San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek, Jan 23, 2019
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:51 am
I did San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek yesterday with a friend from SCMA, Lara Schoen.
There were some difficulties getting to the trailhead, which will be important for anyone planning to go there in the near future. Several of the off-ramps on the eastbound 10 are closed. Also, the final stretch of Valley of the Falls Drive was covered with an inch-thick layer of ice and was therefore blocked off. We searched around in the dark for legal parking in town and ended up finding a spot about a mile away from the guard shack. On a weekend, it seems like parking could be a real problem. Possibly you could park at the Momyer trailhead. We had brought along crampons but no microspikes, so we ended up booting it in and out over the ice-covered road, which was very time-consuming. The bathrooms are locked up, presumably due to the government shutdown.
We put on crampons at Halfway Camp and short-cut most of the switchbacks between there and High Creek. Microspikes would have also done the job on that stretch, but for some of the higher elevations I wouldn't have felt safe without crampons. At elevations above High Creek, the snow is higher than the bushes, so you can pick your own route the rest of the way to the summit. High Creek has good flow and is easily accessible at the usual spot about 100 yards below the trail crossing. We decided to take a line that I hadn't tried before, straight up the ridge from the water-access spot, i.e., to the right of where the trail switchbacks are. Morning snow conditions were very firm, and we were only able to drive the spikes of our axes about an inch into the snow, i.e., there was not really an effective self-belay. The snow conditions at the higher elevations were some of the most fun conditions I've seen in the area.
Once we gained the ridge, we got some views that are different than the ones you normally get if you go along the switchbacks or to their left. We got a good look at the Mill Creek Jump-off. Here is a photo of it that Lara took, which may be of interest to people thinking of climbing it.
Conditions were very mild until we got to the summit, where fierce winds were coming in from the north. We got a look down into the chute north of the summit, and there seemed to be solid snow cover. I'm planning to try that chute on Sunday. Farther north, it looks like there is almost no snow at elevations below Dollar Lake. Maybe the storm spent its force when it hit the summit ridge.
On the way back, we descended the hillside to High Creek through the area where the trail switchbacks are. There was no boot track, and the snow was still very hard late in the day.
We experienced some intermittent/random/annoying postholing as we came down the sun-exposed parts of the ridge between High Creek and Halfway Camp. It wasn't very deep, but enough to make us keep falling down unexpectedly. We tried snowshoes, but they were pretty awkward on most of the terrain, so we took them off. We tried shurtcutting the switchbacks, but this was not a great option in the softer afternoon conditions.
Conditions are supposed to be warmer over the weekend, so the ridge between Halfway Camp and High Creek will probably melt out rapidly. For us, it was a waste of effort to bring the snowshoes, but that could change if things soften up.
There were some difficulties getting to the trailhead, which will be important for anyone planning to go there in the near future. Several of the off-ramps on the eastbound 10 are closed. Also, the final stretch of Valley of the Falls Drive was covered with an inch-thick layer of ice and was therefore blocked off. We searched around in the dark for legal parking in town and ended up finding a spot about a mile away from the guard shack. On a weekend, it seems like parking could be a real problem. Possibly you could park at the Momyer trailhead. We had brought along crampons but no microspikes, so we ended up booting it in and out over the ice-covered road, which was very time-consuming. The bathrooms are locked up, presumably due to the government shutdown.
We put on crampons at Halfway Camp and short-cut most of the switchbacks between there and High Creek. Microspikes would have also done the job on that stretch, but for some of the higher elevations I wouldn't have felt safe without crampons. At elevations above High Creek, the snow is higher than the bushes, so you can pick your own route the rest of the way to the summit. High Creek has good flow and is easily accessible at the usual spot about 100 yards below the trail crossing. We decided to take a line that I hadn't tried before, straight up the ridge from the water-access spot, i.e., to the right of where the trail switchbacks are. Morning snow conditions were very firm, and we were only able to drive the spikes of our axes about an inch into the snow, i.e., there was not really an effective self-belay. The snow conditions at the higher elevations were some of the most fun conditions I've seen in the area.
Once we gained the ridge, we got some views that are different than the ones you normally get if you go along the switchbacks or to their left. We got a good look at the Mill Creek Jump-off. Here is a photo of it that Lara took, which may be of interest to people thinking of climbing it.
Conditions were very mild until we got to the summit, where fierce winds were coming in from the north. We got a look down into the chute north of the summit, and there seemed to be solid snow cover. I'm planning to try that chute on Sunday. Farther north, it looks like there is almost no snow at elevations below Dollar Lake. Maybe the storm spent its force when it hit the summit ridge.
On the way back, we descended the hillside to High Creek through the area where the trail switchbacks are. There was no boot track, and the snow was still very hard late in the day.
We experienced some intermittent/random/annoying postholing as we came down the sun-exposed parts of the ridge between High Creek and Halfway Camp. It wasn't very deep, but enough to make us keep falling down unexpectedly. We tried snowshoes, but they were pretty awkward on most of the terrain, so we took them off. We tried shurtcutting the switchbacks, but this was not a great option in the softer afternoon conditions.
Conditions are supposed to be warmer over the weekend, so the ridge between Halfway Camp and High Creek will probably melt out rapidly. For us, it was a waste of effort to bring the snowshoes, but that could change if things soften up.
