[Jae]

Just completed Sawmill Mountain as well as hiking in snow a couple days ago and it was surreal!

definetely want to do more of this and eventually camp out in in the snow.

other than that also trying to do overnighters anywhere.

[Jae]

I thank thee for your wise words, O All knowing Sage of the Mountain Peaks!

We finally made it to Sawmill yesterday right before the forecast said it was going to get heavy.

This was our second attempt as, you wisely admonished, the gate to the Nordic base was closed a couple weeks ago. In our first attempt, We started from the Y, car meet area. That time I made the mistake of dressing for the arctic and was too hot. We didn’t get far in our snow shoes (first time using) before turning back at the first sign of snow as posted by the winter storm advisory. still a good time tramping in the snow for the first time.

Yesterday, second attempt, the gate to the Nordic base was open. At the peak, there was high winds, spurts of heavy flurries and times with low viability.

Goggles is a must in hiking in snow precipitation. I dressed in layers, but ended up needing everything. The jet boil was hard to start for some reason. We didn’t take the snow shoes and didn’t use the microspikes. Although there were times we could’ve used both, we didn’t want to slow down.

For snow fall hiking, a good pair of gloves, compass and altimeter in case gps doesn’t work, waterproof boots and pants, good snow jacket, goggles, hot food and coffee were the things we relied on most or wish we had.

the Mt Pinos Nordic Base Website is a must and had a lot of information.

the hike was really nice and would definitely hike in light snow storm again. But I think we got our snow fix for the year.

We made it to Pinos and Sawmill but didn’t make it to Grousse.

Thank you, Wise Spirit of the Mountain.