Category: Winter Hiking

Frigid weather required postponing the scheduled trip for a day.  Since Saddleback Mountain Ski Resort publicizes a hiking/ski trail to the summit of Saddleback Mountain called Uphill Trail that friends had told me was an excellent one, that was my planned trip.  Three of us took the challenge, two on snowshoes and one using skis with skins.  We made it to the top of the ski lift and were then turned back.  The following is a summary of my experience that I’ve shared with others:  I don’t know what to make of what happened.  Not sure if it was ineptitude, disorganization, or bad faith.  What I do know is the Saddleback website advertises the Uphill Trail as a means of climbing to the summit.  Many hikers have used it for that purpose including one two days before our trip.  We bought passes in good faith.  We didn’t just purchase the passes we spent several minutes discussing our plans with a woman at the ticket office who sold the tickets.  She never mentioned that summit access was prohibited or their policy had changed.  We hiked to the top of the ski lift and were astonished to be told by the ski patrol that we couldn’t go a couple hundred feet farther to the top.  Instead, we were informed that if we wanted to hike to the summit, we should have taken the Appalachian Trail; access is about 20 miles away.  When I returned to the ticket office, the gentleman I talked with quickly refunded my money but stated their policy had changed and they would no longer permit anyone to go above the lift because they didn’t want responsibility for rescues.  Why they didn’t tell us that in advance is inexplicable.  We wouldn’t have hiked.  Neither the member of the ski patrol nor the gentleman at the ticket office apologized for the inconvenience caused by the unannounced change.  Some have said it was our fault because we didn’t further investigate before buying the tickets.  I categorically reject that suggestion.  If they advertise a service and charge a fee, I believe they are legally and morally obligated to inform customers in advance of selling the passes if they change the policy, especially when we spent about 10 minutes discussing our plans before purchasing them.  It was a very disappointing experience on what was otherwise an exceptional winter day. Participants:  Brent Elwell, Greg Winston & TC