Scott's Eastside Blog

Mammoth Lakes Basin Grand Tour

2012-01-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

I got the ok from my boss to take the day off yesterday to go skiing with my friends Anne, Jed and Alex.

Jed hatched a plan for a full day tour of the Mammoth Lakes Basin, starting at the normal winter road end near Twin Lakes, then skiing Hammil Bowl, TJ Bowl, and Crystal Bowl.

Here we are checking beacons and displaying colorful skis.

After a couple of hours we emerged from the forest into the Hammil Bowl area, with howling winds over the crest, but only occasional gusts lower.

All smiles at the top of our first run of the day.

We dug a test pit to ascertain what the snow pack was like and found a few inches of very weak facets at the bottom of the snow pack, so we stuck to low angle slopes for the most part.

Alex enjoyed the nice, soft snow here - as we all did!Looking up after the first few hundred feet.
We continued down to Hammil Lake then skinned up to the TJ bowl area.

We skipped the "main attraction" and skied the trees just east, which held great snow.

Jed liked it quite a lot.

Jed got this nice pic of me skiing just above TJ Lake.
We then climbed up to the saddle south of Crysal Crag.
Skied down to Crysal Lake and out the waterfall to George Lake.

Here's Jed shooting out of the waterfall onto the apron, where we found our only less-than-ideal snow.
Of course he made it look easy.

So much scenery, so much fun, and so much snow - at least compared to what we had a week ago!

Red Cone Shoulder

2012-01-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

Snow!

After a great, stormy day riding lifts on Saturday, Anne and I ventured into the snowy backcountry in the Mammoth Lakes Basin.

We headed up to the eastern flank of Red Cone following a well crafted skin track put in by a pair of friendly locals.

Fine skiing was had with about six inches of light snow over a denser base.

We took three runs in the open glades enjoying the changing views from the top as the next storm gathered force to the west.
The backside of Mammoth just to the north.
More great glade skiing.
Topped off by shooting out of the enchanting forest.
Yes.

Mountain Biking

2012-01-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

We still have no snow.

None.

Feeling the need for a little adventure, I've visited a couple of out of the way spots for some great mountain biking lately.

Last weekend I hooked up with my buddy Jim and we rode up into the Bodie Hills from his home in Mono City.

In no time we were climbing in the open Pinon forest with spectacular views of the Mono Basin.

We visited a nice spring where the vivid green distinctly contrasted with the pervasive browns and golds.
A nearby cabin provided an interesting diversion.

We enjoyed a little serene valley cruising.
Then plunged back down to Mono City.
This weekend I ventured into one of the many seldom visited regions in our area - the Northern Inyo Mountains (or is that the Sourthern White Mountains?)

Got to get a pic of my ride in here.
Most of the ride was spent traversing these beautiful valleys.

With occasional jaw dropping views of the Sierra.

Eventually arriving at the southwestern rim of Deep Springs Valley.
I very much enjoyed the raw beauty and remoteness here.

Pleasant Valley Ride

2012-01-06T10:58:00.001-08:00

Now that I am working in Bishop again, I feel the need to re-explore the back roads on the outskirts of town.

Yesterday I headed northwest to Pleasant Valley.

First along the Bishop Canal then along an old abandoned canal.

Pleasant Valley lived up to its name.

Tule tunnel!
I eventually arrived at the confluence of McGee Creek and Horton Creek.
As you can see the weather was also quite pleasant.

Maybe too pleasant.

The riding, on the other hand, was only pleasant in certain stretches, while others were decidedly unpleasant, with sand and cobbles.

But I cannot complain, since those sandy, cobbley, roads brought me to Pleasant Valley!

Enjoying the Lemonade on New Years Day

2012-01-01T18:22:00.001-08:00

If your a skier like me, the weather this year has been far too dry, but like the old adage goes "If life gives you lemons make lemonade."

So while the skiing has been lackluster at best, the cycling has been great. We enjoyed temps in the 60s, light wind, and bright sunshine today for a ride out Round Valley way.

The crew today consisted of Monica, Mary, and I.

Round Valley was serene - as it usually is.
On the way up Vanadium Ranch Road we came across this very tame young buck.
The ladies had their climbing legs going and rode all the way up Pine Creek Road to Huarte Creek.
I was feeling the need for a long spin so I tacked on a jaunt up to Plant 4 on Bishop Creek on the way home.
This was the peaceful scene at Plant 4.
This pleasant little canyon cradles Bishop Creek below Plant 4.
The alfalfa fields south of town were almost as smooth as a putting green!
Wow!

It sure felt great to cruise the road bike and see the sites.

I wish I was skiing cold, fluffy powder, but the lemonade was pretty darn sweet just the same.

The Last Camp (for work)

2011-12-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

This was my last week working down on Owens Lake as I have transferred to a new position in Bishop, hence it was my last week camping down in the Alabama Hills - for work anyhow.

I camped in one of my favorite spots and awoke early to enjoy a stroll and scramble through the incredible landscape.

Lone Pine Peak was standing tall and grand.You would be hard pressed to take a bad photo with the golden morning light, the fantastic rock formations, and the Sierra backdrop.

Home, very sweet home away from home!

Waking up in these hills and hiking at dawn before work was a joy I was blessed to experience over and over again. I will surely miss it.

Mammoth Christmas

2011-12-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Mary and I spent Christmas up in Mammoth with my mother.

