Beta request - Skiing/cimbing/camping - June Lake/Mammoth & Bishop area

[Boissal]

Lady-friend and I are heading to the Eastside in a few days for a week of skiing and climbing. I've been mining guidebooks for a few weeks and can't seem to settle on a plan, mostly because the place is stacked and I want to ski/climb EVERYTHING but also because I don't have a good feel for the snow conditions (even though I follow the Eastside thread religiously).
Can knowledgeable mags provide beta/suggestions/feedback on the plan? It's my first venture out there and I don't want to botch it, my worry is to try to hit too many spots and end up driving 50% of the time...

This may not be the best forum btw but I don't want to pollute the Sierra Eastside thread with walls of text...

The tentative plan is to set-up shop around June Lake or Mammoth for the first half then go down to Bishop for the second half. I'd like to alternate ski days and climbing days (or do both if we need to be up at 2AM to time things well for the corn harvest) and ideally not have to drive more than 1 hour away from camp to get after it.

It seems like from June Lake we can quickly access anything between Bridgeport and Bloody Mtn (again I want to ski all the things but Bloody Couloir seems like a mandatory tick) and for climbing easily access stuff between the Tioga road (however much is opened), all of the Mammoth areas, and the eastern hills if it's cold.

Once we move down to Bishop we can still roam north to mammoth and go down as far as Big Pine and climb/ski everything that looks appealing.

Camping recommendations around June Lake (or Mammoth if it makes more sense) and Bishop? Found tons of options online but again, nothing beats the feedback of people who've been there. We don't need an established campground but I won't throw a fit if there's a bathroom and running water. Bonus points for being close to hot springs or a lake. Extra bonus points for free, awesome scenery, on-site brewery, etc...

Skiing recommendations? I got the latest guidebook and again, everything looks great. I think I need to limit ascents to under 4K since lady-friend got worked by the elevation on a recent tour in the Uintas and I don't want her to tell me to fuck off when I ask her to marry me after a death march. Bloody looks great but again, I' psyched standing on top of any peak, harvesting any amount of corn, or skiing any chutes. GF crushes the steeps and has big balls so chuting is also an option,

Climbing recommendations? Not the best forum for this although I know some of you are getting after it on the choss. I started making a list but gave up after realizing I wanted to do half the routes in the guidebook. I'm climbing like a turd these days but mellow long trad is the main goal (up to mid/hard 10). Cardinal Pinnacle is the one thing on the must-do list and I'd also like to climb tuft (at least a day at the ORG, Clark). Pine Creek, Horseshoe Lake, Rock Creek all looks great.

Misc stuff? Must-do eateries and watering holes? Awesome hot springs? Number of King Cobras I absolutely MUST drink?

Thanks for any advice, I'll supply a good TR when I get back!

[whatsupdoc]

Skiing:

- Bloody Couloir is definitely worthy. You'll need a 4WD high clearance vehicle to drive the approach road (unless you want to walk the road which is not unreasonable but at least a few miles).
- To minimize approach distance on dry ground Rock Creek, South Lake (out of Bishop), and Virginia Lakes all have good skiing without too much dry walking right now. I imagine Onion Valley doesn't have too far of a walk either. June Lake area is pretty burned out. McGee Creek has a pretty long walk to snow. Something like Red Slate out of Convict Lake probably has plenty of snow up high but is definitely in the 'death march' category if done in a day. It can be done in an overnight as well to make it easier. I imagine there's plenty of snow up high in places like Big Pine. But you'll be dry hiking a while and it's pretty far back there.
- The snow is getting pretty sun cupped below 11K.
- We haven't been getting great refreezes lately. If the refreeze is marginal, plan on early starts.
- If the E gate to HWY 120 opens to Tioga Lake, you absolutely have to hit the Tioga Pass area. Solstice Couloir off Dana is a great run. Combine that with 1 or 2 more runs off the Dana Plateau. A common shuttle is to ski something off Dana like Solstice, walk up to the plateau, and ski Ellery Bowl (or 1 of the chutes in this zone) down to a waiting car. Easy day too. You could climb in the afternoon after that. Not too hard to hitchhike either back up to Tioga Lake if you don't have a 2nd car. Usually there's enough skiers around when the gate opens.
- False White is a classic moderate tour if 120 opens. The Conness area would be rad too.
- Matterhorn area out of Bridgeport is a pretty sweet zone. It's a longish day though.
- If skiing the E side isn't doing it for you, Shasta is always a great option this time of year.

