Skiing in Orange County

I moved to Orange County in 1997 from Minnesota. I never imagined Southern California would get any snow. That first winter I noticed Mt. Baldy and the other local mountains covered in snow and quickly found my way to the backcountry of the Mt. Baldy bowl and became a host at the San Antonio Ski Hut. A few years went by and there was an El Nino storm. That year I noticed snow on top of what I called "Saddleback". I immediately got an idea in my head that I wanted to ski natural snow in Orange County.

This idea proved more difficult to achieve than I thought. The mountain looks so close, like it is right in your backyard. It's also not very tall, only 5500 feet or so. Small in comparison to so many other mountains I have climbed in my lifetime. Accessibility quickly became a roadblock. I began exploring the area on my mountain bike and on foot over the course of many years. There are no quick paths to the summit, it is an all day round trip event. Add the facts the shortest routes become nearly inaccessible for days after a storm and the snow melts almost as quick as the sun comes up - the timing must be perfect to ski Santiago.
For several years I plotted my path to the top taking into account what the weather would be at the time. I went up Holy Jim, definitely the quickest way to the snow. The gotcha is the fact the trial head can't really be reached in my 2 wheel drive car during or soon after a storm. The road is flooded and muddy with several stream crossings. This trail would be at the top of my list but most likely a no-go. A few people with 4x4s offered rides which I kept in my back pocket. I didn't want to get into a risky situation going to or from the trailhead due to flooding.

Working backward toward Live Oak Canyon my next option was an old mining/fire road near the model aircraft field. I believe this road is often referred to as "Cadillac". I would take this road to Santiago Truck Trail, up to Old Camp, and then get on the Joplin trail to the saddle. I had a better chance of reaching this road than Holy Jim but I still had to get down Trabuco Canyon in or after a storm. Because this fire road was less traveled it was in bad shape and I also wasn't very sure it would be easy to ascend when muddy.

My next choice seemed more plausible and after talking with some friends who grew up in the canyon they agreed it would be accessible in any weather and there shouldn't be any hazards like flooding, mud slides, or stream crossings. This route started at the bottom or Rose Canyon, went up the paved road, connected to Lower Joplin, up to Santiago Truck Trail to Old Camp, and then on the Upper Joplin trail to the summit. An additional advantage of this route was the fact I could likely ride my bike all the way to old camp.

My final option was to take Santiago Truck Trail all the way from Modjeska Grade to Old Camp and hop on the Upper Joplin Trail to the summit. This route would be much longer but also had the advantage of being able to ride my bike for most or all of it. Santiago Truck Trail is very well traveled and posed no major hazards related to a storm.

I had also considered routes from the Corona side but never explored any of them.

At the same time I was trying to find a route I was trying to figure out when to depart from my house and what to bring. I figured I would have the best chance of hitting the snow right at day break after a storm ended that night. I would most likely have to leave during the storm in the middle of the night. I also wasn't sure what the weather would be like. How cold would it get? How windy? Would I need to bring a shelter of some sort? Fortunately I also began tracking the weather around this same time. I began to find helpful sites like the NOAA weather forecasting site, a direct link to the radar on the mountain (http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?zoommode=zoom&num=1&delay=15&scale=0.250&noclutter=0&ID=SOX&type=N0R&lat=0&lon=0&label=you&showstorms=0&map.x=431&map.y=266&centerx=430&centery=250&lightning=0&smooth0&showlabels=1&rainsnow=0_) and most importantly a site for the company that maintains all the radio towers on the mountain, complete with weather stations and webcams (http://www.airsites2000.com/santiago_peak.htm) I didn't find the last site until the week I actually skied the mountain.

With all this information I debated between a light and fast approach betting on the fact it wouldn't be that bad versus a full on expedition with a tent. A few times over the years I would pack up when a storm was coming and be ready to go. I kept refining my list and getting rid of things I didn't need until I had what I thought was a good mix of a light load with enough stuff to survive for a bit if I needed to. This is what I ended up with:
" Skis (old pair of downhill skis donated by Brandon Berbaum, a co-worker, sure beats killing my good skis).
" Garmont Adrenalin ski boots
" Raichle mountaineering boots for the approach
" Ski poles
" 2 pairs of smartwool thin socks
" Fleece pants
" Light shell pants
" Light shell jacket
" Short sleeve quick dry shirt
" 2 long sleeve quick dry shirts
" Thin fleece jacket
" Balaclava
" Ski gloves
" Fleece hat
" Ski helmet
" 10 essentials
" Cell phone
" Ham radio
" Gps
" Camera
" Helmet cam
" Headlamp
" 2 bars, 2 Gu's, 1 shotblocks
" Thermos with hot chocolate
" 72 oz camelback bladder
" 32 degree sleeping bag
" OR bivy sack
" Trek 7000 mountain bike

I put everything that needed to stay dry inside my river closure bag and put that inside my ski pack. The electronics went in Ziploc bags inside my jacket along with the bars, gu, and shotblocks. I felt confident this was the right stuff for the trip.

For several years I watched storms come and go. Most didn't dump enough snow to ski, if any. I missed a few chances here and there due to other commitments. Finally the week of December 8, 2008 I started to hear of a "50 year" cold front that may materialize. I watched the weather and all my websites. The jet stream was set to drop below California which would bring the cold. Fortunately it was also going to bring some rain. As the week went on the predictions called for several days of cold and rain. The weekend rolled around and sure enough it started raining and got cold. I continued to watch. On Tuesday the 16th I found the webcams. I could see it snowing up there. I watched it snow into Wednesday the 17th. I watched objects on the summit disappear under inches of snow. The weather predictions called for the storm to end the night of the 17th and for the temps to be cold. This was the perfect storm - several days of cold rainy weather followed by a break in the storm. I sent out the alert that I was going for it. Jerid Johnson, my boss, checked out Trabuco Canyon for me after work that night and called me with some info. In his Nissan Titan he was able to get back several miles without a problem.

