San Gorgonio the Long Way
by SCMA Member Rich Henke

It had been 9 years since I skied the San Gorgonio Divide. On March 30-31, 1985 Greg Jordan, Pete Matulavich and I started from Angelus Oaks, skied the Crest to San Gorgonio Peak, and descended via the South Fork trailhead. The 28 mile trip took 2 days and gained 7300 vertical feet. 

Alois Smrz, Brian Johnson, and I planned a Nevada ski tour in late February, but it was postponed due to lack of snow. The San Gorgonio Divide was our consolation prize. The trip was an exact repeat of the previous trip. We left Angelus Oaks at 8 a.m. on Saturday, February 22 (rather than 6:15 a.m. previously-we are mellowing) and had excellent snow for the 5000 ft climb to the crest. Before, we meticulously went over the top of each of the 8 named peaks on the crest. This time we skirted past a few of them. We camped between Shields and Charlton peaks. The weather was clear and cold for the entire 2 days.

From the summit of San Gorgonio on day 2, we walked west and down until we could ski the east most gully leading to Dry Lake. It wasn't corn, but it was skiable! We reached our waiting car at the South Fork parking lot at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. 

There are very few multiple day ski tours in Southern California. This is one of the best! We wondered often during the trip whether anyone has skied this since 1985. Does anyone know?

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