Rode the lift up, took the road over to the 3 T's trail and headed toward the saddle below Telegraph. Along the way I talked to a guy coming from there and he said it was very icy, even with microspikes he slipped a couple times. So we watched a couple of guys trying to go up and then they turned around, one of them fell once. That slope is actually pretty steep if you fall on the ice parts. So I didn't get any further than the saddle, and a pretty cold wind was blowing there. We hung out at the bench on top of Thunder for a while, marveling at how clear the view of Catalina appeared. In fact, it was clear enough to see both San Clemente and San Nicolas islands. Finally we made our way gingerly back down the road and had a nice feast at The Notch. For the record, I had the South Bowl burger and a Pomona Queen.
Pics below:
Almost there. Not too windy in this canyon but that changed later.
Disappointing winter. I'm not a skier but it looked technically possible to descend from Thunder only on the white stuff. Fun quotient would probably be low.
Most of this guy's face fell off by the time we walked back down a couple hours later.
Trail heading up to Telegraph. No traction devices so it was the end of our hike.
Snow travel on the way down.
Riding the lift back down. It was getting cloudy and cooler on the mountain but the Santa Ana winds kept the coastline clear.