Beautiful, quick morning summit of Mount Pinos. Arrived at the Nordic Base at 8:30am; first car in the lot!
On the trail by 9am and still not a soul in sight! The snow was BEAUTIFUL! Trail was covered in snow but still easy to follow; well broken and compacted from the previous days visitors. Lots of icy spots, glad we had traction devices and poles. Made the summit easily and still no one around! Loved seeing snow covered Whitney in the distance.

Ran into a couple on our way back and enjoyed a chat. Stopped for a quick snack near the snow covered meadow and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Parking lot had started to fill up by the time we returned and sadly was covered in trash and broken sleds from previous visitors. Spent about 2 hours picking up trash and debris to haul off the mountain. We filled the back of my F-150 and still left behind so much trash. But hopefully inspired others to do the same.

I was a little nervous about this hike since it is my first snow trek in many years. But the ease of the trail and lovely conditions were just what I needed to start building more confidence in the snow!