Day 58: This was the day I "skied my age" and I felt every bit of it and more. Even Patrick rarely has a ski day this masochistic.
I skied the alpine peaks in the San Gorgonio Wilderness from the Poopout Hill trailhead from 1980-1983.
In 1985 that trailhead was closed, and entry from the north side has been pushed 3 miles farther back and thus out of my daytrip capability. The highest trailhead is now at Fish Creek Meadows at 8,000 feet at the right on the map above. Richard and I climbed San Gorgonio in July 1999 from that trailhead, but this was my first attempt from Fish Creek with skis. It's less than 2 hours from home to the turnoff from Hwy 38, but the Fish Creek road is unpaved and fairly rough, taking half an hour to drive the 7 miles to the trailhead. I started hiking at 7:30AM
The trail follows the south side of Fish Creek for over an hour to about 8,500 feet. It then climbs 2 long switchbacks on the southeast side of Grinell Mtn. On the first switchback I have my first view of snow on Ten Thousand Foot Ridge on the other side of Fish Creek.
As I will explain I ended up skiing the line which is in the left of the first picture above and center right of the second picture.
The second switchback curled onto the NE side of Grinell Mtn. and became lost in the snow at 9,400 feet. It was now about 10:15AM.
To my chagrin I later saw from the other side of Fish Creek that I should have hiked up the east side of Grinell a bit and caught the switchback above me (barely visible crossing center of picture).
As it was I slogged up a rocky ridge and ended up 3/4 of the way up Grinell at 10,150 feet. Here I had the first good view of the San Gorgonio alpine topping out at 11,500 feet.
Here's a zoomed view of Jepson Peak west of San Gorgonio at 11,200 feet.
I skied the bowl this side of the spine below Jepson in 1980 and the steeper bowl on the far side of the spine in the deep El Nino snowpack of 1983. In the lean 1981 season I skied the mellower slope coming in from San Gorgonio at far left. In 1982 I skied from Charlton Peak, the rounded treed peak at far right.
East face and Cirque of San Gorgonio
From the far side of Jepson through the aspects above there are numerous enticing skiable lines. Unfortunately they are accessible only to the superfit icelantics and salidas of the ski world now.
I descended to Fish Creek Saddle at 9,800 feet. There are signs but good luck finding a trail now.
It was now past noon and I was already wearing out from the previous 2 hours of scrambling and bushwacking. I knew there was no chance to reach the San Gorgonio alpine and get out in a reasonable hour. So I started up the snow covered north slope of Lake Peak.
This 300 foot climb is the only place I would have benefited from having skins. As it was, I switched from hiking to AT boots and gained better traction and ankle support.
Now up at 10,100 feet there's a view south to San Jacinto, which is 10,800 feet and has the most impressive mountaintop view in SoCal.
I took my skis up the Palm Springs tram in 1998 and got into another situation of losing the trail. Since I did not summit San Jacinto until 5PM I did not have time to ski its north side, then hike back out to the tram terminal on its east side.
My adventure today was far from over. The terrain on Ten Thousand Foot Ridge was mostly rocks and vegetation and very slow going with a pack and having started my day at sea level before 5AM.
My ski objective is the sliver of snow on the peak in the background, still an hour+ away at my modest pace.
I finally arrived there about 3PM.
The AT boots were functionally very good for hiking, but the liner hasn't been customized yet. Therefore my larger right foot was feeling the pain after 3 hours, especially after I locked it down into ski mode. I'm on the unnamed peak at 10,067 directly east of Lake Peak on the topo map. Here's the view back along the ridge I hiked at right, with the so-close-yet-so-far San Gorgonio east side at left.
Finally a view down where I'm going to ski.
Aside from surviving the ordeal unscathed, the one aspect I got right today was the weather, perfectly clear and about 30 degrees when I arrived at the trailhead. So the snow was supportable but with a soft layer on top, even at the late hour I was skiing. It was still survival skiing due to the irregular surface, suncupping and some debris to avoid lower down. I'm sure those alpine bowls 1,500 feet higher have good snow but good luck getting up there, especially in time for optimal late morning corn.
Partway down at 9,600 feet, my tracks above and trees below.
From 9,200 it's a narrow chute the rest of the way down.
Lower down there are more surface irregularities.
View from the bottom at 4PM, after changing back into hiking boots.
Total skiing was 1,270 vertical. It may have been survival but it was far preferable to the alternative of hiking down through that rough terrain.
Zoomed topo of my ski routes from the 1980's as well as today.
I got back to the car at 5:30PM. I used admin's pack again, as I had in Highlands Bowl. It's great for skiing, skinning and for a couple hours bootpacking. But for 9 hours on a trail with weight of boots and skis you need a framed pack. My shoulders were very sore on the hike out.
Chalk this one up to experience. San Gorgonio has great ski potential but you need to be an ironman or camp in there for a few days, probably both. Maybe Staley wants to give it a try sometime.
