2016/17 in California, a season photo TR

In contrast to this season (so far at least), 2016/17 was absolutely epic here in the Sierra. AKbruin's rad TR (https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...rra-A-Memorial) inspired me to share some of my photos from last season as well. Many of these can be found in the Eastside and Tahoe threads, but what the hell, it's nice to have them all in 1 place.

Here are some highlights from last season.

November 25, 2016: Mt. Rose area. 1st turns of the season with AKbruin. Some pow, some sharks.

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December 17, 2016: Mt. Rose area with AKbruin. Fun meadow skipping in the sun.

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December 18, 2016: Carson Pass to KW with AKbruin. Cold as hell, and nothing but wind board, but a great day out nonetheless.

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December 28, 2016: Bridgeport with somethingclever and 1 other. We bailed on our objective (Doodad couloir) due to stability concerns and skied mostly breakable crust back to the car. But hey, we were in the Eastern Sierra!

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December 29, 2016: Virginia Lakes with somethingclever. Skied South Peak. Bluebird day, good snow, no complaints. Some random dude on the skin track:

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January 15, 2017. Job's Peak Jaws Couloir with AKbruin and 1 other. My first big day of the season. I flew to CO for a few days prior to this to do a hut trip with some buds. Skied fun, mellow pow in CO. I remember landing in Reno, seeing all of the snow down to the valley, and realizing it was game on!

Skinning in a surreal fog:
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Above the clouds:

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Skiing:

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Nothing like skiing to Gardnerville:

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January 24, 2017: Angora Peak with 2 non-mags. Amazing pow day.

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January 25, 2017: Trimmer Peak. Another amazing pow day. My original partner bailed after 1 lap to work so I hooked up with 2 strangers visiting from WA who turned out to be great partners and we skied 2 more laps together.

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January 28, 2017. Mt. Tom with AKbruin. We skied to Rovana. Best day ever?

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Probably my favorite photo of the season:

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January 29, 2017: Myself and 1 other non-mag skied Basin Mountain from the Buttermilks. Bailed a couple hundred feet from the top due to wind slabs. The NE couloir/bowl itself was variable but everything from the moraine down was perfect pow. Unreal to ski past the boulders at the Buttermilks.

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January 30, 2017: Skied the NE face/bowl of Mini Morrison with 2 non-mags. Awesome pow in the line.

Synchronized skinning:

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Nice view of the Pinner:

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January 31, 2017: Esha Peak. We bailed about 100 feet below the ridge due to stability concerns. Skinned in from the road which made for a long but rewarding day. Mostly variable snow but a gorgeous day.

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February 1, 2017: Nice day on Red Mountain. Still found untracked soft snow before the next storm rolled in.

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February 13, 2017: Birch Mountain SE face/gullies. I skied this the day after AKbruin did, but the wind had its way with the snow the night before because it was mostly variable. Some decent soft pockets here and there. My partner flew a speed wing from the top so I don't have any skiing photos and none of the climbing shots were that good, so here's a summit shot:

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February 15, 2017: Janine's Ridge in Tahoe with somethingclever and 1 other. Fun day. Mostly good soft snow. Here's somethingclever skiing above Granite Lake:

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February 25, 2017: Tungstar Bowls with AKbruin. We thought we might find pow. We found lots of windboard and a healthy dose of breakable crust. It looks better than it was:

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February 27, 2017: Mt. Tallac. Awesome soft snow and great views. Outstanding day.

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March 1, 2017: E Face of Flagpole Peak. It wasn't our first choice (kind of a long story) but it worked out splendidly. Another great pow day.

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March 3, 2017: Pinner Couloir on Laurel Mountain with AKbruin and 1 other (not sure if he's on TGR). We were surprised by awesome corn in the line. Fantastic day. A highlight for me.

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1 more from the Pinner:

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March 9, 2017: N Couloir of Norman Clyde Peak. The snow was mostly variable, but oh man, what a line.

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March 12, 2017: Unnamed couloir just up the road from Scheelite. We made a wrong turn about half way up, climbed around 900 feet, and had to turn back due to water ice. We turned around a couple hundred feet from the top of the correct line due to rapid warming. But it was still 5500 feet or so of fun couloir skiing and dodging avy debris.

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March 13, 2017: Emerald Chute with somethingclever. This is why I live in the mountains, to ski a line like this before work.

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March 17, 2017: SE Chute on Mt. Gibbs. Awesome line, perfect corn, what more can you ask for?

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1 more from Gibbs, walking out back to the car:

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March 19, 2017: E Face of Mt. Tinemaha with AKbruin and 2 others. Outstanding day on a killer mountain. Mostly good corn. A definite highlight for me.

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Skinning beneath Birch Mountain:

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March 20, 2017: SE Gully of Slide Mountain. The wind was awful up high so we skipped the summit and only skied the gully itself, but the corn was excellent.

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Another one from Slide Mountain:

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March 23, 2017: Attempted to ski the SE face of The Thumb. Winds were absolutely horrendous and there was a wind slab on the small gully that accesses the main face, so we bailed. Skied mostly breakable and wind board back to the car, but the lower 1/4 or so was pretty good corn. The sunrise was pretty:

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April 1, 2017: E Face of Mt. Morrison with AKbruin, Dhelihiker and 1 other (not sure if he's on here). Such a cool day. Excellent line, good snow, a little spice, and a fine crew.

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April 4, 2017: E Face of Mt. Lewis with somethingclever and 1 other. Awesome corn top to bottom and skiing off the summit proper made for another very memorable day.

North side of Mt. Wood at sunrise:

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April 6, 2017: E Face of University Peak. The weather started out good enough but the storm arrived early and we skied this one in bad visibility and high winds. The lower 1500 feet or so was good corn however.