Since it is winter, and during winter we are supposed to ski, we decided to head to Mammoth Mountain for a little lift skiing despite the dearth of snow.
Our strategy was to get to the slopes early for the fresh corduroy and uncrowded slopes.

Fourth chair on Stump, Christmas morning!
Just to make things interesting and dork it up a bit, I skied my cross country skis (with edges and waxless pattern) and my old root beer T3 boots.

For the most part the groomer skiing was good solid fun.

Coverage was decent and there was little hard snow.
The early morning winter light was nice too.
Sheesh.
Besides the man made snow on the ski runs, there is very little snow elsewhere.

By 10:30 or 11:00 the place started getting busy, so we decided to call it a day and ride the gondola to the top for a little sight seeing.

The sights were grand, but depressingly dry.
We managed to get up early and skied Saturday, Sunday, and Monday mornings, enjoying the sensations of sliding on snow.

Merry Christmas!

Bakersfield Cyclocross

2011-12-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Nemo and I loaded up the truck and the Scamp to head over the hills to Bakersfield for more good Cyclocross fun.

Since Mary didn't make the trip there are no pics of me racing, but I managed to get around the course and take a few of Nemo goin' at it.

Getting ready to remount - watch the kick!

Nemo rode with his usual aplomb.
I loved the big oaks around the course.
I was not so in love with this incredibly steep run up, although I thought it was a great feature.

Fast, hard, and bumpy.

Nemo battled for a fine 4th place in the 35+ A's.

I got a great start, running second for the first lap, but the rugged run ups and strong compeition took their toll, gradually falling back to fifth by the end of the race.

Good enough for a podium spot and $15!!!
Yeah!

L.A. Cyclocross

2011-12-09T07:26:00.001-08:00

I am still fairly lame about blog posting.

Gonna try to pick it up a bit here.

Mary and I went to L.A. for some super fun cyclocross racing last weekend.

The race was held at the Downtown Historic Park, which seemed to have no real history involved, although it was apparently an old railroad switching yard.

Nick and his family joined us both Saturday and Sunday.

They were an awesome rooting section for him!

Here are the juniors line up and ready to start.

Nick's bent over in the second row.

The two race leaders somehow got off course Saturday, so Nick was leading briefly.

He rode a real strong race and finished third.
I dropped down to the 45+ Cat 3/4 group and found myself battling for 3rd Saturday and 2nd Sunday in fields over 20 guys. Kinda made some tactical errors and ended up 6th and 5th, but oh man was it exciting to be in the hunt for a podium finish!

Here I am getting ready to remount after the log runup.
As usual, there were lots of tight, twisty corners requiring constant concentration.

We all enjoyed decidedly un-cyclocross weather.

I sported shorts and tees both afternoons.

Nick and I were stoked with the whole deal!

Saturday we stuck around for the pro races.

Here the women were feted with a traditional Chinese dragon dance before their start.
After Nicole Duke flatted the battle shaped up between Julie Krasniak, Sue Butler, and Meredith Miller.
The racing in the second group was tight too.
Miller rode a smart race, letting Krasniak set the pace early and Butler later, then attacked on the last lap to drop Butler and take the win.
The men's race was exciting too.

Ben Berden had the intense race face going on the start line.
The men's race quickly boiled down to five men: Tim Johnson, Ben Berden, Chris Jones, Chris Sheppard, and Alan Krughoff.

Early on Krughoff set the pace, shown here with T Johnson on his wheel.
Cody Kaiser, one of the top Under 23 racers in the country, chased hard, but never quite bridged up to the leading five.
Like Miller in the women's race, Tim Johnson let the others do the pace making for the most part, with Krughoff leading the pack early and Sheppard on the front frequently mid race.

Sheppard put in a couple hard attacks late in the race to no avail.

Then, on the last lap, Tim Johnson played his cards with a huge dig that blew the lead pack apart.

Berden was able to hang in there for a bit, but yet another surge by TJ dropped him too.

Good stuff!

Good times as both a fan and a racer!!

Cyclocross!!!

2011-10-18T07:50:00.001-07:00

Wow!

It's been a few months since I have updated this.

Cyclocross season is upon us and I've been racing every weekend now for a month.

Last weekend Nemo, Nick and I went down to Irvine for Spooky Cross, racing both Saturday and Sunday in tough, competitive fields.

We set up a nice little zone in the parking lot.
The pic order is kinda random.

Here am I running up the stair section.
Nick puts his cross country running skills to use in the big sand pit.
Nick flies over the flyover.
and tackles the steep stair runup.
Nemo gets a good start in the non-UCI A race. Yes that is a pink tutu.
Nick rails the tricky off camber turn.
Nick hangs with his competitors Sunday morning.
Another good start for Nemo Sunday morning.
Nemo hits the barriers and runs the sand pit with aplomb.

Suffering and smiling!
Nick battled to a 5th place Saturday and 2nd place Sunday, while Nemo pulled down two 5th place finishes. I decided to race up in the 45+ A category and managed a 17th and a 13th in fields of 17 and 14.

On October 9th we held our second Owens Valley Cyclocross.

Here I am racing beneath the peaks.
Nemo pedals beneath stately cottonwoods.
Nick out of the saddle with Mt Tom behind.
Andy and Kathleen prepare to hurdle the barriers.

October 1st found Mary and I in Spokane for my niece's wedding, so I squeezed in a 'cross race before the ceremony & reception.

Fun racing in the forest.
Nasty runup.

I battled this guy for sixth, pulling away from him on the last lap.
My buddy Steve lives nearby in Moscow, so we had the good fortune of being able to hang out with him and his family and go to the races with him.

