looks great, big lines. Planning on being there for month of April. Hope I can still do 6000 in a day. Do they plow the road all the way to the Pine creek trailhead parking lot?
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looks great, big lines. Planning on being there for month of April. Hope I can still do 6000 in a day. Do they plow the road all the way to the Pine creek trailhead parking lot?
Nice
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We didn't drive past Scheelite but it was plowed to there and looked to be plowed all the way to the mine. Pine Creek Rd is one of the roads that typically remains plowed through the winter, although not always immediately after big storms.Quote:
Originally Posted by BFD
thanks, last time down there was not well researched. Enjoy your photos.
Hello everyone, looking for advice on when to plan a trip to the Eastern Sierra this spring. Would you generally pick the month of April or May for an extended trip?
I'd say mid-April to mid-May would be the sweet spot. If I had to choose one calendar month, I'd personally vote for April. Deeper snowpack, some of the cool lower elevation lines still might be in, better overnight freezes. Most roads into the mountains open fully by the last weekend in April, "Fishmas," so that's a consideration as well (with the exception of Tioga Pass and Sonora Pass which is variable but will almost certainly be in May this year with the deeper snowpack). In early April you might not be able to drive to every trailhead. By late May things are much more burned off and you're a little more limited to the higher passes and deeper tours. By late May many tours will require some dry walking, which isn't a big deal, it's common around here, but it's something to consider. Hope that helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted26
whatsupdoc fucking crushing it...I'm more of a 2000ft/day guy :biggrin:
found me a nice honey hole yesterday....
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I had the opportunity to spend a few days on the east side again last week. Here are some pics and a brief TR. It was an adventure on an east side giant sandwiched by 2 shorter days of great pow skiing.
Day 1 was Wednesday Feb 8. I was joined by a buddy from Tahoe. We skied Mono Jim Peak aka Mini Morrison. We set out from Convict Lake with the intention of skiing the Airport Chutes on McGee but the NE aspect of Mini Morrison looked better, so we called an audible. It was a beautiful bluebird day. It was an easy skin up Old Man's Bowl and we reached the summit of Mono Jim Peak without incident. A short rock scramble had us at the start of the skiing. We negotiated a short steep rutted pitch to get to the goods. The NE aspect was holding excellent pow. We began our descent, working skier's right over a small ridge to get a long section of completely untracked pow. The skiing was awesome. We contemplated another lap but we had some bigger plans for the next day, and the crowds were starting to show up, so we called it early, content with 1 excellent lap of pow skiing. Even the turns back to the parking lot were good.
Skinning:
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Good look at the Pinner on Laurel:
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Skiing:
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At the bottom of the run. Our tracks are looker's left here:
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Day 2 was the following day, February 9. We had our eyes on the NE Couloir of Lone Pine Peak. It's a line I've always wanted to do. It's not feasible in lower snow years, so this seemed like a good time to give it a go. The two of us were joined by claymond and his lady friend. We were hiking by 5 am. We had minimal dry walking before skinning. Getting to the mouth of the canyon was easy. LPP is said to have one of the more challenging approaches on the east side in the Greenberg/Mingori guidebook. I'd say this is pretty accurate. Only Williamson was worse in my experience (although it was worse by a large margin).
We followed an old skin track up on the north side of the canyon. We knew we'd have to start traversing into the canyon itself sooner or later. When we couldn't get much higher we began the trek into the canyon. It's a very narrow canyon with cliffs down low above the water for large portions, so you have to traverse pretty high above the water itself for a ways before the canyon opens up. At this point we took off our skis and did a combination of walking on dirt and snow for a ways. Some post-holing above a cliff band took us to a point where we could put skins back on.
A brief section of easy skinning led to challenging skinning while traversing high above the river canyon. At the end of the day when exiting the other side of the canyon, we realized we were above exposure for most of that traverse. Some ups and downs led us further into the canyon. We did 1 descent that in retrospect was unnecessary. We skiers just down-stepped with ski crampons in place while claymond and his partner had to transition since they were on split boards. We separated here into 2 groups of 2, not really meeting up again until the summit.
Finally after a bit more sidehilling, we were on easier ground. We began the long process of skinning up the gully. We were in the shade the entire day, and there was often a light to moderate down slope breeze, so we were all colder than expected. Additionally, the gully is consistently steep without many flat benches for breaks. This is one reason why we didn't meet up again until the summit, it was too cold to stop for very long.
