured I should join and post to this forum as sort of a payment, since I found other posts useful for planning my own hike.

Four of us (three adults and my 5YO son) hiked San Jacinto yesterday (Jan 20) from the tram. My son was carried most of the way up and down in a backpack (he's quite light for a 5YO, but heavy enough to make it a challenge!).

None of us had snowshoes. We wore mountain boots and no other footwear. I had trekking poles, one adult had an ice axe, and one adult had neither ice axe nor poles.

Rather than going directly up Long Valley we went south and then took the trail that contours the north slope of Landells peak (sorry, not sure what that trail is called). After Round Valley we then followed the normal, summer trail to the Wellman Divide and then onto the saddle between Miller Peak and Mt San Jacinto. At that point we left the trail and went due west up the ridge to the peak. There's probably a good 12-18 inches of snow cover at the top right now. We left the ranger station in Long Valley at around 9:30, and reached the top at around 2:15, at a very leisurely pace.

Going up that route, there was no ice and snowshoes were not needed. I weigh 200 pounds and with my son on my back I was perhaps 250 total, and I postholed maybe a total of half a dozen times in 7 miles. The tail was well broken in.

We left the peak to go down at 3:15 or so, and to make time we left the trail and dropped directly into Round Valley before reaching the Wellman Divide. We then went directly down Round Valley, into Long Valley, and to the tram. It took us a bit less than 2 hours to get back.

Going down that way, postholing was more of a problem through Round Valley, but since we were going down, we survived. Ice was also a bit of a problem going down Long Valley, especially late in the afternoon when everything froze up again (the problem is that since the trail through Long Valley has southern exposure and the elevation is lower, the snow is rapidly melting, leaving a lot of rocks with ice on them). Everyone fell at least once on the ice.

Hope this is helpful!

[Cobyrne]

Hey Sally an cjermain, thanks for the replies. Sally, I think my experience was pretty similar to cjarmains. We went on the same day even! Conditions were pretty awesome. It was probably 75 in PS and probably got up to 38-42 at the peak. Got very cold fast after dark. 5 mph wind at the peak, maximum. Didn't need much more than shorts, gloves, and water proof pants. We brought way too much, assuming your comfortable with post holing a few times. Took the detour trail bypassing wellmans divide and running next to cornell and millet peak were able to complete it in 5 hours seeing that it's the most direct route and having been scared by the rangers into an absurd pace due to the sun going down and our lack of night/snow gear. We wore those boot chains over normal hiking boots, and that was plenty, given proper caution around the few icy parts. The trail had been packed by a handful of snowshoers, so postholing was at a minimum. Visibility at the top was awesome. Pacific ocean was clear. Cross country skis would have been great, and snowshoes as well. Both would have allowed for more freedom in cutting across trails and exploring. I thought it was pretty comical that this guy about 50 years old with a thick Australian accent (anyone know him?), left two hours later from PS than us and passed us hiking up to the tram at about the halfway point, and was hiking it without drinking water. All I saw were his footprints on the way down from the peak, which means he completed the whole thing in about 7 hours or something. Insane. -colin