Steve shows good form.
So much fun!

So much more to come too.

Stay tuned.

Mono County Riding

2011-06-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I guess it is official. Ski season is over for me!

I've been doing a lot of riding, which isn't nearly as fun to blog about, but I'll try to keep things going here.

Although we are still mourning the loss of our beloved friend Porter, we are getting out and having as much fun as we can.

Last weekend we fled the heat of the Owens Valley for the cool mountain air of Mono County.

Saturday I rode the June Lake loop, which was in very fine form with big waterfalls, wild flowers starting to show, and incredibly lush vegetation.

This is the north face of Carson Peak, with the raging Horsetail Falls lower center right (click to enlarge)
Devil's slide still looks skiable with only a short hike.
Grant Lake was brimming full next to one of my favorite stretches of road.Then on Sunday Mary, Hallie, Anne, Monica and I joined up for the Eastern Sierra Velo club ride from Lee Vining out to Sagehen Summit along the south shore of Mono Lake.

Mary was in fine form.
The huge pumice flats were dotted with lupine.

Mary was all smiles at the summit.

Group photo with Hallie, Anne, and Mary.
James Wilson reaches the summit fully loaded (for touring).
Hallie cruises the pumice flats at high speed.
and Mary crests the last hill of the day with the vast Mono Lake behind her.

Perfect weather, light traffic, and grand scenery were enjoyed by all.

Thanks to ESV for putting on a real nice ride.

Porter's Last Hour

2011-06-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

This last Wednesday was our dog, Porter's, last day with us.

He was quickly becoming weaker and weaker, he suffered from bloating, and he was unable to keep food down. His suffering had become too much and so we made the decision that every pet owner hates to have to make.

Our wonderful Vet was so kind to come to our home, so we were able to enjoy our last hour together on our lawn, with perfect temperatures and big puffy clouds on the horizon.
Despite his obvious discomfort he was a real trooper right to the end, enjoying the love and attention we were more than happy to heap on him.

Every pet is special. Yet those who knew Porter would all agree that he was an exceptional dog. A rescue dog who lived with gratitude and love every hour of every day.

We miss you greatly Porter.
Thank You for many many fine years.

Tioga Pass

2011-06-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

Cycling not skiing!

I joined Anne, Nemo, Hallie and Dori to ride into Yosemite National Park from the top of Tioga Pass.

Each year, just before the pass opens to auto traffic, the Park Service allows cyclists to ride into the park.

Anne was positively giddy about the ride.

There is still a ton of snow, most of which was just beginning to get sun cupped.Hallie and Nemo only a few hours after becoming engaged!
Dori stops for photos with Lembert dome behind.
Nemo descends near Olmstead Point.
Several nice small waterfalls were spotted along the way.
Dori and Domes!
The newly engaged enjoyed the warmth and the late Porter at the pass.
Lots of skiers up there too and the general consensus was the skiing was good, especially the north facing chutes.. Talked to some folks who reported the entrance to Solstice Couloir was easier than ever. Hmmm. Might have to think about strappin' on the sticks!

Onion Valley

2011-05-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

I was happy to get in another quick ski outing before work. Might have only one or two left this season!

Onion Valley is holding up pretty well with continuous snow to the parking area if you are headed towards the Robinson Lake or Kearsarge Pass drainages. It's a bit of walking if you're heading up Golden Trout Lake way.

The snow is getting sun cupped on the lowest slopes, but is smooth and plentiful above 10,000' or so.

The view up towards University Peak seems to require a photo every time!

Ditto for these stately tree snags.
I got up to the southeast flank of Mt Gould and decided to just head up the slope looker's right of the long, horizontal bare patch. Kearsarge Pass is far left near that notch.
I figured I'd climb as far as I wanted and turn around. The snow had a thin soft layer on it which was perfect for booting until I hit a little roll over where it was soft no more.

With the winds increasing I figured it was time to turn around!

Here's the view from my highpoint with University Peak distant left, and the aptly named Big Pothole Lake front right.
I also enjoyed this distant view of Mt Brewer. Looks like that east ridge could go on skis!
After two or three turns on the firm, but smooth snow, I found just terrific skiing all the way down to the last bench above the trailhead. The lowest slopes were getting pretty soft - even at 10:00 or so.

Nice way to start a work day!

Mono Pass Area

2011-05-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

This Saturday Anne and I got together for a tour up out of Rock Creek. I was not sure of snow conditions as we've had a fair amount of new snow early in the week followed by a day or two of sunny, warm weather.

I basically decided on Rock Creek more for the great High Sierra scenery than for any specific ski terrain. We decided to head up to Ruby Lake and assess our options from there.

There is a tremendous amount of snow here.
We took an immediate shine to this run off the Sierra Crest just east of Mono Pass that Anne's late husband, Bill, had always wanted to ski.
So we skinned up towards Mono Pass. Here Anne heads for the gully (right) that leads to the pass with the stunning Ruby Wall above and to the left.
Anne exits aforementioned gully onto gentler slopes to the pass.
We arrived at the pass fairly early. Thinking the steep chute we wanted to ski may need more cooking we headed up the big broad slopes west of the pass for a short diversion.

We arrived at a nice peaklet (~12,800') with terrific views.

