Stubbornness wins the day.
I hiked up via the South Fork trail. There was a lot of annoying slippery ice on the trail but I didn't encounter any problems until just before Dry Lake. A that point I caught up with 2 climbers who had just donned snow shoes. This is where the first postholing started but the snowshoe track in front of me helped for the short distance to Dry Lake. The surface was firm around the side of Dry Lake but where the trail veered away from the Lake is where more difficult postholing began. After about 15 minutes of increasing futility I steered a different path onto a low ridge that was more melted out. This got me up to where I could attack the North side of Gorgonio.
Although it was still sunny the wind was gusting and I put on all 5 of the layers I brought. I opted for the most direct assault up one of the chutes. In no time I was back to major postholing. Once I started punching through up to my waist my hope of reaching the summit looked doubtful. The more I pushed on the worse it seemed to get. Hurling obscenities at the mountain didn't seem to help much. Numerous times I became stuck and there seemed no other option but retreat. My only hope was that if I could just reach the chute the snow there might be better. Trouble was it just didn't seem like I could get that far. I nearly gave up a dozen times but eventually found myself at the base of the chute. I was still doing some postholing in the chute but fortunately as I had hoped it did improve just enough. I pushed on and eventually reached bare ground above the chute. After removing my crampons (which were mostly unnecessary) I continued on to the summit. Not atypical this time of year it was quite cold and windy on top. I didn't stick around for long. I returned the way I came but managed to avoid some of the postholing. I reached the trailhead precisely 10 hours from the start. It wasn't the best day but the challenge was rewarded and I was satisfied.
Photos: http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/view ... lderID=965
