"A longer and harder day than I thought it would be. The mines were quite pleasant! One of the more interesting climbs I've done in the Sierra. The final push up from the mine to the summit was loose and the rock surprisingly sharp;" — Irrationalist • Jun 2, 2022

"Probably the last 13er for a while. Out of Horton Lakes, up to the mines and the west face slog. Dropped off the south face directly on the descent saving at least an hour. Complete TR: https://themtsarecalling.com/mounttom/" — Christopher • Oct 17, 2021

"Hiked from Horton Creek TH on Friday morning and setup basecamp at Horton Lake. Awoke Saturday morning to snow covered ground and tents. Hike to Tungstar Mine, and then up to summit of Mount Tom in a light snowstorm. Returned to basecamp, broke camp, and hiked out to the TH." — TCH • Sep 27, 2014

"My buddy Shawn and I started late at 7:00am at Horton Creek trail head, boy the roads have really deteriorated! Hiked into Horton Lake which is a fun and beautiful hike in itself, but this was only the starting point. Then came the switch backs, there are plenty of them, I'm pretty sure I'll be walking in zigzags for a week! The views are amazing! Once at the top of the switch backs, we arrived at a large plateau with a dirt road. This was a nice break. There was some old mining equipment to look at on the way. It is amazing how all of that equipment was brought up this high! If thats not an example of hard work and determination, I don't know what is! We followed the road up and around the plateau until reaching an old mine. There were a couple of old diesel engine setup as compressors or hydraulic pumps. Amazingly these motors were setup to be started by a hand crank! Must have been some tough guys to crank over a diesel! We ate lunch and rested as the summit was our last obstacle. The summit is a 1500'+ steep pile of loose rock and sand. I was quite a work out but definitely worth the effort! We summited around 3:00pm. We had a blast, and would highly recommend ..." — 98yota • Jun 26, 2012

"Day 2 of our first Eastern Sierra backcountry ski trip. After feeling the beat down on an abort on Mt Locke yesterday we decided to go even bigger. After flipping through the books, Mt Tom really stood out as an incredible objective. We went for it. What a huge mountain. We skinned up an alternate direct route to a col before descending into Elderberry Canyon for the climb up to the bowl. The altitude, heat, and sheer distance started to pick off our group one by one. Josh, Phil, and I kept our heads down and set a skin track in a couple of inches of powder as we zigzagged up to the ridge. The wind was roaring... and the ridge was a completely wind-scoured talus pile. After a valiant effort of 6,000 ft of vert, we decided to throw in the towel on a summit bid and reap the rewards of the climb. The ski descent down to the bowl was powdery and great, then it was a few thousand vertical feet of rock-hard, leave-no-edge-marks non-breakable crust. But finally, down in the lower pitches of Elderberry Canyon, we hit the legendary Eastern Sierra corn that we'd only heard rumors of. The stuff of legend... the corn bomb was going off and we harvested it all the way back to the car. " — scott • Apr 6, 2008