Bear Creek Spire, Mt. Dade and Mt. Abbot.
Mt. Morgan (South) front left and Mt. Tom back right.
We had decent skiing on the big broad slopes on slightly thick, but enjoyable snow.
We then headed over to our main objective. After a little consternation over the steep, rocky drop in, we slipped in and found the snow soft, but not too soft and it just got better as we descended.
That was a nice run!

Conditions in this area are still transitional with decent corn found on due south facing slopes and likely decent powder skiing on protected, high elevation north facing chutes. There's still about two feet of snow or more at the road end (Pack Station) with the runs off Pointless Peak & Mt Starr looking good and fat. There is a fair amount of slide debris in some of the steeper chutes however. Should be good skiing for quite some time barring a crazy heat spell!

Onion Valley

2011-05-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Since returning from Alaska I've been laid a little low by a cold I picked up on the plane up to Anchorage. I ignored it during our tour, but probably paid later.

I am finally feeling over it and the urge to ski could not be restrained any more!

Winter is hanging on here in a serious way, but a break in the action was forecast for this morning, so I headed up bright and early.

The north side of Independence Peak at first light. The chockstone in the couloir is still nearly buried!
I quickly arrived at Robinson Lake. The scene above towards University Col was not exactly inviting, so I headed south east from the Lake to check out a nice looking ramp.

Looking up towards University Col from Robinson Lake.
This is the view back towards Independence Peak from near my high point.
After some fairly straightforward skinning I found myself at the top of a most beautiful ramp.

It was a great run (click to enlarge).
The skiing was quite good with 6" to 10" of new, light snow over a firm crust. I did hit the crust occasionally up high, but once down in the shade rarely.

In the valley the skiing was even better with no crust felt at all until the last exit slope.
Man I needed that!

In and Out of Valdez

2011-05-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

We woke up the next morning earlier than even I found comfortable, and headed to the Ferry Terminal only to find out the Ferry was not running due to a Coast Guard inspection. Ugh.

We made the most of the day sightseeing, including a cool visit to the Valdez Fly In.

Gotta love the Super Cub!

The next day we did get onto the Ferry.

Bald Eagle on ice.

I got to thinking it would be very cool to cruise a nice yacht here. Have some fishing rods on board, a couple sea kayaks, along with the skis. Hmmmm. Better work on that retirement plan!
Got to Anchorage that evening and flew out the next morning.
What an amazing adventure!

Alaska, The Tour, Day 5 , Outta Here

2011-05-15T14:10:00.001-07:00

We awoke to about 6" of new snow and clearing skies providing more stunning scenery.

It made for real fun skiing on the low angle slopes between benches.

One is definitely not like the others. Halibut Head behind.
Eventually we ended up on a snow machine trail known to us as The Swath.

It was nice not to have to bush whack BUT the cut ends of the small trees and brush were now sticking out of the snow and scared the heck out of us.
Things got even more fun lower down.
We came out of the woods and off the trail at the mouth of Wortmann's Creek and then hiked the cobbled stream beds back towards the highway.
The obligatory stream crossing was no problem.
Twenty minutes or so later we were back to the highway hungry, weary, and happy to be back safe and sound.

Alaska, The Tour, Day 4, The Heiden Glacier

2011-05-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

On day 4 the morning weather was a little more clear, which seemed to bode well for a sight seeing day on the Heiden Glacier.
We skied down to the toe of the Heiden on funky wet snow and skinned up the glacier. The clouds briefly descended, but lifted again quickly.
The scenery was unbelievably great.

We skinned up to the head of the glacier and turned around for a fast cruise out.
Then headed up off the glacier.
And found some decent skiing on gentle slopes back to camp - although the clouds returned for some very flat light.

The mountain scenery was certainly some the finest I have ever witnessed!

Alaska, The Tour, Day 3, Moving Day

2011-05-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Day three was moving day and, after a little cogitation, we headed over to near the mouth of the Heiden Glacier.

More gray skies accompanied us this day.
We skied down to the toe of the Deserted Glacier on few inches of damp new snow.
The toe of the Deserted was striking.
Then we traveled up over benches in the clouds. Kudos to Jed for some fine GPS work.
We came across a bare patch of ground which was covered, every inch, by lichen and moss.
We found another nice, level site and set up camp.
A much appreciated relaxing, albeit fairly strenuous, day.

Alaska, The Tour, Day 2, The Valley of the Tusk

2011-05-13T18:07:00.001-07:00

The next day dawned completely different from the previous with low, grey skies and intermittent light snow.
A downward traverse brought us to the mouth of the Valley of the Tusk, where we attained the glacier and headed into the magical valley.
The taller mountains played peak-a-boo with us.

We found an amazing, untracked couloir that needed to be skied.
Steve and John head up behind me.
John, Steve, and I take a break from booting to smile for Jed's pic.
Jed got this nice shot of me (my rear more specifically) near our turn around. He measured the slope angle here at 50 degrees.
The couloir kinda doglegged left, but the next section had a more southerly aspect so the snow was crusty and the exposure above cliffs was intimidating. Nevertheless we were looking at about a 1,000' of great skiing below us.

A zoom shot of Jed high in the couloir.
And Jed rips the lower part too.

Looking back & up.
We then left the Valley of the Tusk and headed for a short peak with a beautiful face just above our camp.

We attained the northeast ridge and headed up. We did not make it far as the ridge became too steep and exposed.

On the way back we had a close call when Jed triggered a shallow (12" to 18") slab and went for a short ride that nearly took him over cliffs. Super scary. The slab slid on a buried layer of surface hoar which we simply did not believe could linger on this ridge.

