South Fork to San Gorgonio 03-30-12

[James]

Got a pre dawn start with a slight but chilly breeze. There was much less snow at the parking lot than what I was hoping for after the snow last Sunday. But this winter has been so dry that it wasn't a surprise.

Even in the dark the weather warmed quickly and the trail was dirt, mud, some running water, and in places swampy. Yep, it's melting. Just some patches all the way to the Grinnell junction. Then steady but not deep snow to the Dry Lake/Dollar Lake junction.

After that it was snowshoe conditions all the way to the ridge. Beautiful blue skies. The usual chilly breeze on top wasn't too strong. The south side of the ridge doesn't have much snow on it, just some ice patches along the trail.

The summit has snow on it, which was nice. Had a sandwich, enjoyed the views.

Skiing the descent would have been a ton of fun. Soft and powdery near the ridge. The weather got warmer on the descent and glissading was just plain funny. Ten feet and sink. Push with my arms, get going, sink again. Like trying to paddle a sinking canoe. Oh to have one of those round snow saucers.

Near the bottom of the chute ran into calicokat on his way up. Hope you had a nice hike.

T-shirt and snowshoes back to the Dollar/Dry junction. Took off the snowshoes but left the gaiters on to act as splash guards and mud flaps. All in all a very fun day.

Photos: http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/WPSMB/x0%20San%20Gorgonio%2003-30-2012/?start=all

[Sally]

Hi James - Nice TR. Your glissading description was right on! Glad you got up there while the going is still good. Your pictures look a lot like mine (which I hope to post soon) and I think I saw some of Ellen's and my snowshoe tracks from Wednesday in one of your pics.

[HH8]

glissading was just plain funny.

one of your pix was right where I had some screamin good glissading last year. It's sure much drier now!

[sdtrackrunner]

Anyone else see those crown lines on Jepson? Very useful information James, thanks!!

[James]

Thanks Sally, after reading Ellen's TR from Thursday I knew those were your tracks. Was a nice day.

HH8, you're right. That chute is normally a great glissade spot. At least once you're past the rocks. This year there is an upper rock band then a distance then a second set of rocks. After that it's the normal good runout. Glissading wasn't impossible, just a little mushy.

sdtrackrunner, no problem. I had planned to do the farthest left chute but when I approached the Dollar/Dry split I started thinking about Jepson direct route. I snowshoed my way closer to get a look at Jepson. One look and I kept going toward the north chutes.