Eastside Conditions Thread

[TEXASS]

Doing good. Snowing in Bozeman today however I've already switched to mtn biking

We should meet up at Shasta in July

[TEXASS]

Sometimes you gotta milk it to do a "Ski in/Ski out" from the truck. My Buddy Mike aka Swanny gets the throphy

[1000-oaks]

i love this thread. it makes me want to quit my job, leave my family, live out of the back of my pickup and scrounge for quarters. so it's kind of like meth.

This is signature worthy.

[meter-man]

Nice conditions report and road openings update from Sierra Mtn Guides: http://www.sierramtnguides.com/state...y-may-18-2017/

[bobz]

Looking at Pinner Chute from the top of Mini-Mo on Wednesday, I was drawn by how it's still filled in, and looking so cool and linear. And so I did Pinner yesterday. Hoo boy, type 2 fun all the way down: crusty up top, then nothing but deep soft chunky slide debris for the bulk of it, plus a generous mix of rocks in the lower third. I did a wide open south-facing corn slope today to cleanse the palate.

[Jack Burton]

Eastside Conditions Thread

Quick report from onion Valley, did University on Thursday, snow was OK. Went back up same drainage today and skied some fun south east facing corn, nothing steep but great snow. Rest of the crew when around mount Gould and came back down through golden trout lakes drainage and had a good tour and great snow. Skin from/to car pic is from the shoulder of university nearest the parking lot, starting with the north facing shots off University and the pano is across the drainage that leads to Kearsarge pass. By the way buttermilk's road to wahoo goalies through bouldering area is not passible

[mr. hankey]

Great Pics Tex! cool to see all of the old crew back together. But a Split-fest with no BCrider or the obligatory video TR? my how times have changed... hope there was at least a Disco ball

[~mikey b]

Eastside Conditions Thread

From CalTrans Facebook

Here are some photos of the Tioga Pass area (taken 5/18/17) courtesy of Sue Burak. Caltrans District 9 reports that their crews have cleared the road as far as Ellery Curve, near the dam at the lake, and are still a few miles from the pass. Meanwhile, Yosemite National Park crews have cleared the road up to a couple miles west of Olmsted Point--that leaves about 15 miles of very snowy road to clear between Ellery and Olmsted. Steady progress in challenging conditions! There is no estimated opening date for Tioga Pass.







TPR

[AKbruin]

[cups hands around mouth] "Hello, jimw? Where are you?"


Powerhouse. The main chute is a little steep and icy at the top but manageable. I was glad to have a whippet and ice axe in each hand for the climb.


The plan was to ski Chute Out, climb up Elery Bowl, and then descend Phouse to the car. But we couldn't find Chute Out among the massive cornices and the climb up Elery wasn't going to be easy. So we skied Ripper.


Everything goes. New things go, too (like all the stuff between Solstice and Unknown). The gate at the bottom of the valley is still closed, but 120 is clear to the Elery Lake pull out.


Props again to B__ for skiing this. Those first 15 feet . . . .




I made a left turn.


Followed by a right. This continued for a while.


Dhelihiker wears a puffy in 70-degree weather.


Pretty rock walls.


So hot.


Best to veer left before the cliffs.


This was a surprisingly fun exit. It was a 20-minute dry hike to the car.


Dhelihiker skips through a meadow.

[AKbruin]

Accompanying video:

[thegfunkera]

Heading up to the Eastside on Monday night for some desert camping and corn snow. My usual ski partner is out of commission (car accident) and I am looking for someone to tour with. Would like to stay south of Mammoth and access Onion Valley and South Lake. And yes...I will ski with splitters!

This is my first post on this thread and this winter was my first in CA. I moved from New Hampshire in October and have been mostly touring in the Mammoth/Sherwin Crest zones and getting lift access pow when available. Looking to switch up the terrain and meet some new people. Hit me up if interested in a midweek mission.

[chill winston]

Corn harvest was quite strong this weekend. Macking coverage with cold nights and hot days. I took off work early thursday down in the bay and drove up to Bridgeport. Threw the pig on my back in the late afternoon sun and started walking up Robinson Creek. Things were looking great on dry trail until I got to the infamous swamp guarding Little Slide Canyon. Trudged down to the creek and wandered aimlessly through the muck trying to find a way to cross. Finally found one quite a bit more upstream than I wanted and leapt across. What follows can only be described as a massive shitstorm of Type 3 fun bushwacking up the hillside into the canyon. Skis on back, climbing willows and slick boulders in ski boots, narrowly avoiding about 8 separate broken leg incidents and finally scratched my way up to snowline. When I got home I pulled out the Mingori/Greenberg guidebook and goddamn if it doesn't say this: "...it is best to generally follow the same approach [east of a large rocky outcrop], staying away from the mouth of the canyon and the dense forest that protects it". Yes, I need to RTFM sometimes. Here's your rocky outcrop and the heinous forest to the right.



Hit snow pretty quickly and the sights of Little Slide opened up. I laid down a bivy as it got dark near the base of the Hulk.







The next morning I skied up to Ice Lake, banked left of the prominent gully just before the pass into Yosemite NP. With some steep skinning, rock scrambling and a bit of personally gratifying vegetation crushing, I made it up the backside and to the summit of Eocene Peak. Views in all directions = astounding A+

View from the top of the gully with Sawtooth Ridge on the left, to Whorl Mountain / Finger Peaks in the middle, and Slide Canyon on the right. Note the bear tracks heading down into Slide Canyon. More on that later...





Skied off the top of Eocene at 9:15am. At that hour, the ENE slope was already perfect corn. Getting hot out here.


