San Jacinto Peak

10-11 May 1958

By: Monroe Levy

Leaders: John Robinson, Peter Hunt

Written by Monroe in 1965.

Probably the most interesting 100 Peaks try I've gone on was the climb of San Jacinto over the weekend of May 10-11, 1958, and led by John Robinson and Peter Hunt.

We left Idyllwild under an overcast sky and by late morning it started to snow. A considerable portion of the party turned back at this point. We arrived in Round Valley in the late afternoon to hear Dick Gregg shouting, "Go back, you fools!" Round Valley was under a couple feet of snow. It stopped snowing at nightfall.

We awoke the following morning to find feathers all over the place. John Robinson had slept too close to the fire and had awakened during the night to find his sleeping bag ablaze. He put the fire out but lost quite a bit of down.

Shortly after we took off for San Jac. It started to snow again. Then we broke into two groups, the "Fasts" and the "Slows". Peter Hunt, Burl Parkinson, myself and one other whom I can't remember. The snow kept getting worse, and finally Peter said he had no idea where we were so we turned around.

After awhile the main party which had made the summit, caught up with us. Then back to camp in Round Valley and down to Idyllwild. It snowed almost all the way back to Idyllwild. All in all, it was the coldest 100 Peaks hike I've been on.