I skied the alpine peaks in the San Gorgonio Wilderness from the Poopout Hill trailhead from 1980-1983.
In 1985 that trailhead was closed, and entry from the north side has been pushed 3 miles farther back and thus out of my daytrip capability. The highest trailhead is now at Fish Creek Meadows at 8,000 feet at the right on the map above. Richard and I climbed San Gorgonio in July 1999 from that trailhead, but this was my first attempt from Fish Creek with skis. It's less than 2 hours from home to the turnoff from Hwy 38, but the Fish Creek road is unpaved and fairly rough, taking half an hour to drive the 7 miles to the trailhead. I started hiking at 7:30AM
The trail follows the south side of Fish Creek for over an hour to about 8,500 feet. It then climbs 2 long switchbacks on the southeast side of Grinell Mtn. On the first switchback I have my first view of snow on Ten Thousand Foot Ridge on the other side of Fish Creek.
As I will explain I ended up skiing the line which is in the left of the first picture above and center right of the second picture.
The second switchback curled onto the NE side of Grinell Mtn. and became lost in the snow at 9,400 feet. It was now about 10:15AM.
To my chagrin I later saw from the other side of Fish Creek that I should have hiked up the east side of Grinell a bit and caught the switchback above me (barely visible crossing center of picture).
As it was I slogged up a rocky ridge and ended up 3/4 of the way up Grinell at 10,150 feet. Here I had the first good view of the San Gorgonio alpine topping out at 11,500 feet.
Here's a zoomed view of Jepson Peak west of San Gorgonio at 11,200 feet.
I skied the bowl this side of the spine below Jepson in 1980 and the steeper bowl on the far side of the spine in the deep El Nino snowpack of 1983. In the lean 1981 season I skied the mellower slope coming in from San Gorgonio at far left. In 1982 I skied from Charlton Peak, the rounded treed peak at far right.
East face and Cirque of San Gorgonio
From the far side of Jepson through the aspects above there are numerous enticing skiable lines. Unfortunately they are accessible only to the superfit icelantics and salidas of the ski world now.
I descended to Fish Creek Saddle at 9,800 feet. There are signs but good luck finding a trail now.
It was now past noon and I was already wearing out from the previous 2 hours of scrambling and bushwacking. I knew there was no chance to reach the San Gorgonio alpine and get out in a reasonable hour. So I started up the snow covered north slope of Lake Peak.
This 300 foot climb is the only place I would have benefited from having skins. As it was, I switched from hiking to AT boots and gained better traction and ankle support.
Now up at 10,100 feet there's a view south to San Jacinto, which is 10,800 feet and has the most impressive mountaintop view in SoCal.
I took my skis up the Palm Springs tram in 1998 and got into another situation of losing the trail. Since I did not summit San Jacinto until 5PM I did not have time to ski its north side, then hike back out to the tram terminal on its east side.
My adventure today was far from over. The terrain on Ten Thousand Foot Ridge was mostly rocks and vegetation and very slow going with a pack and having started my day at sea level before 5AM.
My ski objective is the sliver of snow on the peak in the background, still an hour+ away at my modest pace.
I finally arrived there about 3PM.
The AT boots were functionally very good for hiking, but the liner hasn't been customized yet. Therefore my larger right foot was feeling the pain after 3 hours, especially after I locked it down into ski mode. I'm on the unnamed peak at 10,067 directly east of Lake Peak on the topo map. Here's the view back along the ridge I hiked at right, with the so-close-yet-so-far San Gorgonio east side at left.
Finally a view down where I'm going to ski.
Aside from surviving the ordeal unscathed, the one aspect I got right today was the weather, perfectly clear and about 30 degrees when I arrived at the trailhead. So the snow was supportable but with a soft layer on top, even at the late hour I was skiing. It was still survival skiing due to the irregular surface, suncupping and some debris to avoid lower down. I'm sure those alpine bowls 1,500 feet higher have good snow but good luck getting up there, especially in time for optimal late morning corn.
Partway down at 9,600 feet, my tracks above and trees below.
From 9,200 it's a narrow chute the rest of the way down.
Lower down there are more surface irregularities.
View from the bottom at 4PM, after changing back into hiking boots.
Total skiing was 1,270 vertical. It may have been survival but it was far preferable to the alternative of hiking down through that rough terrain.
Zoomed topo of my ski routes from the 1980's as well as today.
I got back to the car at 5:30PM. I used admin's pack again, as I had in Highlands Bowl. It's great for skiing, skinning and for a couple hours bootpacking. But for 9 hours on a trail with weight of boots and skis you need a framed pack. My shoulders were very sore on the hike out.
Chalk this one up to experience. San Gorgonio has great ski potential but you need to be an ironman or camp in there for a few days, probably both. Maybe Staley wants to give it a try sometime.
Last edited:
