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Eastern Sierra BC 2022-23
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Here are some pictures of the Big Pine Creek zone from a very pleasant jaunt up Kid Mtn today.
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Beee-oooooooo-ti-fullllllll!! Really nice shots. Turns were .....?
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Lots of high quality northwest to northeast facing sheltered powder to be had at the moment
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Thx for update, hoping to get down there soon now that the van is dug out
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
PB
Beee-oooooooo-ti-fullllllll!! Really nice shots. Turns were .....?
Surprisingly good. 1500' of smooth, soft, chalky, wind-pressed snow off the top, 3k of mostly velvety pow below that back to the car. One section of sheltered tree pow was so good I had to lap it twice.
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Nice. I might be in the Lee Vining area next week visiting family, so here's hoping temps stay low.
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High quality stoke update, A.
Way to get it!
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Question for you folks! I've seen a lot of info about a deep weak layer in the snowpack from esravalanche and also seeing Bernie Rosow ripping big lines, is his risk tolerance really high? Is the deep layer pretty deep to be not as concerning now? Just curious. Been itching to come back to the Eastern Sierra's since visiting a few years ago...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
thejongiest
Question for you folks! I've seen a lot of info about a deep weak layer in the snowpack from esravalanche and also seeing Bernie Rosow ripping big lines, is his risk tolerance really high? Is the deep layer pretty deep to be not as concerning now? Just curious. Been itching to come back to the Eastern Sierra's since visiting a few years ago...
Yes, his risk tolerance is higher than most maggots. And yes, the Persistent Weak Layer at the base of the snowpack still exists but there hasn't been any skier related reported slides on it as of 3 pm Friday.
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^^ Agree, his risk tolerance is high. Coming from 6 seasons in Colorado, I get very wary with persistent layers. Too unpredictable, too destructive. Here's some pics from the Wheeler Crest today.
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What an incredible start to the season. FYI, I like to post pictures without captions because I know some people, myself included, prefer to try and self-identify zones, peaks, etc. But feel free to comment or PM if you have any questions.
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Here are some shitty cellphone pics from a very not shitty day of skiing. This season has been unreal so far, similar to '16-'17
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Emerson/Piute Crags looking tempting
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Fine day today, was able to stay out of the wind & get some gaper laps in
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some fun shit around town as the storm rolled in...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
PowerWhore7
Please tell me you sent that split ski style. That would be all time hard core.
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
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Visited the other Eastside mountains yesterday. Shitty snow but nice trees
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeb McHardman
Whites?
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
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If you want some eye candy, check out the the June Lake Loop surrounding mountains from my roof
The Loop Cam
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
MagnificentUnicorn
Yep
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Noticed the good sized slide on McGee yesterday as I was driving by. The debris traveled well out into the flats.
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McGee from a different angle. The coverage looks amazing.
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Wow - deep to the road and fingers crossed for more storms of course. Thanks for posting the pics!
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how about a reminder. When does corn season start?
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Hopefully not for 3-4 months :cool:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
thefrush
You cover some ground kid. The wind sculpting in the alpine is nutty. Its gonna be an amazing spring on the East Side!
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It was a good week! About 40K of touring. :cool: Yes, Spring is going to be amazing.
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Right on, great shots & thanks for the beta. Traded north upslope wind for North offshore wind the past week or so but will poking around the rest of the month so maybe I'll run into ya :smile:
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I've been fortunate enough to have spent a few days down on the east side the past 2 weeks. Here are some pics. It's fantastic to have a deep snow pack back in CA.
Day 1 was Jan 24 with somethingclever and 1 other. We decided to ski the E Gully of the Wheeler Crest above Swall Meadows. The E and N winds had done a number on the snow, so the skiing was mostly variable. We did have a couple thousand feet of smooth supportable wind board, which skied quite well. There was a bit of soft snow here and there, but also plenty of breakable and wind affected snow. Still, a beautiful day in a new zone to all of us, so no complaints.
We were able to skin from Swall Meadows and ski right back to the vehicles:
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The climb went pretty smoothly. Ski crampons were mandatory. We transitioned to boots for a long section of supportable crust, only to be forced back to skins by breakable wind board over deep soft snow. 1 final transition to boots had us on top.
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The ski down was challenging at times, but as mentioned previously, the long sections of supportable crust were edgeable and skied quite well. somethingclever in the black jacket.
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One more pic from day 1:
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Day 2 was the following day, we headed to Lee Vining to ski above V Bowl. We added 1 snowboarder to the crew. We had our eye on possibly skiing the E Gully of East Peak, but settled on one of the Fruit Chutes after getting below them. The skiing was better than the day prior, but still a bit variable. The chute itself was mostly supportable wind board. There was some awful sastrugi at the very top and some pockets of soft snow, but the wind board was edgeable and skied well enough. We did a short skin up to ski all of V Bowl. V Bowl was fun. Mostly soft snow with some occasional wind crust and frozen tracks beneath to keep us honest.
Morning light on the Dana Plateau:
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Going up:
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Going down:
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A short skin up to get amazing views of the Plateau chutes:
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Good skiing in V Bowl:
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Aaaaand, back at the car:
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Day 3 for me was Monday January 30. It had snowed just before heading down there, and it was forecasted to be very cold. We decided on the June Lake area as it would afford us a variety of options and safe terrain below treeline. We got lucky as June had more snow than anywhere it seems during that last storm. There was 8-12 inches of fresh, very light snow, and pretty much zero wind effect where we were skiing. Only 1 of us has an Ikon Pass, so we couldn't get a lift bump. Thus, we skinned up Yost Creek towards Hemlock Mountain. We skied some NE facing trees on lap 1. Lap 2 was similar terrain, although we snuck into a steeper gully for the second half of the run. The snow was excellent. Dust on crust, but the dust was pretty deep and light, and sometimes the snow felt bottomless. No avy concerns besides loose sluffs. Lap 3 was in the Ghost Trees and then back down to the cars. Stellar day with no bad turns.
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After a brief respite in Tahoe, I drove back down for what we hoped was going to be a big day on Wednesday Feb 1. I was joined by somethingclever and 2 split boarders. We had our eye on Scheelite Chute in Pine Creek. It's a line I've always wanted to ski. It seems notorious for being difficult to find it in good conditions. It has a tendency to shed when it warms up. When I drove past it to give it a look in 2017, it had massive amounts of avy debris at its base. We were hoping to find a couple of inches of soft snow on crust, but not too much new snow given that it was going to warm up for the first time since the last storm. We were fortunate to have pretty damn good conditions on the line. The steeper, upper chute to the ridge was mostly firm, with some pockets of softer snow. After the steeper upper section, it gave way to a couple inches of pow or hot pow on a stout crust. There was still a small amount of debris to dodge, but overall the conditions were great, especially for such a big line. It has more than 6K relief from bottom to top.
The ascent went quickly until the steeper, upper chute. The booting up here was exhausting, but we topped out surprisingly in under 6 hours. After a brief rest and transition, we began our descent, all of us with tired legs. It was the biggest day all season for every one of us. We were elated however when we reached the car and realized we had scored with such a cool line in pretty damn good conditions.
Skinning:
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Booting:
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Topping out:
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My last day was the day after Scheelite. We lost 1 split boarder to family duties. We were tired and settled on a mellower day on McGee Mountain. None of us had ever skied there. It was a fun day for sure in new terrain. Lots of options on McGee. We skied one of the NE bowls. The top was nice dust on crust. We did 2 laps on the upper mountain. The middle was highly variable. We found good snow again on the lower mountain and skied right back to the vehicles. When attempting to start the drive home I realized I had left my lights on and my battery was dead. After a jump start from somethingclever we all drove home to Tahoe, quite satisfied with a fine trip down south.
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