The rain was coming down in buckets on the way to the museum from San Diego. Even as we came through Gorgonio Pass, a steady rain was tapping against the windshield. As we pulled into the museum parking lot and met up with Greg, the rain decreased into a few sprinkles. The temperature was not bad, indicated as 48F on the car thermometer. We started hiking around 2:15am. After 15 minutes on the trail, it was getting too hot and I had to delayer. Sung was not used to carrying so much weight which slowed her down. Greg and I volunteered to carry her stuff, but she wanted to do this entirely on her own.
The city lights were reflecting off the clouds, which looked like they were flowing off the tops of the mountains like a waterfall. The clouds were steadily making their way over the mountains in small bursts. They got continually more dense as we made our way up the mountain. A few drops of rain fell here and there, but nothing strong enough to get us drenched. As we got to the 4,000ft mark, a dense cloud moved in and engulfed us. I was very careful to make sure we were still on the trail, as we couldn't use landmarks to navigate.
At 4,500 ft the isolated sprinkles had turned into a steady drizzle, which was growing heavier. The drizzle turned into sleet at 4,900ft and finally snow at 5,000ft. The ground at 5,000ft was covered with a very thin film of snow. The trail was still clearly visible. Flat rock had a light dusting.
flat rock

The amount of snow on the ground really started to increase above flat rock. There were about 2-3 inches on the ground at the 7,000ft mark. Snow was falling heavily. Routefinding was not an issue, as the indent of the trail was clearly visible under the snow and I used certain rocks and trees I remembered from previous climbs as landmarks. There was also a faint indent of footprints in the snow, indicating that someone had been on Skyline the previous day. The footprints were quickly being obscured by the accumulation of falling snow. Sung started growing tired. She was sure she could make it but was not sure she could make it to the tram in time (we were planned to meet up with the rest of the group at the tram at 8:30am). We slowed our pace saying that we'll get there when we get there, and we'll catch up with the group if we're late. Snow on the ground was 5 inches at 7,400ft. Greg and I took turns breaking trail.
7,000ft

momentary clearing




There was 6-7 inches of snow on the traverse, with isolated drifts of 10 inches. Snow was still falling heavily and the clouds were growing thicker. I was very surprised that wind was only 15mph at most. I had tied snowshoes on my pack in the way that the ends were sticking out horizontally. Every time I went between a narrow area of brush, the snowshoes would snap the branches forward and I would get a face full of snow.
starting on the traverse






coffmans crag

The switchbacks above Coffmans crag had ~7 inches of snow with isolated pockets of 11 inches


As we got closer to the entrance into Long Valley, we saw the sky clearing up ahead. When we got to Long Valley, it had completely cleared. I looked back down Skyline and was astonished to see that it was still cloudy and snowing heavily 50ft below us. It looked like the weather was staying below 8,000ft the whole time, and it hadn't snowed above 8,000ft since the previous day. As we were walking over to the tram, the snow on the ground was only half as much as the snow on Skyline.
entrance to Long Valley

lots of hoar frost on the higher peaks

We got to the ranger station at 9:25am and left at 9:45am after getting water and permits. We headed off towards the Sid Davis trail. The snowshoe group was supposedly 1hr15min ahead of us. After a quarter mile on the Sid Davis trail, I split up with the group in order to go ahead and tell the snowshoe group that we had made it up Skyline and were headed up to San J. Greg stayed with Sung.
The Sid Davis trail was pretty easygoing. The snowshoe group had left an obvious indent in the snow.
just after Tamarack Valley

I met up with Serena and Eric about half a mile after Tamarack Valley. They said that the rest of the group was about 30 minutes ahead and headed up Jean Peak.
base of Jean Peak


climbing up




view of the clouds we climbed out of- probably still snowing down there

Pretty soon I heard voices from above. I looked up and saw the group of ~15 people. I met up with them at the saddle between Jean and San Jacinto as they were putting on their snowshoes. It turned out that they had taken off their snowshoes at the base of Jean and post holed all the way up. After 15 minutes we turned left towards Jean. It suddenly grew very cold as the wind picked up. The wind chill factor was probably around 5F. Everyone was getting hit by little pellets of snow that blew off the trees.



The views from Jean Peak were amazing. The sun glittered on the trees that were blasted with hoar frost. The valleys surrounding the mountains were filled with clouds at the ~7,000ft level.





We stayed about 20 minutes on the summit and then headed off towards San Jacinto. The views on the ridge were some of the best I had ever seen in those mountains. As we were coming back down Jean, we ran into Greg and Sung. Greg decided to quickly tag Jean and catch up to us at San Jacinto. San Jacinto Peak was very cold. The wind chill factor was in the negatives. Everyone wanted to just touch the summit and get off the mountain quick. Heres how the summit experience went:
Mihai: "Ok lets take the summit shot. Lets see- camera on the tripod, tripod on the pole. Nope. The pole is not staying. Lets put the pole in this crack and put the camera back on it and see if the pole stays upright. Hang on, this will take a few moments. Nope. The pole still keeps falling over. Alright, screw the pole. Lets put the camera on a rock and get the picture that way. Nope. The rock is coated with ice. The camera keeps slipping off. Lets try--- "
Everyone else: "HURRY UP MIHAI. I WANT TO GET OFF THIS MOUNTAIN. ITS TOO F***** COLD!!!!"
San Gorgonio

just below San J

top of San J






We descended San J and went into the hut to get away from the cold. I hesitated at first because I didnt want to take off my snowshoes and put them back on a few moments later, but eventually I gave in as I saw how warm the inside of the hut was. We descended partway down Ellen's shortcut to Miller saddle before cutting over to the main trail and cutting down the switchbacks on our snowshoes.
