Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

Howdy All

After two failed attempts to climb the north chutes (weather and equipment issues), Sally and I headed up again yesterday hoping that the third time would be the charm. A friend had gone up Sunday and gave us excellent beta on his route and snow conditions.

Once at Southfork meadows, we took the trail to Dry Lake. From there, we went XC up to the base of one of the left chutes. After donning crampons, ice-axes and helmets, we followed our friend's track up.

As we ascended, the route became steeper and our friend's tracks were less distinct. A bit below 11 K, I took a short break and looked down.



Started climbing again. It wasn't long before I needed another break. Every time I looked directly up, I saw a snow covered ridge that didn't seem to be getting any closer In the picture below, I'm looking left at the San Gorgonio backbone.



I finally popped out on the ridge.



Sally arrived a few minutes later and we made our way over to the peak.



We enjoyed lunch and views from the summit.







We didn't feel comfortable glissading, so we hiked back down the chute. I don't think we down-climbed any faster than when we went up When we started breaking through the snow, we took off our crampons and booted it down. I enjoyed looking back at the beautiful wilderness.









Miles of smiles,
Ellen

Beautiful pictures. Sounds like you had a great hike/climb. Makes me want to venture over to the San G. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for a great day and a great TR, Ellen! Excellent pics, too! I’m still too knackered to put the experience into words. One thing I would like to add is that it is humbling to fail twice at reaching our goal, but even more humbling to achieve it, because the mountain, in its majestic beauty, was kind enough to to grant us passage to the top.

Well done. With the freeze/thaw menace of late it can be treacherous, so I'm glad you made it safely. I'm also glad to hear that you've turned around on more than one occasion and simply enjoyed the outing without necessarily reaching the summit. I've done the same many times. There have been significant injuries to some hikers lately who fell prey to the subtly dangerous conditions. Great job all around!

z

Congratulations! Personally, I find snow with rocks sticking out of it a little spooky. I've negotiated a fair amount of it in my time, but it is more comforting to see a long runout that gives you time to complete a self arrest.

Howdy Ed

I went briefly off route to take a rest break (and picture) behind the rocks. Avoided that area on the way down.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen