Is this by Emerson? And how is the approach?Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster
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Is this by Emerson? And how is the approach?Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster
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Can confirm the corn was great! Found all kinds of snow with some powder on N facing aspects above ~11k, some fun transitional snow above 10k, and good to great corn below 10k. We got the whole Dore cliffs area (Lundy Canyon) to ourselves and then ended the day on the dogleg couloir (getting a bit tracked out but very scenic run).
Near 4 Gables. As of Thursday the moraine by bishop creek camp road is fully burned out but the rest of the approach is fairly snowy.Quote:
Originally Posted by rod9301
The sentinel hub imagery is incredibly helpful for this kind of question. Less so for figuring out if a choke is filled in. Imagery from 4/27 https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-bro...D=%22MAPZEN%22
That’s a fun link ^^
I <3 Sierra chuting galleries!
That is sweet, but how the heck do you find an image for Rock Creek area?Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster
Edit: Nevermind, figured it out.
Talked to a lady regarding Onion Valley. Sounds like road work is done and the road is open.
Skied South Couloir Dunderberg this morning. Good corn at 10:30 am on south aspect. Snow was still pretty firm at 10 and then softened quickly in about half hour. Will be in the area for awhile if anyone’s looking to ski
A little TR from last weekend (Apr 27-29), though snow conditions are very different now with this storm hitting:
Sat/Sun Apr 27-28: I always like to spend at least one night on the snow, so I though Kidney Lake would be a sweet spot with various ski options. It is indeed a sweet spot, but the slog in from Horeshoe Meadows Rd is... a slog. The road is closed in Lower Horseshoe Meadows about 2 miles short of the Gibbs Lake trailhead, which took me almost an hour with a full overnight pack plus skis+boots on my back. From there it was another 45 min to an hour to get to snow line at 8,200'-ish. So total about 3 miles and 1,000' vert from road closure to continuous snow. From there it is a long gradual low angle slog to get to Gibbs Lake and more sustained slopes up to Kidney Lake. About 6 miles total to get to Kidney Lake at 10,400'; it was later in the day and I was more tuckered than anticipated when arriving, so after setting up camp I only mustered a few hundred feet of vert above camp on the north facing slopes of Gibbs before dinner. That 2-4" from last Friday had blown in to a solid 8" of new on at least the shady north-facing slope where I made a handful of turns. I honestly think those were the first legit pow turns of the season for me, since pretty much all my days this year were with my kids. Sunday morning I didn't dilly dally in heading up Kidney Chute before it got too baked. I think I hit it perfectly by topping out on the plateau at 10:00. The ride down was sheer bliss of slushy hot pow at the top transitioning to perfect thin corn layer in the apron.
Mon Apr 29: About 20 years was last time I tried Mt Wood and ended up aborting a few hundred vert from the summit in a whiteout storm that appeared out of nowhere, and the ski down was refrozen washboard, so conditions seemed ripe to give it a go again. Despite this year not being super big or cold, there is a north-facing creek gully fill with snow that drops down to Grant Lake on the lower flank of Wood that is only about a 15 min walk up a brushy slope to continuous snow. Starting a bit before sunrise was perfect timing, though on the way up I worried that starting even at 5:15am was too late. I took it quite slow and measured and was passed by a couple other solo dudes who whipped up past me. The sun exposure was super oppressive and it was hot and once you get to Parker Bench there is zero shade. But my timing ended up being just dandy. It was a bit of temperature whiplash to crest the summit and be blasted by a frigid wind that required a down jacket and warm gloves. The top bowl, which is very spacious, had large panels of untracked mush to surf. The whole continuous 5,500' ride down was about as perfect conditions as Sierra spring skiing could get. Finished off with a dunk in Grant Lake to cool off and a picnic lunch of sandwich with ice tea at Silver Lake resort looking up at Carson Peak. Gold star day!
On Tuesday I skied the morning at Mammoth, and that was not so great. Despite being bluebird with no clouds, there was a cold wind blasting all morning and nothing softened before I had to leave at lunch to drive back to SF except the very meager east-facing options. It made me appreciate how much Alpine/PT have so much more diverse slope exposure options than Mammoth, which almost entirely faces north (esp once the Canyon Lodge side of the mountain closes).
Some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/149099...7720316696640/
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e709e517_k.jpgUntitled by jswitzky, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9d1982b6_k.jpgUntitled by jswitzky, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...264b3586_k.jpgUntitled by jswitzky, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9e099840_k.jpgUntitled by jswitzky, on Flickr
is the road clear to twin lakes / mono village? not sure how these roads are maintained or where i would find the info, i have been so skunked before back here
mono village is open so i guess i answered my own question
STATE ROUTE 120 W UPDATE: The crew from the Caltrans District 9 Lee Vining maintenance station has broken through to the eastern entrance of Yosemite National Park. There is still a lot of work to be done and snow to clear before the highway can reopen.
Skied Emerson + Kindergarten Chute last Friday (5/3).
Decent conditions in both but approaches are melting fast...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu-ejFEuBBU
Thanks for sharing Ryan! I'm sure conditions changed after the storm over the weekend. I did Humphreys the weekend before and back then it was barely skinnable at the lower elevations. I'm trying to brainstorm for objectives this weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by ryaaaan
Which way did you approach for Emerson?