Remember our friend the bear? Well, here is something you don't see everyday -- this bad ass fucken bear set a perfect bootpack up this couloir and over the other side into Slide Canyon.



Next objective - Hawks Head Notch below the face of Blacksmith Peak. It is the lowest little "V" notch on the ridgeline. It was tempting to pass up the chutes and bowls in this drainage, but I had to get over to Horse Creek to meet a friend climbing up from Twin Lakes.


At the notch. From here you can (1) ski down quite a ways to the trees and then climb back up to the right past Avalanche Lake, or (2) climb up a steep ass face to get into the drainage that separates Blacksmith and Cleaver Peaks. I chose option 2 and it was the crux of the day for me -- hot as hell, booting up this face with full pack and wondering why I didn't just ski out to the bottom and bail.


At the top, looking over to Cleaver Col -- gateway to the Horse Creek / Matterhorn drainage


Looking SE from Cleaver Col to the Dragtooth and Doodad. I spied the nice looking chute in between the two and thought it would be a good objective.


But first, let me ski a 1000' field of corn. $$$$$


Skinning back up to the crest. More wonders of the ski pole monopod camera mount


Booted up to the top of the left Doodad chute (aka Polemonium Pass)


Snow quality was marginal on the descent -- the recent snow hadn't fully consolidated in the shady couloir. Not quite powder, not quite corn, just about six inches of manky stuff on top made for slidy/grippy kickturn-type skiing down to the apron, where the corn picked up again.

By now it was mid afternoon and since i was waiting on a friend skiing up, it was chill time in upper Horse Creek. Another great day in the mountains.

[MTT]

Corn harvest was quite strong this weekend. Macking coverage with cold nights and hot days. I took off work early thursday down in the bay and drove up to Bridgeport. Threw the pig on my back in the late afternoon sun and started walking up Robinson Creek. Things were looking great on dry trail until I got to the infamous swamp guarding Little Slide Canyon. Trudged down to the creek and wandered aimlessly through the muck trying to find a way to cross. Finally found one quite a bit more upstream than I wanted and leapt across. What follows can only be described as a massive shitstorm of Type 3 fun bushwacking up the hillside into the canyon. Skis on back, climbing willows and slick boulders in ski boots, narrowly avoiding about 8 separate broken leg incidents and finally scratched my way up to snowline. When I got home I pulled out the Mingori/Greenberg guidebook and goddamn if it doesn't say this: "...it is best to generally follow the same approach [east of a large rocky outcrop], staying away from the mouth of the canyon and the dense forest that protects it". Yes, I need to RTFM sometimes. Here's your rocky outcrop and the heinous forest to the right.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206641[/ATTACH]

Hit snow pretty quickly and the sights of Little Slide opened up. I laid down a bivy as it got dark near the base of the Hulk.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206642[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206643[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206644[/ATTACH]

The next morning I skied up to Ice Lake, banked left of the prominent gully just before the pass into Yosemite NP. With some steep skinning, rock scrambling and a bit of personally gratifying vegetation crushing, I made it up the backside and to the summit of Eocene Peak. Views in all directions = astounding A+

View from the top of the gully with Sawtooth Ridge on the left, to Whorl Mountain / Finger Peaks in the middle, and Slide Canyon on the right. Note the bear tracks heading down into Slide Canyon. More on that later...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206645[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206646[/ATTACH]

Skied off the top of Eocene at 9:15am. At that hour, the ENE slope was already perfect corn. Getting hot out here.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206647[/ATTACH]

Remember our friend the bear? Well, here is something you don't see everyday -- this bad ass fucken bear set a perfect bootpack up this couloir and over the other side into Slide Canyon.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]206648[/ATTACH]

Next objective - Hawks Head Notch below the face of Blacksmith Peak. It is the lowest little "V" notch on the ridgeline. It was tempting to pass up the chutes and bowls in this drainage, but I had to get over to Horse Creek to meet a friend climbing up from Twin Lakes.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206649[/ATTACH]

At the notch. From here you can (1) ski down quite a ways to the trees and then climb back up to the right past Avalanche Lake, or (2) climb up a steep ass face to get into the drainage that separates Blacksmith and Cleaver Peaks. I chose option 2 and it was the crux of the day for me -- hot as hell, booting up this face with full pack and wondering why I didn't just ski out to the bottom and bail.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206650[/ATTACH]

At the top, looking over to Cleaver Col -- gateway to the Horse Creek / Matterhorn drainage
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206651[/ATTACH]

Looking SE from Cleaver Col to the Dragtooth and Doodad. I spied the nice looking chute in between the two and thought it would be a good objective.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206652[/ATTACH]

But first, let me ski a 1000' field of corn. $$$$$
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206653[/ATTACH]

Skinning back up to the crest. More wonders of the ski pole monopod camera mount
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206654[/ATTACH]

Booted up to the top of the left Doodad chute (aka Polemonium Pass)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206656[/ATTACH]

Snow quality was marginal on the descent -- the recent snow hadn't fully consolidated in the shady couloir. Not quite powder, not quite corn, just about six inches of manky stuff on top made for slidy/grippy kickturn-type skiing down to the apron, where the corn picked up again.

By now it was mid afternoon and since i was waiting on a friend skiing up, it was chill time in upper Horse Creek. Another great day in the mountains.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]206657[/ATTACH]

The shit dreams are made of.

Thanks for posting

[mcski]

So. Much. Stoke.

[AKbruin]

Sweet TR, Chill Winston! Eocene looks sweet, but I'm done trying to get into Little Slide after March. That was a bad-ass beer!