We originally planned to go up and do a bit of X-country ski, the website said the adventure center that rents the equipment was open but upon arrival at the tram station it was closed.
We decided to make a bid for the summit in the snow instead. We got to Wellman Junction/divide around 2:00 and decided to break for lunch. We found a spot that had the least wind to settle down for a nice hot lunch.
We brought some thermos with hot coffee and hot veggie and chicken soup my g/f made the night before. They were still piping hot almost 6 hours later. Thank god for double walled thermos.
We realized we wouldn't be able to summit and make it back to the tram before dark so we made Wellman our turnaround point.
The snow didn't soften up until very late in the day so it wouldn't of made for good conditions to x-country ski anyways. It did however make it great conditions to use our microspikes, which we used the entire trip. No post holing even in the afternoon slush closer to long valley.
This was our first time using the micro spikes for an entire hike, and I grew more confident in them as we progressed through the day. They do a remarkable job at keeping you stable in hard packed snow and on ice. Two thumbs up from both of us.
As for gear/layers, we had quite a bit on due to the upper teen's wind chill temps. I had a boot liner under knee high smartwool socks, with midweight smartwool bottoms, with my colombia hiking pants over, and my marmot precip pants on the outside. Top layer for the hike up was a midweight smartwool top, with my marmot oracle jacket on the outside, and alternating between a beanie and bandana on my head as the heat turned up. I had my tnf e-tip gloves under the marmot precip gloves, so I could operate my iphone and not expose my entire hand to the elements.
On the way back down the mountain, we pulled out our montbell ul down parkas, and smartwool balaclavas, for extra insulation which worked great. My g/f had almost identical layers, except for an extra micro weight smartwool top under her midweight smartwool top.
This was also our coldest snow hike we've done and I'm happy that our layering worked out so well.
Pics can be found here:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1006651
Aerial Tram station to Wellman Divide - San Jacinto 03-19-11
Yep and its cheap 21 bucks for the day for x-country ski and 18 a day for snow shoes.
http://www.pstramway.com/cross-country-skiing.html
)Pre-grats?
Sure, sounds like a plan. I do have to attend warrior dash on sunday april 3rd, but thats about it for up coming plans.