Jed on the way up.
This slope slid and took Jed down and to the right. Thankfully it did not slide while we were booting up (Jed photo).
We were severely sobered by the incident and the stoke from the earlier couloir drop was completely eclipsed.

Alaska, The Tour, Day 1, The Approach

2011-05-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

The day tours were truly phenomenal, but we were in Alaska for adventure, so we headed out for a five day tour of The Valley of the Tusk and The Heiden Glacier.

Since our first minivan had the aforementioned key issue, we thought our second minivan needed more love, or maybe a name. Hence we christened it The Superbeast.

We left The Super Beast at the hairpin turn just south of Thompson Pass and headed up to gain a traverse on the high benches.
This is the view from high on the benches towards the Valley of the Tusk.
and the Heiden Glacier.
Once we descended below 2,000' we once again ran into rotten. collapsing snow.
Which was especially fun with heavy packs and whacking brush.
Views like this of the Tusk kept us moving along, although for several hours we seemed to get no closer.
Alas we were making visible progress.
We set a beautiful camp above the mouth of the Valley of the Tusk.
Steve relaxes in the never ending twilight.
All of us were pretty beat, but the prospect of more big line skiing in this most incredible setting had us excited.

Alaska Pt. 3 Diamond Peak

2011-05-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

First off I gotta say I am not real sure about the spelling of this peak. In Matt Kinney's guidebook it is spelled both Diamond and Dimond. Different maps have different spellings. I kinda suspect Dimond is an "Alaska" spelling of Diamond, but who knows.

The spell of clear, fine weather was over, but we decided to make the most of it and head up towards Diamond Peak.

The start for this tour is a little lower and we quickly discovered the snow was isothermal rot which could - and did - collapse beneath you at any moment.

Dense willow and alder further increased the fun factor.

Then we entered a narrow gorge for some contortion skinning (Jed photo)
We emerged from the little gorge onto the Alaska Oil Pipeline right of way, which briefly provided supportable snow.
Eventually we found better snow for skinning and attained the glacier leading to Dimond's northwest face.
Moody mountains.
The cloud deck was hanging low and we were not interested in negotiating the Burgschrund and a crevasse section in flat and low light, so we elected to ski this beauty.
Steve the boot meister heads up on the lower pitches.
The three climb about halfway up.
A couple of loose class 3 moves lead to the top (Jed photo).
We were all a bit giddy - including Jed.
Steve prepares to make the first turns (Jed photo).
Jed rolled with style off the top.
The skier's left side was a little sun affected with the best snow as far right as possible.

Jed finds the fluff over thar.
Rowdy lines abound 'round here.
The rot was no more fun on the way out than it was on the way in. John was the victim of a particularly bad collapse that required him to dig his skies out - while they were still on!
Although the approach and exit were miserable, the tour was a success. We made the most out of the bad weather and skied a wonderful couloir.

Alaska Part 2A

2011-05-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

The third full day in AK dawned clear again and we were stoked and ready to roll. Unfortunately our rented mini van was not. The lame electronic key simply would not start the engine, so we were dead in the water for the day.

We eventually rented a PT/POS Cruiser and played tourists.

Jed took this photo of us strolling the docks. Could be an album cover if we ever started a band.

For some reason I find the clunkers the most photogenic.

We scored on this mobile home rental. Three beds, two baths, full kitchen, washer/drier all for $100/night for the first two nights and $80 for the remainder.
Steve whipped up some pretty fine breakfast.
Jed has a serious problem.

Android Fever.

Alaska Pt 2, Girls Mountain

2011-05-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

The next day we awoke to another incredibly beautiful day and headed back up to Thompson Pass for a day on Girls Mountain.

This is Girls from the highway. We would head up the Worthington Glacier (left), then across the front of the peak to the right, around and to the summit.
This was my first experience traveling on a large glacier and I was duly impressed.

Here the crew heads to the toe of the glacier.
John heads up with an ice fall to the left.
Travel was relaxing on the smooth, gently sloped glacier.
This is the view back to the previous day's arena.
Huge terrain! That tiny dot is one of us.
We eventually left the glacier and headed up benches on soft, moist snow.

Here are Steve and John skin along with the highway below.
We traversed around to the north side of the mountain and climbed a short, steep section to the summit.

Jed heads for the sky & the summit.
Jed was on the video and when he asked for volunteers to go first, I was not shy!

This is a frame grab from the video he took. Sweet!
He also got this nice shot of me descending the huge slope below.
John shreds the lower slopes. We descended from the notch just right of skyline.

The snow in the lower half of the nearly 2,500' run was especially good.

Jed descends goodness to the glacier below.
We had the fortune of following another group's skin track up and out of this valley to a ridge above the Worthington Glacier.

We found mostly pleasant skiing down to the glacier and fun, corn skiing on the glacier itself.

Jed caught John shredding the toe of the glacier.
An absolutely terrific day!!!

Alaska Pt 1

2011-05-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

Alaska!!

After a stay in one of the seedier neighborhoods of Anchorage we drove to Valdez to find splendid, and apparently unusual, weather.

We skied off Thompson Pass and, on our first full day there, we headed up School Bus over a shallow notch and into the upper reaches of Gully One.
A huge cornice drop had run out onto the glacier, so we stayed clear of the slopes beneath.
We skied down Gully One and found another party skinning up. Boot top powder put smiles on our faces.
We traversed around to Gully Two and skinned up.
Which brought us to a ridge above Nick's Happy Valley.
Just below the Berlin Wall.
We were able to find a short, steep passage down with good powder high and funky crusty snow lower.
We climbed Nick's Happy Valley to a saddle where the views to the south simply took our breaths away.

