07/01/2025
Summiting Saddleback in 12”+ of snow ❄️ 🗻
Set out with lofty goals of getting Saddleback, Basin and Haystack after hearing reports that the trail had been traveled a bit in the last week with little additional snowfall. Conditions (or maybe just my body) had other ideas.
Left the Garden lot solo around 0445 with snowshoes on (for the entire day), headlamp lit, and a light snow falling. The first 3.5m to JBL were easy and a nice, but thin, packed trail made for a quicker than anticipated 1.5 hr arrival at JBL. I had figured it would have taken longer and it would have been light by the time I arrived, but it was still fully dark. In the dark I could see what appeared to be 1 lone set of tracks heading off towards Haystack, and a bunch headed over the bridge. Reassuring.
The snow was deep from drifting, and often 12”+ drifts. There were numerous spots of either source traps or the bottom layer was collapsing, so a lot of falling through the snow.
As I climbed and the sun started to rise, I could tell the cloud coverage wasn’t quite as complete as the forecast called for, with streaks of blue in the breaks of the clouds. As I approached the summit, there were surprisingly beautiful and clear views in most directions.
The temps were cold, but not too cold. 13 at the trailhead and steadily dropped down to 0 as I climbed. The winds thankfully weren’t as bad as anticipated and were never really a problem in the wooded, leeward side of the mountain. Once at the summit the winds were strong-ish, but not that bad.
On the way down, I started crossing paths with other hikers, a total of 12 in the end, who were headed up to saddleback or Gothics, so by the time I got down to the lower trail, it was pretty well packed, but those indecisive sections of shush and ice were a crunchy mess. Final walk out from JBL was uneventful and the trail was very thin. Could definitely use more snow soon. Just hoping someone else breaks it in!
1 more January grid summit logged. 14 miles, 5.1k’ vert, 38:30/min pace.
📷✍️: Timothy J Thomas