We skinned several thousand vert with the help of ski crampons. The split boarders had a harder time following the steep track. They transitioned to boots before us 2 skiers. About 1500 feet below the summit we transitioned to boots and began the booter to the top. The snow up until this point was mostly variable wind effect, but the snow up higher became softer and more consistent. We slowly worked our way up to the sneaker chute that bends right to the summit itself. The snow here before the final chute was excellent pow.
The top sneaker chute was much more variable. It has a more E aspect. It was very firm with plenty of large wind sculpted sastrugi features and wind lips. We knew it would be challenging skiing but it seemed edgeable so we continued on. Unfortunately about 50 vertical feet below the top we encountered a choke with a bunch of exposed rocks. Also, the snow around the rocks was pretty awful, mostly rotten facets around the rocks with a small strip of bulletproof ice to the climber's left. We paused here for a while, contemplating what to do. It was clear this choke was not skiable. Too many rocks, especially with the rotten facets that barely covered other rocks. The climbing here was challenging as well. claymond and his partner caught up to us here. We tried going left but it was really bulletproof and sketchy with only 1 ice tool and aluminum crampons. We then tried going straight through the rocks but were shut down by rotten snow. Finally we went far right and the snow was just supportable enough to hold some steps, aided by some rocks to grab onto. I even threw in a gloved hand jam for 1 move. We agreed to continue to the summit and then down climb below this section on the way back. Delicate climbing over steep snow and rocks led up past the choke and to the summit.
We were very happy to finally be in the sun. Views were excellent. We took a short break, but couldn't wait too long as we had lost time messing around at the top. We all carefully down climbed about 100 vertical feet. After we had cleared the rocks, we dug out platforms and transitioned. I was mildly disappointed to have not been able to ski the entire way, but I was happy with our effort and feel like we ticked the line. We topped out and skied from the highest reasonable place, only down climbing about 100 vertical feet.
The top couloir was survival skiing: careful jump turns on 45 degree very firm snow and delicate sliding over big wind lips. After all of us cleared the top couloir, we let out a sigh of relief and began the fun part. The next 1500 feet or so was awesome pow skiing. This gave way to increasingly variable wind affected snow. Negotiating the punchy snow below was taxing, especially with light skis and tired legs (the split boarders had an easier time here), but we gradually made our way down.
We decided to exit on the south side of canyon. It looked snowy the entire way and there seemed to be a slight ramp we could follow out. We kept as a high a line as possible. It was definitely a challenging exit. The snow was bottomless facets and there were seemingly infinite trees, boulders, and cliff bands to negotiate. We did 1 short skin to gain some elevation back, but in retrospect this was unnecessary. After a while of uncertainty we finally traversed out of the canyon onto flat ground. Some low elevation sage dodging led us to a dirt road. We crossed a creek and walked back to the vehicles, exhausted but elated. It was 11:58 car to car. Not a record by any means, but we were moving the entire day. After celebratory beers claymond and his lady drove back to their hotel and my friend and I drove to a campground and crashed in our vehicles. It was a memorable adventure with good friends.
Bushwacking in the dark:
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Skinning into the canyon:
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Finally on easier ground:
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Booting:
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Quite variable conditions in the steep top couloir:
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The rock choke that we had to climb around on the way down (it's steeper than it looks here):
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On top:
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Summit pano:
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Downclimbing over the rock choke:
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Descending the top couloir:
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Below the top crux:
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Skiing the good snow:
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Group fun in the variable punchy stuff down lower:
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Almost back to the cars:
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Day 3 was Friday February 10. My skier buddy couldn't join, so it was me, claymond, and his partner. We were all tired and decided on a short, easy day on McGee Peak. We started at 9 AM and casually climbed the NE bowl. The ascent was uneventful. The skiing was awesome. Mostly shallow, settled pow with only mildly wind affected snow here and there. It was a great way to end the short trip. Unfortunately claymond's partner got a gnarly core shot in her board when she hit a buried metal fence post down low. But she was uninjured and the board was repairable, so it didn't dampen the stoke too much. We all drove home, happy to end the trip with some excellent pow skiing.
Waking up that morning in Lone Pine:
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The up:
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The down:
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Great tr. Way to get after great skiing.