This is a distant view of The Valley of The Tusk. No, I did not stretch the pic vertically - this is exactly how it looks!
Steve ponders the scene with The Heiden Glacier over his right shoulder.
Above the saddle we attained the ridge which included this short knife edge section (Jed photo).
From the top of the Berlin Wall we skied a huge, steep face with excellent powder left of center in this pic.
Fine glacier skiing out Nick's topped the day off nicely.
Now we were skiing the Alaska dream!

Catchin' Up

2011-04-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend a big group of us headed over to the west side of the Sierra for some incredible road riding.

Slept in these things at Indian Grinding Rock State Park.
Big Oaks!
Did another before work jaunt up Onion Valley way.

Mt. Gould
University Peak
Nice Bowl
Hooked up with Nemo to try out the sharp objects (crampons & ice axe) in the South Fork of Bishop Creek.
Found some very fine skiing too.
Been hustling to get work done, accounting square and arrangements make 'cause....

I AM GOING TO ALASKA!!!!

Check back in a couple of weeks for the report.

Mammoth Crest

2011-04-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday into Friday we were blessed with a very cold spring storm which left between one and two feet of excellent snow at the upper elevations of the Mammoth Crest.

Feeling ambitious, we decided to ski Hammil Chute - one of the more aesthetic lines in the area.
Anne breaks trail up Hammil bowl where we attained the crest.
Steve performed the booting duties the last 200' or so.
A short hike/wallow along the crest brought us to the entrance to the chute.
The snow in the upper half of the chute was wind sculpted, firm, but edgeable. The uppermost section required a little steep side slipping.
Better skiing was found lower down.
And incredible skiing was found out on the lower slopes above Hammil Lake.
The skiing there was so good, we headed back up and took another run - just as the weather turned.
Phenomenal stuff!!!!

Onion Valley

2011-04-04T21:15:00.001-07:00

Today I had little left in the tank after two solid days of touring, but I rallied to meet my coworker Brian for a dawn ski up in Onion Valley.
We headed back towards Kearsarge Pass and then veered right up some nice south facing slopes.
The snow got a bit steep and firm for skinning so we booted the last 500' or so.
Brian took this group photo at our high point.
Amazing, sheer granite terrain with University Peak on the right.
We found good corn snow most of the way down with an occasional patch of heavy, new snow that had not yet cooked down.
Nice way to start the work day!

Hilton Lakes Area 2

2011-04-04T20:38:00.001-07:00

I had such a fantastic day Saturday I decided to head back to the same area Sunday. This time I was joined by Nemo and Steve.

A quick moving storm came through overnight leaving brisk air which was good for the snowpack after the last several days of very warm temps.

We headed to the next valley west of yesterday's route, up around the North face of Mt Huntington.
That north face holds this beautiful, steep chute.Looking over the maps the night before I noticed a peak with a broad south east facing bowl tucked back on the Sierra Crest. When it finally came into view we made it our destination.
After skinning up the majority of the slope Nemo was pooped, but Steve set about booting to the summit at an impressive pace.

Celebration was definitely in order.
This is the view to the northwest with Red Slate Mountain back left and Mt Stanford mid field right.
Steve admires the peaks to our south including the Bear Creek Spire area (dark right), Mt Gabb (far right).
Basically the same shot with Steve on skis about to drop into the huge bowl.
Zooming out of the canyon with our descent slope far right.
This was the best view of the peak from our approach.
I joked around with the guys on the way in, telling them this was the best Sierra ski peak that no one knows about, which of course was a bit of a stretch.

One of many incredible Sierra ski peaks that very few know about would be a more appropriate.

Whatever you want to call it, we sure enjoyed spending the day on its slopes and reaching its summit.

Hilton Lakes Ski

2011-04-03T20:50:00.001-07:00

This Saturday I skied with my friends Anne and Brian in the upper Hilton Lakes area near Rock Creek. We were greeted with great High Sierra scenery, balmy temperatures and strong winds.

We were astounded by the size of this avalanche crown near the head of the drainage.
Anne and Brian cruise up towards our eventual destination which is up and right at the shallow saddle.
Brian enjoying the incredible views from the top.
And enjoying some fine skiing.
Anne got in the groove too
The snow was just a touch softer than ideal, but we were not complaining,
Looking back up the drainage on the way out.
We had to contend with some fairly overcooked mush on the way out, but it wasn't miserable enough to dampen our spirits one bit.

That was a super day!

Independence Peak

2011-03-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my coworker, Brian, joined me for a tour up Onion Valley way.

Currently you can drive the road for about a half mile beyond the first hairpin where the old mining road to Sardine Canyon is. The county is working on clearing the road beyond the closure, so they do not want folks parking above that. The county does not work up there Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

After a 15 to 20 minute hike on the road we were on the skis and enjoying a real nice sunrise.
We headed up the main chute on the northwest side of Independence Peak, which was filled with an impressive amount of avalanche debris.

This is the upper part of the chute. The old avalanche crown line can be seen on the side of the gully in the sun (click to enlarge).
We found some decent settled, sugar snow in the protected north facing trees, so we headed up a short slope to the ridge bordering Lime Canyon. We enjoyed fine views there.
Yep, that's me! Gee, I thought I was smiling.
The soft snow here skied pretty well.

