Quick Stats: 4.5 Miles & 1,094′ gain via South Fork Trail.
Right now is not a good time to be a mountaineer in California. While the rest of the contiguous US- is getting pummeled by temps fitting for the Himalaya, we’re the little warm patch in the corner getting rain in the High Sierra as high as 9,000′. The avalanche risk is through the roof, so Frankie and I are feeling a little grounded at the moment. Couple that with poor conditions in our local ranges and wet weather, we were on the hunt for some adventures we could do that would span a few days.
I’ve had the goal of doing a (relatively) low commitment overnight mountaineering trip in the middle of a snowstorm for a year now, and with a storm rolling in it seemed like it might finally be a chance to do it. The question was where; but after some beta from someone that snowshoed from the trailhead to Dry Lake, we decided it was time for a winter ascent of San Gorgonio. We had a week to watch the weather, and planned to head out on Friday afternoon.
During that week we had unseasonably warm weather that seemed to change on the daily– at some points they were reporting a low snowline and cold temps; the next day they would revise that. In addition to the daily forecast and weather, we were also watching the forecast put out by the National Weather Service (NWS), which was calling for snowstorms as low as 7,000′ (we would be camped at around 9,000′) during the week with a clearing on Friday before the next storm would arrive early Saturday morning. Our goal was to backpack in Friday afternoon, set camp, sleep, and get an alpine start so that we would be summiting or descending by the time the bulk of the storm hit (which was forecast for around 10 AM Saturday); we would then backpack out of there Saturday. Short. Sweet. Fun.
We set out with our winter kits including snowshoes, but they weren’t strapped to our packs because we expected to snowshoe from the trailhead.
Our expectations were way off. Apparently the warm temps melted out basically all of the snow, and the snowstorm that was supposed to be there during the week either didn’t lead to any snow accumulation. . . or it was rain. The temps that we expected to be in the high 30s at the trailhead was actually in the high 40s. . .
And here we were expecting winter. As Frankie put it, we were “dressed for prom and ended up at a house party.” We went for it anyway based on the forecast, and even brought our snowshoes because deep snow at Dry Lake might still be present, and we would want them if it was.
It was a hot, muddy, slightly icy mess on the trail, and it wasn’t long before it was unbareably hot and we got the opportunity to rock a style seldom seen: 6000m boots with baselayer bottoms, bras, and nothing else.
It really was that hot out.
Continuing on the melted trail and slogging through mud, we decided to take a look at conditions when we got to Poopout Hill; this would give us an idea of whether we should continue onward or not. There comes a point on the trail when there’s a pretty useless sign denoting the “summit” of Poopout Hill is 0.1 miles away, and it was here we decided we were done. Looking toward San Gorgonio the North Face is covered in snow (of questionable quality), but everything else is pretty melted out. We popped up to the top of Poopout Hill to have a snack and discuss.
Surprisingly I had cell service and decided to look up the forecast, and everything had changed since we checked in the morning: The temps were higher, wind speeds lower, and the storm that was going to roll in overnight wasn’t due until late in the day Saturday (with lower overall intensity). Ultimately there’s not enough snow for what we had planned for, we’d likely be camping in the mud, and on top of all of that the chances of good snow quality on the snow climb were very unlikely which would be less than fun at best; and dangerous at worst. We decided this was a training hike and made our way out from there.
As we trekked out the trail was even more melted out– less snow and ice on the trail, and the mud we encountered was even swampier than before. It made for an interesting adventure though.