Practice hike - conditions?

[DUG]

On the 28th I'm taking my mostly rookie team up South Ridge to Tahquitz Peak and then hoping to summit San Jacinto as a practice for Mount Whitney. Any thoughts on where we will hit snow?

We do not have experience or equipment for snow so if the reports I get say there is still too much snow to summit I plan on starting lower on the mountain so we get our miles and gain.

We plan to head out around 0300 to get the true rookies used to there new headlamps.

Our Whitney permits are for July 2nd, but I'm not sure how far we will get with all the heavy snow still there. We might end up getting as far as safely possible and calling it a practice hike.

Thanks in advance......................................................DUG

[reelds9]

I don't have an answer to your question but I have the same question for the same reason. Me and five friends also have a day hike permit for Whitney on July 2nd and plan to hike San Jacinto as a warm-up hike. We thought about hiking next Saturday, but I'm waiting for more snow to melt. We will probably do the Marion Mountain Trail which we hiked three years ago. Until then we plan on more local hikes in the hills of San Diego. I just keep checking this message board for trip reports so I know when the trail is relatively snow-free to the summit, but with the unexpected storm today that I think is dumping snow on San Jacinto and Mt. Whitney, we may have to wait until late June for a San Jacinto and for Whitney we might be lucky to get to Trail Camp. But since 5/6 of us have peaked Mt. Whitney, it will not be a disappointment.

[DUG]

Anyone been on the short trail between Tahquitz Peak and the PCT lately? We planned on going through there on Friday but I'm hearing that section is still nasty and should be avoided.