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Epic stuff, thanks for the detailed write-up and pics!
Great stuff in this thread. Thanks to all for taking the time to post the stoke!
Dude! I knew I would bump into you, we were behind you in the skin track and watched you ski that line and we talked at the bottom...that was a great day!Quote:
Originally Posted by whatsupdoc
Ha ha. Nice. Sure was a great day.Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerWhore7
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Damn!!!
Ted26, I’ve gotten skunked due to weather in April and early May. If the window for your trip is not flexible, I suggest having a plan b that’s further to the east, like some rock shoes for the bishop area. Or a trip up to panamint city.
whatsupdoc, that was a solid TR. Thanks for sharing. Well freaking done on Lone Pine Peak
so rad!! thanks for the stoke and beta, and for keeping this thread one of the best on the forums every year. can't wait to get down there this season.
Nice work and awesome photos.
This thread has the highest picture to word ratio by far. The way it aught to be :)
Thanks Frush, Whatsupdoc and others for the great pics, TR's and beta. Should be a great spring season.:D
It depends on your objectives, and a bit on the rest of the winter storms. Generally speaking the later you go the more chances for classic east side corn, verses possibly getting powder days in April, although we do get May powder days on occasion. Also, the later you go the better chance some of the roads will be open giving access to deeper, high terrain. Bottom line, if you want to go big, go late.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted26
Appreciate the input everyone. Our timing is certainly flexible, realistically we’ll wait for a favorable window before sending it over.
Sunday 2/19:
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Looking south:
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Virginia peak, Dana, etc. :
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All of the Couloirs were textured windboard. "Ski dreams": Attachment 448783
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Mrs. Jack Burton navigating breakable crust:
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the bonus couloir:
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Gonna be a great spring season in the High Sierra.
Looks great.
I'll be back mid April, let's make sure we ski some East side couloirs.
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For sure Rod. I'm on sabbatical this year so i'll be down there a lot in April/May, so ping me when you're back to the states. It's gonna be awesome :)
Took advantage of the weather window today and scored some fun turns. North aspects skied surprisingly soft given how the last storm came in
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If this doesn't make you excited about skiing the eastside this spring I don't know what will:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp6P3...ZTlkMDEyOTY%3D
Hah.Quote:
Originally Posted by soul_skier
I was just thinking that should be posted here. So awesome.
IDK. Rad skiing but not worth getting killed. I was kind of put off by that post once I realized what almost happened to the next guy to drop in. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp75NLIrtXz/
^^^ yeah, that.
With the short windows between storms this year it's been tempting to push it. Stay safe out there, spring touring is going to be epic. I mean, eventually...
Seems to me he had the experience of a lifetime. Also seems to me he would have been safer continuuing the line rather than cutting uphill and throwing in the hip. It's easy for me to say not being there though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster
:eek:
I think that Nick was contemplating trying to outrun it (in hindsight?) in his insta post...I'd def follow nick's line and cut left and GTFO of the way ASAP. Curious if he was looking over his shoulder or how/when he knew something ripped. If he left that situation unscathed I think he made the right decision...perhaps minus the decision to ski it that day...but I have no idea idea how likely a slide was, just that it happened.
Went up this last weekend for the Gathering of Old Timers. We were looking at a line outside of Lone Pine that needs a lot of snow. It was filled in.....with Chunder from all the natural releases. Disappointed we continued north to Red Mountain and started skinning around 10 am. I took my Son-In-Law on His first Backcountry Weekend. He is a strong skier and in great shape so He did enjoy Himself.
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The Skin In
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Terrain - this is from Saturday , Convict lake
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The Usual Suspects
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Found Deep Pow in The Hippie Chutes
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Big Terrain
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Fridays target
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end of the day
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The Old and The New
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Old School Represent
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Had a great weekend. Should be great snow through July. Probably hit sun cups before running out of snow
Sorry about the sideways, upside down phots. WTF ??
You can see that slide at the end of Bernie’s pov when he looks back up hill. Pretty consequential terrainQuote:
Originally Posted by Blaster
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If skinning to red slate, is there snow from the car?
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Right now everything is skin from the car . Finding Parking is the bitch. Not many spots plowed and thats seems to be determining where most are touringQuote:
If skinning to red slate, is there snow from the car?