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Buttermilks side. Road was pretty rough in spots but got thru clean in a truckQuote:
Originally Posted by rod9301
Considering heading out Fri & Sat somewhere in the northern half of the zone, but unsure if I should be chasing leftover hot pow or corn?
Any recent beta on Mount Gabb and the surrounding area?
I was out west of the crest near that area last week (Seven Gables and Gemini area). Lake Italy should have plenty of snow if our zone was any indication. I could see the S side of Gabb in the distance. The S side appears to go and you could get to the summit this way. No idea if the N couloir goes, we couldn’t see it from where we were. I’d share a photo but having some issues posting photos on my phone right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by abcdethan
Edited: trying to post the photo now
Gabb is the peak just to the left of of akbruin
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Will be in the area next week for a bit of a road trip.
Arriving Sunday and staying in Mammoth a couple of nights. Probably doing something roadside Monday.
Tuesday through Thursday hopefully going to set a high camp up Rock Creek.
Friday hopefully roadside up Tioga pass (if they get the road open to the entrance).
Rolling solo so would welcome turns or drinks with people.
Well done boys. That was awesome to watch
obnoxiously high overnight lows into the weekend. I can't imagine even hot pow survives this, but I don't know if this is enough to cycle into corn either. guess we'll find frankensnow
If it doesn’t freeze at least the surface snow at night there won’t be corn
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Looks like there was a recent double fatality on Whitney (maybe?) on the mountaineers route. The LA Times story indicated that there were not a lot of details available yet. RIP.
From what I have been able to gather they fell somewhere on the final 400 then off the cliffs on the N face. Sad times.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
Edit: Scratch that, sounds like they were doing the traverse to avoid the final 400 and fell off that.
On State Route 120 W, maintenance crews from Lee Vining reached the gate of Yosemite National Park. They're continuing to clear snow from the road and shoulders. Before the highway can reopen, crews will need to make any necessary repairs to the pavement and guardrail, and clear all the rocks from the road that came down the hillsides this winter.
To find out what's happening inside the park, click this link: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view...I_4Cima3sPfHoy
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Were they hikers or climbing technical stuff, ie roped?Quote:
Originally Posted by CS
Otherwise hard to understand why both fell.
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According to a news article it was a couple. While I'm interested in hearing more technical details, as someone whose main mountain partner is their fiancee this hits the heart
Thanks @whatsupdoc! We got back from a 3 day trip partly inspired by you and Frank’s tour. I usually prefer light day missions but opted to haul a heavy pack instead. We were able to tick off N. Coulior of Gabb and ski a couple other lines. Attachment 493527Attachment 493528Attachment 493529Attachment 493530Quote:
Originally Posted by whatsupdoc
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Virginia Lakes Road is open
That spot at the top of the Whitney Mountaineers Route where one briefly crosses the top of Whitney's north slope is notoriously icy, and numerous people have died sliding off from that area. I have a running club friend who did the Mountaineers Route two weeks ago, and turned back just past the top of the gully (Strava shows him making it to 14175') because they didn't feel safe proceeding further high on the north slope.
Why two out of two died is indeed a good question, and makes me wonder if there was a snow patch on top of the ice that slid out for both of them.
^^^ nice! N Gabb looks sweet
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dis you or anyone you know?
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green creek plus hulk left. I really enjoy having the summer trails dry, makes for super straight-forward approaches. None of that skis on skis off nonsense. There was legit pow in dunderberg n couloir and great corn on green creek and hulk. We also nailed the green creek exit with minimal schwacking for once.
Anyone ever skied those N couloirs off the far south peak of Mt Walt at the south end of little slide canyon?
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Sonora Pass opening today
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120 open to the park
I got out to twin lakes last weekend and we made some mistakes. I'm not sure where in the plinko machine of objective selection, route selection, approach etc we went wrong... I think it starts with this photo that my buddy dredged up out of his dad's old photo album:
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he got in his head to recreate this pic his dad took with his bud in the mid 90s. "peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god" so of course i was down to come along and re-create it. it mentions matternhorn and walt, so after a bunch of time on maps i guessed that this was taken from the viewpoint marked below-- a little knob on the north shoulder of Walt -- it didnt have a name on maps so, after this past weekend, ive been calling it Misery Knob and it lived up to the name
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we approached from the north side and shot right up the chute drainage, which was first mistake as it was like a 3k 45 degree bootpack the whole way. fak
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we descended a chute that we didnt hike up and got plinko'd out into some extremely cliffy choked out terrain. like 100 yard snowpatches and then downclimbing through boulder chokes with ice axes in rotten undercut snow. fak
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last 800 vert of descent was completely melted out strep shitbush thwack, and after all that we didnt even get the shot right. FAK
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i think we were too low and needed to be up higher at the top of one of the hulky couloirs in the background of our photo. we were too smoked from the unexpected schwack and infinity bootpack to head higher. does anybody think they know where that original old pic was taken???
i did, however, get to watch the motherfrikken aurora from my tent so karma can be kind
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FKNA
The weak refreeze Saturday made for an early start but wood had great corn around 9:30-10
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A still lots of snow in the actual line and a whole lot more around Banner and north.
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Sunday was a magical day where the wind kept the corn window open well into the afternoon.
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Suncups are starting to show on flat areas but northerly lines were super smooth.