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Spring Conditions for San Gorgonio

PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 2:29 am
by RickF
I'm headed up the South Fork-Dry Lake drainage to San G this coming Saturday (4-10). I'll be with a friend on skis and there will be another group of friends hiking, with crampons, ice axes, etc. Any information on current conditions especially snow coverage since last weekend or even this weeks little storm would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Spring Conditions for San Gorgonio

PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:49 am
by HeyItsBen
RickF wrote:I'm headed up the South Fork-Dry Lake drainage to San G this coming Saturday (4-10). I'll be with a friend on skis and there will be another group of friends hiking, with crampons, ice axes, etc. Any information on current conditions especially snow coverage since last weekend or even this weeks little storm would be greatly appreciated.


I was up there last Sat/Sun, coverage was spoty from the TH to the "hut" or whatever it is just before the wilderness boundary about 1.5 - 2 mi in, solid after that. Snow was soft but no snowshoes necesary. Used crampons in the early am going up on Sun, booted it in the soft snow on the way down.

Check out the avy debris about 2 miles in, wow! :shock:

PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:23 pm
by KathyW
Yup, there was a pretty good slide earlier this year between Poopout Hill and South Fork Meadow.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:17 am
by RickF
Benjamin, Kathy,

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to check out the aftermath of the avalanche.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:32 am
by RickF
Mini Trip Report for San Gorgonio Summit Attempt April 7, 2010

Our group consisted of six all together, four skiers; Bob, Joe, Phil, myself and two booters; Ty and Terry. We all had ice axes, crampons and our usual arsenal of essential gear. Our starting point was the South Fork Trailhead by Jenks Lake. Phil and I started up the trail right at 6:00 am. The rest of our group wasn't far behind.

At the trailhead, with skis on, full camelbacks, nalgenes and lunches, our packs were over 50 pounds. It was Joe's first time on backcountry gear, well, he had A/T skis and skins but his special order size 32.5 Scarpa boots didn’t arrive yet so he took standard downhill/resort boots. His “walk-mode” was improvised by leaving the buckles un-done. The lower section started out with only patches of snow and got progressively more covered. We were able to wear our trail runners for about the first 3 miles which was about 75% covered with snow. We passed through a massive avalanche debris path. The area we could see was over a half mile in length. Another hiker later told us the total length was 3.5 miles long. A lot of trees were sheared off and the trunks of what trees remained were pruned clean of all their needles. The area we crossed smelled like a Christmas tree lot from all of the mulched up fir trees. From just past the avalanche field we stopped and switched to skins, getting about 15 pounds of gear off of our backs. Ty and Terry passed us while we were changing boots and putting skins on. Phil and I caught up with them at the upper end of the meadow in the area between fork of the Dry Lake and Dollar Lake trails. Bob & Joe’s route followed along the creek, to Dry Lake and then up to near Mine Shaft Saddle. Phil,Ty, Terry and I stayed a little west of Dry Lake and went about half way up the chute between Jepson and Gorgonio.

At 1:15 in the afternoon Ty, Terry, Phil and I huddled to consider our options. We acknowledged that it was still early enough and that we had the energy left to make it up the chute to Dry Lake View and then walk the easy mile to the summit of San G. Thinking it through, we realized that if we kept going up, we could descend the chute before dark but we would be hiking the rest of the way out with our headlamps on and our asses kicked. Looking down, we were lured by terrain offering good skiing and glissading. So, we decided that Gorgonio will be covered with snow some day again in the future and now we know a lot more about how to get there. We agreed to begin our descent.

WooHoo! There was some excellent spring snow for skiing. At first Phil and I each made few turns, waiting for each other so we could get a few action pictures. Then we skied through a section of natural half-pipe, a really nice steep section off of a ridge and through some trees and then into an open sloping meadow, just right for some high-speed GS turns. What a run! We descended about 2,000 feet and covered 3 miles in about 20 minutes. We intersected the boot-tracked South Fork Trail and checked-in with our friends over the radios. We intercepted Bob & Joe near the fork to the Grinnell Ridge Trail. Ty & Terry caught up with us when we stopped to take our skis off back at the avalanche path.

We all made it back to the South Fork Trailhead between 5:30 and 6:00 pm. Ty’s GPS charted our total distance at 13.5 miles. Another phenomenal day in the mountains.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:11 am
by hamik
I know the half-pipe you're talking about! That thing was AWESOME!

Do you have a picture of the avy debris and the path?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:17 am
by RickF
Hamik,

I have some good pictures from our trip and the avalanche path but I don't post images too often so I'm struggling with the syntax. I'll keep trying.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:07 am
by KathyW
That avalanche happened sometime before February 15th this year.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:09 am
by RickF
Hamik,

I think I've tried every possible combination to get my pictures to display in the post. I added them to the San G. page but I can't get them to display here. The image id's are 613007 & 613214
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:10 am
by RickF
Taco,

Thanks for the help! I didn't know about the server name/reference change. I got it to work and I changed the size to medium so they fit the screen. Scroll back up to see pictures in reduced size.