3/2/25 Sunday– We took the Palm Springs Tramway up. Normally, I probably wouldn't post a write up about this route since it may be considered the “cheater route” by Six-Pack Purists haha but due to snowy conditions, some might be looking for recent intel on getting to the Peak, and find something in here useful.

My friend and I caught first tram up at 8am. Maybe 20 or so other hikers starting out around us attempting to reach the peak. Start is at 8'516 ft with hard pack snow pretty much right away. We put micro spikes on just past the ranger station and kept them on the entire hike until we returned. With spikes and poles the hike was good and we could move comfortably on the hard packed snow all the way up. It was a bluebird day to start, with snowstorm-type clouds rolling in when we neared the last stretch to the San Jacinto Hut. This last section is the most exposed, on an angle and takes the most concentration for careful foot placement in the snow. We ate our lunch inside the Hut for shelter, dressed in our remaining layers we had packed, left our packs in the hut and summited. Summit conditions were 15 degrees, gusts 35+mph, -8 windchill. The coldest conditions I've ever experienced and we had to be quick with exposed hands taking photos. Heading back down we passed maybe 6 hikers out of the 20+ we started around. Not a lot summited. We pushed fast to finish our return. The storm was creating a darkish sky and we knew we had to be off trail before dark. It was difficult enough trying to stay on trail in daylight with all of the false tracks made by those first to plow trail. Make sure you download your AllTrails route ahead of time and stay on trail. We made it back, had dinner at the restaurant and caught the 6pm tram down to our cars.

Notes: The hydration straws on the outside of our packs to our bladders froze solid on our descent so we finished thirsty–lesson learned. Extreme cold shortens iphone battery life and I was down to less than 14% the last stretch trying to conserve it for periodic All Trails checks to make sure we were on trail.  I packed an Anker battery and used it to get me through dinner and back to the car.