Bring your kites and leave the skis at home :wink:.
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Bring your kites and leave the skis at home :wink:.
Maybe you should bring a Carveboard! :)
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...veboarding.jpg
We, and pretty much everyone else, bailed on Tioga today after driving up there. Winds were absolutely nuking. A few folks made some turns in Ellery and said it was pretty decent, but still... those winds were crazy. I mean, you know how much I love the plateau, and this is the first time I've been here when the gate opened, and I already knew that everything was super filled in and untracked... and we still pulled the plug. Oh well, the pavement was fun! :)
thanks for the beta jim. Meeting some friends eastside, so ... skis, skateboards, and climbing shoes are in the car in addition to the crampons ice axe and split. I wish I had a fishing rod. At least I've got 18 bottles of IPA a bottle of Cazadores, some scotch, and some armagnac in there too.
Just wanted to give props on how great this shot is.
The Niagra of the Sierra indeed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimw
windy as fuck at Sonora Pass today
Haha, I guess I'll throw in one of jimw warming up at Momart:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4709/img2613tg.jpg
Still nuking wind at Tioga. Drove up early and decided to bail, then ran into gimpy at the Mo-mart and decided to have another look... and bailed again. Well, whenever these winds finally calm down, things should be good up there. There is certainly a ton of snow!
Snow bank at Tioga lake parking area:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...w/IMG_3224.jpg
TPR still buried, looks like midwinter:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...w/IMG_3226.jpg
Saddlebag road turnout:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...w/IMG_3227.jpg
Meanwhile, if you can't have powder, there's always pumice! :)
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...umiceClimb.jpg
Hansi Hinterseer and I almost got blown off Mt. Dana today, but we persisted and emerged victorious. Not sure what we're doing tomorrow.
jim - our plan b to escape the wind in lundy was a success and we were wishin u had come with us.
any folks down there right now, how much snow fell down there???
i m wishin i stayed down there cuz today has gotta be rad if the weather is anything like whats in tahoe
After skiing inbounds at Mammoth this morning, we headed to MoMart for a late lunch. Then drove up to Tioga to check things out. Powerhouse still goes - just. Gaylor and Ellery look nice. Ellery is very full.
Ellery:
http://stk.tetongravity.com/forums/a...8&d=1306710853
Attachment 97618
Fuck this weather. Today was a good day for drinking.
Cool, glad Lundy worked out! Instead of riding snow, I went down to Bishop and checked out Mule Days! A whole different crowd from what I'm used to, but it was fun. BCD was out there with a booth showing his awesome photographs (and eastern Sierra guidebook), so I stopped and chatted with him for a bit. If anyone is in the Bishop area tomorrow, stop by his booth in the park and pick up some excellent pictures to hang on your wall to motivate you for the rest of the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by gimpy
Ran into Schralph at the Mo-mart just now, and he said they got great turns up at VA lakes. He also had talked to folks that rode up at Tioga and there were reports of up to a couple feet in places in Ellery?!? Said there was also a Jeremy Jones sighting, dropping 3rd Pillar and climbing back out, then Powerhouse. Sounds like tomorrow will be a good day here.
Unfortunately, can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm done. Heading back to the Cruz after an epic week and a half, riding everything from powder to mank to corn to pavement to pumice to dirt. Today I hooked up with some Bishop locals for an epic mountain bike shuttle ride in the White mountains, something like 6k descent with maybe 1k climbing. Awesome.
I hope Shraph and everyone else still out here gets to tear it up tomorrow at Tioga, should be epic.
Hansi Hinterseer dropping into the Sherwins on May 29 -- what an unbelievable season:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5067/...1d268117_b.jpg
We also did Ship's Prow. Some of the deepest turns of the entire year!
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5027/...088e1091_b.jpg
skied the feather couloir in not so good snow on saturday but scored some $$ pow on sunday on treasure pk
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._6262543_n.jpg
Mrs Jack Burton in Feather Couloir
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._4852117_n.jpg
yours truly further down feather
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._5625139_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._7952389_n.jpg
Mrs MT on Treasure Pk yesterday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i...0/DSC_0550.JPG
Skied an amazing line in possibly the worst snow conditions ever. (Thus the lack of action photos, which would consist of off-balance jump turns in a sea of rotten chunder.)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...0/DSC_0564.JPG
Camp spot was scenic, hot, cold, windy, tornado-y, snowy, and haily.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/DSC_0591.JPG
We camped in the middle of this photo.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-w...0/DSC_0568.JPG
S'mores were eaten by some and coveted by others.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Q...0/DSC_0595.jpg
Boulders were bouldered.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/DSC_0596.JPG
This is a very good ski option right now. But don't take the hiking trail like we did.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-V...0/DSC_0614.JPG
Whew.
Nice ones fellas. My weekend involved wedding attendance, so good to see people were out and about. Weather did sound nasty.
Ha, I visited Mule Days on Sunday, too. Somehow, in the midst of preservatives and knitting products, I missed BCD's booth. I did however eat the most oil-drenched funnel cake ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimw
Yeah, I missed it at first too, so I called BCD... turns out there was a separate art fair in the park just down the street by the Carl's Jr.
What line did you ride in the Buttermilks in crappy conditions? I have a large list of "descents done in crappy snow" too... :) Did you see the burnt area out there? Apparently it was closed down last week for a while due to a fire (probably from a campfire I assume). South Lake looks nice.