We then traversed out into the beautiful old growth pine grove and made a few turns on softening slightly cooked powder. Much later and it would have been mush.

We then popped into a short gully. More wet snow - we did not start those pinwheels.
Nice little line, not corn yet, but our timing was good so it skied ok.
Actually found very nice corn out beyond the mouth of the chute on south east aspects.

Back to the car by 9:30.
Perfect way to start a work day!

South of Habeggar's

2011-03-26T19:40:00.001-07:00

Since we worked so hard yesterday to put in the skin track, we figured using it again today would be wise.

DK on the skin track.
Skied down a nice chute west of the glades. Ran into a little wind crust/pack and some sun crust too, but enjoyed the terrain a lot.

Headed back up for another. Getting pretty tracked up!
Winds were on the increase - even in the trees.
Still lots of nice snow in the sheltered areas.
4500'. 5.5 hrs. Uncountable smiles!

Time to Catch Up!

2011-03-25T19:14:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Nemo and I went up above Lake Sabrina to the glades leading up toward George Lake. We found some decent skiing in the protected trees.
Spied a few nice lines.

Enjoyed some fine big mountain scenery too.

Took a midweek tour back to Lime Canyon.
Found some real nice snow amongst the Pinyons.
Rugged terrain beckoned, but since I was solo, I stuck to meadow skipping.
Meadows, skipped!Today Nemo and I hooked up with Dave King and skied some nice trees out of the South Fork of Bishop Creek.

With all the recent snow, the trailbreaking was hard work.

The rewards were great however.

This guy is pushing 70 years old and still gets out as much, if not more, than anyone else around here.

Still knows how to have a good time too.
Super snow, bluebird day, cold temps.
Yeah, it was another good day.

Habeggar's South

2011-03-17T07:36:00.001-07:00

Went for an quick early morning tour out of Habeggar's (South Fork Bishop Creek) with my friends Nemo and Brian.

Had planned on skiing corn in Maggot Bowl, but clouds were hanging over the crest and the winds seemed strong over there, so we looked for old, soft powder in the trees.

We skinned up the steep gully just south of the Habeggar glades to the top of a small knob with nice views.

Found very small pockets of soft snow, but almost everything was sun affected.
Fortunately the sun affected snow was generally supportable, so it was kinda skiable.

Popped into Habeggar's proper and out the old road - which had several dry spots.

Despite the rather poor conditions everyone had fun.

The South Fork road appears to be plowed.
I heard that it's one, narrow lane all the way to the dam, but not sure of that.
Looks like they are trying to keep traffic out for now with a heavy steel sign blocking entry.
Could be a good time for a bike and ski if you are so inclined!

Birch Creek Area

2011-03-14T14:02:00.001-07:00

Saturday I got a bit more ambitious and dragged my friends Anne, Simon and Darren up above the Birch Creek trail head near Big Pine.

Wispy high clouds made for some nice light early on.
Darren and Anne head up with Birch Mtn behind.
The Thumb is a splendid ski, but not on today's itinerary.
Nemo makes his way ever higher with the North Face of Birch behind.
Anne skins up one of the many huge snow fields.
Unnamed but not unnoticed.
Darren boots up with Birch behind.
The cloud shield dissipated by late morning, but the winds remained steady, especially above 9000'.

Enthusiasm waned, so we headed down.

Firm, but smooth snow higher up gradually transitioned to smooth soft snow as we descended.
Smiles widened.
This is the view from the trail head with Birch Mtn on the left and the Thumb distant center.
It is still a fairly short hike (10-15 mins) from the trail head to snow and should remain until the next prolonged heat spell - whenever that may be.

Last Friday in Aspendel

2011-03-14T10:24:00.001-07:00

Last Friday Mary, Dori and I headed up out of Aspendel hoping to skin up towards Bishop Bowl, have a look around, and then either ski back down our ascent route or drop into North Lake.

The normal route up the moraine towards Bishop Bowl is getting a little thin, which made for some interesting skinning.

Mary perfected her bush kick turn.
Mary happily emerges from the Mountain Mahogany.
Nice views of Mt Tom greeted us from the top of the moraine.
Owing to poor skinning conditions (firm windboard) and rapid warming, we turned around and skied our ascent route. The snow was a tad on the thick side even at 11am, but provided reasonably good skiing as Mary demonstrates.
Dori teles the lower part of the moraine where we found the best snow.
Thirst quenching beers were had, and much appreciated, at the car.

Hogback Creek

2011-03-09T17:58:00.001-08:00

I had not planned on skiing today, but I went to bed pretty early, woke up really early, so I figured why not?

The Hogback drainage is the next major drainage north of Lone Pine Creek (Whitney Portal).

It is seldom visited since it does not lead to any passes, is not a good route to any peaks, and has no sizeable lakes for fishing. Yet it is a fantastic place with rugged gorges, towering cliffs, and huge vertical relief.

This is one of the several fine gully systems in the drainage.
The road to the mouth of the canyon is currently passable almost to its end. After the road end it is imperative to attain a small ridge which divides the south fork from the main stem of Hogback Creek.

After 40 minutes or so of hiking - which was largely pleasant with a little postholing and bushwhacking - it was time to ski.

Skinned for 20 minutes or so in this kind of terrain.
Before things opened up.

The south fork drainage.
The rugged gorge of the north fork.
I reached my high point, a nice saddle at around 9250', and enjoyed these views.

This sweet little corn run skied very nicely
This is probably the worst section of the ridge hike.
Back to the truck in three hours plus!
A great adventure.