I packed up and was ready to go, it was still raining outside when I went to bed around 10 PM. I slept for a few hours and woke up at 1:00 AM on Thursday December 18th. I ate breakfast, got dressed, loaded the gear in the car, and hit the road. It had stopped raining by this time and the skies were clearing up.
I headed for Trabuco Canyon. I turned on to it and immediately saw several large puddles. I decided to play it safe instead of wasting an opportunity by getting stuck in the mud. I went back to Rose Canyon and parked at the Cantina. I suited up and grabbed my gear. I put the skis on my pack, the pack on my back, and road my bike up Rose Canyon. I ditched the ski poles right as I was leaving. I left the car around 3 AM, it was nice and warm, probably in the 40's. The bike was definitely the way to go, it took at least an hour off my round trip time if not more. As I road my bike up the paved road the moon came out and was bright enough where I didn't need my headlamp. As I neared the Joplin Boys Home a car passed me. This was the only person that saw me on the way in and probably thought I was crazy riding my bike in the dark at 3 AM with skis on my back.

Here was the tricky part. Despite all my scouting efforts I never actually hiked this trail prior to this point in time and was relying heavily on google maps and info from friends. Fortunately there weren't any obstacles I wasn't already aware of. I went around the 8 foot tall fence with barbwire and warnings on it. This put me on an unmaintained road. I was able to ride pretty far up this road but did have to push the bike in some spots. Finally I reached a gate - the Lower Joplin Trail. I went over the fence and took the bike with me. I rode a while further and eventually came to some rough spots on the trail. I had to push the bike for a while and finally decided to ditch it. I just left it on the side of the trail, I figured there weren't likely to be many other people up there that night.
I could feel that I was moving at a good pace, but I had no idea what time it was. It was dead calm, warm, and I was staying dry. Everything was going great. I was a little worried because from my approach I could not see any snow anywhere. The summit cams showed snow but I had no idea how much or how low the snow level went. In what seemed like no time at all I had made it to the Santiago Truck Trail. Still no snow though. I headed toward Old Camp and I could feel it getting colder. Just before Old Camp I noticed a dusting of snow on the side of the trail. This was promising. I finally rounded the corner at the top of Old Camp and saw the mountain in the moon light. It was amazing! There was snow all the way down to old camp! At this point I knew I was going to ski in Orange County. I booked it down to Old Camp and got on the Upper Joplin Trail. Even at Old Camp it had about 2 inches of snow on it. I crossed the stream, which wasn't moving very much, and started up the trail. I told myself I would hike until dawn and then ski. Joplin Trail proved more difficult than I had anticipated. I had been up there years ago and it was over grown so I was expecting some problems with the skis hitting trees as I navigated the trail. What I hadn't counted on was the fact the storm was really a combo of freezing rain and snow. Trees were buckled under the weight and the trail was covered with them. I had to lift some to get by them, I had to go around others , and over a few. Worst of all I had to get on my hands and knees and crawl under several trees as there was no other way to pass that section of the trail.

I was getting near the saddle when it started getting light out. From down below the mountain appears to have several slopes filled with snow and ready for skiing. This is very deceptive and I faced reality as the sun rose. There was 4 to 6 inches of snow everywhere and from far away I am sure the hills looked covered. However, the brush that grows in the area is about 1 or 2 feet tall and creates the allusion of total coverage until you step on it and break through to the ground. Realizing I wasn't going to be carving turns on Santiago I found a well covered section of the Joplin Trail and decided I would ski it. The Joplin trail on this part of the mountain is rocky, it is a single track, and it makes a lot of turns. The sun came up over the ridge, I put the boots in the bindings, turned on the cameras, and started down the mountain. I was doing it, I was skiing Santiago! I made it about 100 yards before my first stop when my helmet cam was ripped from my body by a tree or rock. I went another 50 yards and stopped before a rocky outcropping. I navigated rocks and turns for another 100 or 150 yards until I came to a fallen tree. I went over the tree and skied a little further until I came to more trees. It was hopeless at this point so I packed up the skis and headed down. In total I probably skied about 300 yards.

As I hiked out I felt great! I took several pictures of the surrounding area covered in snow, I did not feel like I was anywhere near Orange County. It was warming up even more. By the time I got back to Old Camp the 2 inches of snow that were there on my way up had already melted. I climbed out of Old Camp and headed down Santiago Truck Trail back to Lower Joplin. I was still cruising at a good speed. I found my bike and booked it down the road, mud flying everywhere. I reached my car at about 8:30 AM where I found several onlookers from Waste Management. I guess that is where they park the big trucks on garbage day while the little trucks drive around the neighborhoods.

Later that day I saw a post on SocalTrailRiders.org where a group of mountain bikers went riding up Maple Springs and encountered a ton of snow. I wish I would have known, it looks like they had better conditions and I may actually have been able to get some turns there. I also found an article by David Whiting in the Orange County Register, he skied Maple Springs on Friday, December 19th. His article is located here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/snow-mountain-down-2262632-road-foot. I don't know if I'll ever try again but if I do I will definitely head for the summit.

Here are some Pics:

Me heading up the trail, just hit the snow line.