We did the most fall-line Wahoo gully, which is just looker's left of the main one. It was about 1500' vf of 35-42 degree classic couloir. In the right conditions, it would have been a lot of fun. But the snow was comically bad. The funny thing is how we managed to overlook this obvious fact when we booted up it.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimw
I did see the burn area. When we got there on Friday, there were about a dozen large green trucks full of forest service folks finishing up.
So, what's the snow like down there? Need reports! Sounds like things are iffy and the weather looks crappy til friday. Why can't we just have a normal high pressure spring cycle for a few days??? This weather is kinda gay...not that there's anything wrong with that
I took a pano on my way home from Mammoth yesterday... Click for bigger.
http://potatoeskillme.com/yh/eastern_sierra_2011_sm.jpg
PKM -- the pano is awesome!
Hey AK B, the attached shot must be of you and your crew. We saw you as we skied out from the Demon. Figured it would've been a better ski, but I guess not. The Demon was a melt-freeze crunchy top, legit amazing pow in the middle, confused pow/porn/crust on the out that was pretty fun, with sloppy but smooth buttery turns back to the car. Too bad the weather made us bail back to Tahoe with Tioga, Sonora and Ebbett's all open, but a couple of pow days was pretty fun too :biggrin: The rodeo sure seemed like it was going off Friday night, and yeah, that fire looked a little rowdy heading out from the Milks Saturday.
Maybe a window down there th/fri?
Hey guys looking for beta, I can tell you the wind is not any better down in Onion Valley. I'm sitting in a tent hoping to get a break in the weather to have a look see at University today but from what I've been hearing outside all night it's not hopeful. Being as I'm solo and spent from 4 days touring I might just pack up and head to Jtree unless the wind disappears by 9 am. Can't believe there is 3G here ...
So the snow around Tioga should still be "okay" in places but pretty windfuct anywhere that did NOT get skied. Skier sintered tracks didn't get blown away and scoured, so skiing in other folks tracks was nice and creamy. West winds were pulling north in places and refreezing sunmelt etc. Did manage to find some pretty snow transitioning to corn below 11k and out of the wind and got some nice sloughy turns.
So my trip was like this.
Saturday - got up to NoName with krazemonkey and dynosaur and pretty much got blown off the ridge. Must have been 65+ sustained there, at least 80 on Leavitt ridge. Bailed on Leavitt and skied transitioning snow that was trying to refreeze and eventually did. Started nuking snow by 2 pm and didn't let up until the next night (in waves). Full on winter - super cold, windy as hell, and classic CA pow, not the warm spring glop. Retreated to buckeye and drank way too much beer which set me up for being dehydrated the rest of the trip.
Sunday we found 6 to 16" of STABLE winter pow on Black mtn in ginny area. Got a late start due to being on standby to assist a skier we saw fall a long way, and over rocks, down the north gully of Black. 2 guys from sb.com (aksxltslt and snobro, mad props) skinned up with a radio to assist if needed while we were ready to call the sherrif or provide additional support if needed. He was okay thankfully. I think his party learned a lot of lessons that day. After that, scored two glorious laps on Black and still nuking when we got back to the car at 5:30. North winds were moving a lot of snow by late afternoon and stiffening up the entrances.
Monday we went for Dana Couloir and got a late start. Glacier Canyon was skinnable from the car but tougher on a split (too much sidehilling and scrambling mixed into several transitions) than anticipated and due to my dehydration we did not top out the summit. Others said turns off the summit were 10-14" deep and $$$. Dropped the couloir in a technical mix of pow, windboard, windcrust, and pow on windcrust. I actually quite enjoyed it but I did ride it with my axe, even had to plunge it once just to be safe after blowing an edge on solid lurking windcrust, and it was definitely challenging for our party. Our group decided to bail on Ellery exit due to concerns about a challenging ski of the upper bowl in similar conditions, so we got sandblasted as 30-40 mph wind funneled through Glacier Canyon into our faces the entire way out. Ottime, I got another asthma attack on the exit even after 5 inhaler puffs throughout the day. Less beer more water for me ...
Oh yeah, skiers left Solstice entrance looks "manageable" (a little too burl for me) at maybe 4 foot air? The chute is super fat, practically a bowl once you are in. I dug a pit in the apron and did not like what I found, Quick shovel shear test showed the top 18" (fully consolidated) sitting on facets on old crust. Didn't have time to crosscheck another part of the apron. Be wary if it warms up fast and get er done early if going after it. Solstice seemed more windprotected from the W wind than dana cooler due to the funnel effect going up the cooler.
Tuesday we took it easy with 2 laps on Gaylor hoping to hide from the wind. Gusting about 40-50 up top but not maintaining a steady pace like days before so the skin was manageable. The lower stuff was wind protected and $ transitioning snow. Great lines down the middle of the east face through the middle rock chute slide path and another in the lower north bowl. The upper stuff was smooth edgeable windcrust but also classic mammoth windbuff if skiing in old tracks!
Now I'm in my tent, waiting for dawn and that whooooooooshing sound to stop. Sorry for the long blog, hope the details are useful and I have nothing better to do here in my polyurethane shelter.
Keep getting after it and viva la eastside!
Wow, posting from your tent. Awesome!
Sounds like people are grinding for decent turns. Get some! Gotta want it I guess. I'm gonna go back to dreaming of calm, sunny days :)
Keep at it schralp! You'll be rewarded soon.