Skiing in a developing storm:

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April 10, 2017: Job's Sister N Face. We approached from High Meadows Rd and linked it up to Trimmer. Cool day. Trimmer had good pow but Job's Sister was wind affected.


Skiing the lower N bowl of Job's Sister:

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April 14, 2017: NE Couloir of Mt. Langley with Claymond and Cosmic Suncloud. Great line on a 14er. A very memorable day. Pretty damn good snow the whole way.

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Skiing on Langley:

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April 25, 2017: E Face of Mt. Gould. It took longer than expected to soften up, but it ended up skiing very well. The views from the top are second to none.

Looking W from the summit ridge:

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April 27, 2016: SE Face of Mt. Ritter. Definitely a highlight for me. Great corn, iconic mountain, but quite the slog.


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Minarets:

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April 29, 2017: NE Gully on Basin Mountain, this time in corn, and we topped out the line. The gully itself was a bit firm but everything from the moraine on down was money corn.

Starting in the sage:
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More from Basin:

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April 30, 2017: SE Chute of Mt. Baldwin with AKbruin and a crew of 3 more. Hot as hell, but the corn was still delicious.

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May 1, 2017: S Face of Split Mountain with AKbruin and 2 others. Damn, what a day. One of the most memorable days of the season for me. Rad mountain, prominent line, big day, good corn, and an outstanding crew.

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Cardinal Mountain, drool:

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May 2, 2017: Grand Central Couloir on Mt. Morgan North with somethingclever, AKbruin, and 2 others. I was pretty beat after Split, but this was worth waking up early for (again). It was quite warm but the corn was mostly good.

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2 more from Mt. Morgan N:

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May 3, 2017: NE Face of Esha Peak. Corn this time, and we topped out. The refreeze was pretty poor. Corn was mostly good, although the last 1500 feet or so back to the creek was pretty manky.

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Crossing the creek on the way back:

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May 4, 2017: E Face of University Peak. This time the sun was out. Shitty refreeze once again. The upper elevations skied well, but the last 1500 feet or so back to the car was glue.

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Skiing on University:

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May 9, 2017: Carson Pass to Kirkwood via the S face of Roundtop with somethingclever. Solid day, corn was f'in outstanding.

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May 25, 2017: A failed solo attempt to ski the N Couloir on Darwin and the N Couloir on Lamarck in a day. I made it over Lamarck Col but the sun never really came out from behind the clouds and the winds were way worse than expected. Thus, the snow on N aspects didn't soften in time. I figured skiing bulletproof steep snow 8 miles from the car alone wasn't a smart move, so I turned around on the apron of Darwin and skied the mellow E face of Lamarck on the way back.

Sunrise at Upper Lamarck Lake:

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Darwin and Mendel. Man, I've got to get back there.

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May 27, 2017. A great day on the Dana Plateau with gimpy and JayTe. We approached from Powerhouse. I skied Ripper and Powerhouse, snow was excellent. I photographed gimpy skiing the 3rd Pillar Chute as well but I didn't ski this line. I had to be back in Tahoe by 5 and passed on the opportunity. This may have been a mistake...

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gimpy skiing the 3rd Pillar Chute:
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June 4, 2017: Cat Ears Couloir on Mt. Dade with AKbruin. Rad day! Great line. The suncups on the ski out were a bit of a bummer.

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June 13, 2017: I skied the N couloir on Mt. Johnson, solo. I warmed up on a SE facing line across the canyon before skiing the couloir from the notch. Views from the notch were fantastic. The line itself skied well but the suncups on the ski out were horrendous. Not many pictures were taken, but here's a couple pics of the lines:

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June 30, 2017: My last day of the season. I skied the Hotlum Wintun on Shasta, solo. Once again, corn was pretty damn good. A fine way to end a dream season. Summit pano, complete with random climber sporting the long underwear and shorts combo:

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Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the TR. Here's to a Miracle March in 2018!

Great TR, really good photos!

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I think this one is my fave.
Strong work, thanks. The snow this year in the San Juan's blows and pics from last year help to ease the pain.

So good. I love reliving last year, particularly since this year has been intensely overwhelming.

That said, 48" at Mammoth yesterday! I think it's about to be on again!

This one of B is great:
https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...4&d=1519961385

Wow, that is just about a life time of lines (for most of us) in one season...well played.

Great photos as well, thank you.

Craziness

Just read both whatupdoc and AKBruin’s TR’s. I’m dupla-posting the same comment to both. Both were equally awesome, and cuz, well, I’m lazy. Thanks for posting – really great stuff, so many awesome lines and pics. I know that musta took some effort to put together. You guy’s killed it last year. Props. A lot of folks would take a lifetime to do as much as y’all did. Great routes. Brought back some good memories, as well as jealousy and making me look forward to stuff still on my ticklist (Tinemaha, S side of Split, etc… hope the march miracle continues and hits down south so the East side is good this year).

Your TR's are what the Sierra’s are all about. Every year should be last year. Thanks again for sharing.

Sooo good. Thanks for the share. A lot of banger pics in there

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mr. hankey

Just read both whatupdoc and AKBruin’s TR’s. I’m dupla-posting the same comment to both. Both were equally awesome, and cuz, well, I’m lazy. Thanks for posting – really great stuff, so many awesome lines and pics. I know that musta took some effort to put together. You guy’s killed it last year. Props. A lot of folks would take a lifetime to do as much as y’all did. Great routes. Brought back some good memories, as well as jealousy and making me look forward to stuff still on my ticklist (Tinemaha, S side of Split, etc… hope the march miracle continues and hits down south so the East side is good this year).

Your TR's are what the Sierra’s are all about. Every year should be last year. Thanks again for sharing.

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Thanks man. Hope to see you out there again. (Also, let's hope there's enough snowpack for a spring season this year.)

Killer.