Climbing:


- Cardinal Pinnacle is definitely sweet. The W face route is a great 4 pitch 10a. Very friendly. Crack Kingdom is amazing and worthy as well at 10c. If I had 1 day I'd do Crack Kingdom. P3 is awesome! P2 has some wide on it. V8 Crack is a cool 1 pitch line too. This area gets morning shade and afternoon sun.
- Gong Show Wall out of Rock Creek is worthy. It gets afternoon shade after about 1-2 pm. It bakes in the sun. I'd wait until afternoon. Climb there after an easy ski day. There are 3 really good granite sport climbs in the 10 range. Wages of Skin is an amazing trad climb. I found it a bit hard for 10d (took a good whip at the crux) but it's very well protected. Plenty of harder stuff here as well.
- Clark is a cool place to spend a day. I think it'll be cooler this time of year than the ORG. Clark's rock has more pockets if that's your thing.
- Pine Creek has SO much climbing and I would try to get there. It would be my #2 climbing destination besides Cardinal Pinnacle. The Scheelite Canyon area is packed with classics. Sheila is one of the better 10a trad climbs you'll find anywhere. Bring a #6 if you have one! Rites of Spring is a fun 4 pitch 10d trad route. It's a bit grovelly in places and there's some grainy rock here and there, but it's still a good climb.
- Horseshoe Piles out of Mammoth is definitely worthy of a day, but I'm not sure how much snow will be on the ground. It's a short approach and has a bunch of fun granite sport climbs that are close to one another. Dike Wall is a super rad crag (better than the Horseshoe area IMO) but again, I'm not sure if the snow will be sufficiently melted yet, especially on the N side. If you do go to Dike Wall, bring your trad rack. Black Dihedral is really one of the only trad climbs there, but it's good.


Camping:

There are a lot of places you can bivy for free. If you want a camp site with a bathroom you'll probably have to pay. You can sleep in your car at the trailheads for most skiing areas (Tioga, Rock Creek, South Lake, VA lakes). Some of them have pit toilets at the trailheads, some don't. The green church road (that's not the real name - I don't remember the real name but there's a green church at the corner) off 395 near the Mammoth airport has a bunch of hot springs and lots of places to sleep. It can get a bit crowded. Plenty of places to eat in Mammoth and Bishop. Mammoth Brewery is a fun place to hang out, drink a beer, and play corn hole. The Mountain Rambler Brewery in Bishop is the new place to hang out and drink a beer in Bishop if you're a climber/skier/hiker.

[AKbruin]

For skiing, I'd stay high and focus on shorter approaches: South Lake, Buttermilks, Tioga Pass, Virginia Lakes. There are a lot of lines that you could still ski with lower starts, but the approaches are gonna suck. Plan on early starts and early finishes.

You might consider a few days in the Buttermilks. It has stunning scenery, free BLM camping, great bouldering (I'm told), and, if you have a high-clearance 4x4, access to kick-ass skiing.


Bring your season passes because Mammoth is giving other passholders 50% off and, as of Memorial Day Weekend, still had a ton of terrain open.

[whatsupdoc]

To clarify about my post, Rock Creek has good snow coverage, but it's quite a long walk on the flats to get to the skiing. S Lake, VA Lakes, & Tioga area (if the gate is open) will have the shortest approaches.

[LightRanger]

If Highway 108 opens, Sonora Pass has great ski options with almost no approach. There's climbing out there too, at lower elevations on the West Slope. Long drive from Mammoth area though.

Owens River Gorge has fun sport climbing if there's a super cold day up high or you just feel like climbing sport. Deadman Summit between Mammoth and June has a bunch of random FS roads that access excellent dry camping. Should be melted out by now. The aforementioned Benton Crossing Road (green church) spots with hot springs are good too. Down near Bishop, we used to used to camp here when it was free: https://www.outdoorproject.com/adven...pit-campground BLM has since improved it.

[Boissal]

Thanks a bunch everyone!

We're driving an Element on this trip so no high-clearance, one of the reason I had taken the Buttermilks off the list (that and my knees are too shitty to boulder much these days).
Re: bloody, I'm reading that it's 5.5 miles and 5.5k to top out without driving, sounds almost reasonable... I just saw a TR from a couple of weeks ago which makes it look really good.
Re: Tioga / Sonora, both are still closed with no updates on opening time. Are the gates super low on either road or can you drive up a ways? Google seems to show the gate being fairly low buit I seem to remember a buddy telling me that even when Tioga is closed you can drive a ways up to get to Saddlebag road which opens earlier for fishing. That would gives us an access point to 10k, similar to Virginia, etc... but if that's not the case Virginia area looks like there is plenty to do!

At this point looks like we might find a spot just south of June Lake on the west side of 395, there are some free FS campsites with minimal amenities which may or may not be opened and go from there. How much of a concern are bears at this time?

[LightRanger]

The lower gate is still closed at Tioga, so no drive up higher to Saddlebag.

Sonora is opening tomorrow, June 9, per CalTrans. It's fat. South of the Highway on No Name Peak (immediately south of the top of the pass) and the Leavitt Peak area are quite good.

There's a popular doing car shuttle to park at the pass, ski out to Leavitt, hit the Y Couloir (super obvious line), and then ski down to Deadman Creek and hit the road farther down to the west. Depends on creek snow bridging/flow. You could probably do that and then hitch back up. Not a crazy walk if you had to do it in ski boots, IIRC

[Boissal]

Balls, I don't have any beta on Sonora, guess we'll go at it with the topo map. Lady friend begrudgingly agreed to try Bloody, it'd going to be a lovely sandbag!