Report – 5/23 North Face

[Brian]

Stayed 5/22 at Dry Lake and made my way very late up the North Face the next morning around 9am. Fortunately the snow was very firm and I managed to hike in either snow or firm rock all the way up, intersecting some sort of trail at one point. No crampons or ice axe required although I did have it with me. Made it up around 1:20pm. Glissaded down the chute next to the North Face around 2:30pm and was down to around 9700′ by 2:45pm where the snow burned out. The soft snow later in the day made it very easy to control your speed on the way down but I’m also experienced. Seems like a great place to practice heading up the main chute in Whitney. Made it back to camp around 410pm.

I ran into some skiers who were on their way up as I was on my way down. I took some pictures of them and one of them took a video of me (named Leaa). If you read this please reach out so we can exchange pictures/video!

[chris in redlands]

North face of what?

[Hikin Jim]

I imagine San Gorgonio Mountain, although that isn’t particularly specific — it’s a big mountain.  I suppose that the N. face of San Gorgonio would extend from Mineshaft Saddle on the east and Big Draw (the major glacial track descending from the saddle between Jepson Peak and San Gorgonio Mountain) on the west.

The north east ridge of Gorgonio that ascends from Mineshaft Saddle is a popular “winter” ascent route.

HJ

[Hikin Jim]

If I were to diagram out the “faces” of San Gorgonio, it might look something like this:  https://caltopo.com/m/JR5E.

HJ

[chris in redlands]

I dunno… If I was gonna draw the faces of San Gorgonio, it’d probably look more like this.

The faces of San Gorgonio

[Hikin Jim]

I just can’t face it.  🙂

HJ

[Ranger Lon]

Chris, I don’t know what I was expecting, but that cracked me up!

[Brian]

Sorry, my route up was very close to the North Face of San Gorgonio route here: https://caltopo.com/m/0P77

[Author]

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