Hi there,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I'll be heading down to bishop in a few weeks to boulder and maybe hit up some sport in Owens Gorge, but I've always been interested in Mt.Tom. For such an easily accessible and prominent peak, it seems there's little information on it. Has anyone on here climbed/hiked it (I doesn't sound like there' really anything technical involved that would constitute climbing)? I'm mostly interested in Avalanche conditions and what the the approach is like in winter? I was planning on snowshoeing or AT-ing the approach and as much of the easy lower angle stuff as possible. Also I'm planning on soloing it unless I can find a partner and obviously soloing is Avalanche dependent as well.
Is the approach Avalanche prone?
How are the routes in winter?
Are the routes Avalanche prone?;I could always climb the ridge rather than a gully/chute to avoid some of the danger post approach.
Is the approach a post-holing suck fest without snowshoes or Ski's?
Are there any routes that are more fun/interesting than the others? All the info I've found is basically take this approach and then pick a chute and climb it; none are very specific or particular.
Anything else relevant to the hike/climb would be much appreciated.
-Matt

There's a page on Mt. Tom with information: http://www.summitpost.org/mount-tom/151260

Can't help you with personal experience with the other routes but the North Ridge that I attempted to dayhike in the spring of 2008 was reasonable. The North Ridge is the awesome looking ridge that you see driving on the 395. Remember quite a bit of postholing before hitting the ridge. I imagine winter slogging will suck more. Skis/Snowshoes might have helped a tiny bit. We had a group of 5 strong sloggers and a few made the summit in 9 hours. RT 17 hours. Once on the ridge most of the snow had been blown off so it was better going. Don't remember avalanche as a danger. I remember we just parked somewhere close to the regular "trailhead" around 5,000ft, started walking and aimed for the fastest way to get on the ridge.

North Ridge page: http://www.summitpost.org/north-ridge/164852

We have been getting regular small storms so far this season and there is a bit of snow up high. The North Ridge might be the safest line from an avalanche hazard standing. Laura M (Princess Buttercup/Moosetracks here on SP) has made several attempts at a one-day winter ascent on the North Ridge and each one ended in a miserable post-holing slogfest.

I climbed Mount Tom in mid February during a very dry year. We went up the Horton Lakes approach and hiked it in tee shirts and sneakers. A few years back two very experienced back country skiers were killed in an avalanche in Elderberry Canyon during a wet winter.

You do realize that Mount Tom is well over 13,000’ and the least amount of vertical gain you can hope for is around 6,000’. That could become more if the roads become impassable due to snow.

Here’s what it looked like before the last round of new snow, the North Ridge runs down and right from the summit…

There is an avalanche forecast for the area that includes Mt Tom:

http://www.esavalanche.org/

Last time I looked, there was no forecast, because there wasn't enough snow for skiing.

If enough snow falls before you are in the area, since it sounds like you have AT gear, you could look at Mt. Tom as a ski day with a possible summit bonus. There are prime ski routes on the mountain. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to ski them, but they and the ski approach are covered in published sources: Backcountry Skiing California's Eastern Sierra by Mingori and Greenberg, 50 Classic Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Summits by Richins and Backcountry Skiing California's High Sierra by Moynier.

I climbed the peak in the summer, from the Horton Lakes side, from a camp at the lowest lake. That's a long way trailhead-to-summit, but if the snow is still minimal it might be worth considering. You can get above 10,000 ft on an abandoned road which comes from the south side of the mountain and should be relatively free of snow.

Mammoth Mountaineering Supply in Mammoth Lakes and its Bishop offshoot (Gear Exchange) would be places to go for local information.

Right now it is possible to drive quite a ways towards Tom. I spent most of Sat 4WDing (and skiing out there).
I'd be interested in joining you, as I am mentally preparing to climb Tom via North Ridge this winter. Ping me

Hey all, thanks all for the quick and informative posts.
I've got a reasonably high clearance 4WD truck with good snow/off road tires so with the light snow it sounds like I'd encounter I should be able to get quite a ways up. I'll look into this back road that leads up toward 10k. I think I may have driven up it one spring years ago.

Clydascope, I hear what you're saying and realize it's almost 14k, so I may be a little optimistic in a 1 day winter up and down. Then again, if the descent is easily Ski-able (enough good snow) then that could shave off hours.

Thanks for the Avi link Fogey, I'll keep checking that when I check the Bishop weather forecasts.

Cheers,
-Matt

If the road you'd be looking into is the abandoned road mentioned in my earlier post, it's closed to vehicles at the Horton Lakes trailhead, because it enters a legally protected wilderness area. Sorry I wasn't clearer, but I was only suggesting it as a possible hiking route. (The road is a World War II vintage mining road. There are substantial mine ruins on Mt. Tom, which don't seem strictly compatible with wilderness character--though I'm certainly not complaining.)

I daytripped Mount Tom in early April 2008.
Skis definitely speed things up:
https://sites.google.com/site/kaletbrian/peaks/tom

Thanks for the clarification, it was the road you spoke of earlier. At least that should make things a little faster to skin up assuming its a half decent road.
Deb already mentioned her interest, but if anyone else feels like linking up to climb Tom I should be in Bishop from Dec 22nd until about Jan 5th.
Cheers

I'm pretty sure you can only drive up to about 7K' for approach to eastern and southern aspect (Horton Lakes). There is a big ass gate and the "road" is completely impassable anyway. Same spot we parked for approach to Basin this summer.
BTW, you won't find any avy info unless an observation is posted on the ESAC website, which really means waiting for SOMEone to go out there. I've got no problem driving up there any day to check it out since it IS my backyard.

a north ridge climb/elderberry ski combo would be a plum!

yesterday around 7:30am

I ascended Mt. Tom from the old miners cabins at Horton Lake in January 1975. The hardest part was crossing the ice over Horton lake. Our party of 4 had to spread out to avoid stressing the ice cover. At every crack of the ice I thought we were going in. The ascent to the summit in winter is entirely dependent on the snow conditions, which change day to day. So predicting conditions in advance is difficult. Curiously, we saw a snowshoe rabbit and a large porcupine near the old miners cabins. In over 40 years of hiking the Sierras that is the only time I have observed those 2 animals.