Lone Pine Skiing!

Enough about my job, lets talk skiing!

Last week I got in a little routine of getting up at 4:30 and heading out for short ski tours above Lone Pine. I loved these dawn patrols. The morning light is always beautiful and starting in the dark with a headlamp added to the sense of adventure.

I was camped at Lone Pine Campground and made the short drive to snow on the Whitney Portal Road. After twenty minutes or so of skiing on the road I reached the hairpin turn and entered a broad gully to the north I call Hairpin Canyon although it probably has another local name.

The main canyon is wide and moderate:


Once you enter the canyon, several small, north facing drainages feed down from the ridge south of the canyon. This is the first run you get to when you enter the canyon. The first color was lighting the high clouds nicely. I skied this Wednesday 2/27.

The morning light on the fan provides a nice texture. You can see this run has a nice pitch to it.

I topped out on the ridge and enjoyed the views to Lone Pike Peak.

On Friday I found this little gem. It's the second major drainage in the canyon.

The snow in these sheltered gullies was soft, faceted snow with perhaps a little graupel and provided some real fun skiing! The snow in the main canyon was smooth frozen corn which was pleasant skiing in its own right. I had a great time skiing these shots!