Hogback is truly an amazing place.
I hope to come back soon with more time.

Seems like the corn skiing on the south to southeast aspects is real nice right now. Even skis well before it softens. Sunny aspects were plenty fun even at 8:30am!

Lime Canyon II

2011-03-08T18:39:00.001-08:00

Got up Lime Canyon way for another early morning ski today.

Figured I'd show the last photo first to give an idea of what the whole route looks like. That's Independence Peak back right.
Nice views of the valley on the way up.
Contemplated taking this little detour on the way up, but opted for the main canyon instead.
Fine scenery up high.

Took my breakfast at my high point under this tree.

Skinning up I was not optimistic about the skiing on the way down, but I was surprised and more than a little pleased to find the corn skiing was excellent on all the south and southeast facing slopes. Nearly 4,000' of fun was had!

Lamarck

2011-03-08T18:29:00.001-08:00

Got out last Saturday with my buddies Anne, Steve, and Darren and took a tour up towards Lamarck Col. I was fairly optimistic we'd have a good shot at some nice powder skiing up in the alpine zone. Turns out I was a bit too optimistic as the winds had worked their evilness on the snow up high.

The wind packed snow was skiable though, and we did get a nice dose or two of powder lower down in the trees. The scenery was amazing and we had the added excitement of very strong winds up high.

Seems like I always take this pic from this spot - and I always like it. Fool's Ridge.
The view up from Grass Lake. Our ultimate destination was around the back of the flat topped peaklet on the right.
Nearing treeline -still nice powder here.
Then the camera crapped out!
Every picture turned out totally white.

We had a good time - or at least I did, and I think the others did.

Habeggar's

2011-03-04T17:17:00.001-08:00

My wife, Mary, has a tough time with ski boots and lately she's been working to get her AT boots tolerable for touring. Simon modified her liners last week, so we were eager to see how well they would work.

Habeggar's seemed like a good idea since she could bail easily if her feet were killing her and the skiing is dependably good.

The day was perfect with mild temps and almost no wind.

These gullies on Table Mountain were definitely cross loaded, but we saw only a few small cornice breaks and no evidence of slab avalanches.
Mary's boots were much improved although a new problem area appeared. Here she is enjoying the nice powder in the glades.
Anne and Mary ready for run #2.
The snow skied fast, so even these low angle slopes were a hoot.
The snow was still light and cold for the most part, but there was a pesky sun crust out in the flats and on the aspects that were more west. Wind was not a factor in the glades, but outside on the approach slopes the wind had pretty much wrecked the snow.

There were a few areas of wind slab that were hollow sounding (low angle, thin slabs), but we did not experience any collapsing or cracking.

Lime Canyon

2011-03-01T17:48:00.001-08:00

Got up early for a dawn patrol outing today before work.

Lime Canyon is off the Onion Valley Road, low down near the campgrounds.

I seriously questioned my choice to go there once I arrived at the trailhead.
There was very little snow and it looked like I would be booting for a long while before I even started skinning.

Fortunately I persevered.
After 20 minutes of mildly irritating booting I started skinning.
Ten more minutes and I found myself at the bottom of a bowl.

Didn't look like much.
Maybe 500', wasn't sure it was worth it.
Turned out to be close to 1,200'.
Definitely worth it!

The morning light was great.

This is Independence Peak rising over the bowl.
Nothing but boot top recrystallized powder!
Independence Peak from the top of the run.
The first run.
After the second run (click to enlarge).
The view from near the trailhead.
The bowl is the large snow field left of center.
What a great way to start the day.
Work was a breeze after that!

Red Mtn Again!

2011-02-28T11:33:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I am a creature of habit.

With a skin track set and conditions known to be excellent the decision to head back to Red Mtn was unimaginative yet easy.

Used yesterday's track for about 1,000' of vertical then veered east to a quieter part of the mountain.

Skin track stoke with Anne.

The skiing was exquisite!

Yeah!

Red Mountain, Powder!

2011-02-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

I skied with long time partners Steve, Jed, and Anne today on Red Mountain near Tom's Place.

The latest storm was cold & wet leaving three to four feet on Mammoth and about a foot to a foot and a half here at Red.

Here's Jed near the top of our first run.
After a week in England Anne was more than happy to come back to some great snow.
The skies cleared and we enjoyed great views like this one west to Mt. McGee.
The crew is all smiles anticipating another great run.
Ready to go.
Blowing up the blower!

Even got a cameo appearance in Jed's Snow Report

Just amazingly good skiing lately - with amazingly good folks!

Powder!!!

2011-02-23T07:27:00.001-08:00

No question, that was the best powder storm cycle in a long, long while.

I skied lifts Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Mammoth, June, Mammoth) sans camera.

Friday and Saturday we enjoyed deep, light, largely untracked snow, laughin' and grinnin' all day long.

Sunday went for a tour out of June.
Action shots were mostly poor.
Got this one in the flats where it wasn't so deep.
Up in the glades, though, the snow was incredible.

Toured in an unusual and undisclosed area Monday.

Looked (and skied!) like British Columbia.

More excellence was found.

Five days of Five-Star skiing!!!!

Mt Aggie

2011-02-13T18:29:00.001-08:00

Last week I hatched the idea of a car shuttle tour starting at Convict Lake, up to Mt Aggie, then down into the McGee Creek drainage. We ended up skiing the SE side of McGee instead, but ran into some other folks who had in fact executed that exact tour with rave reviews, so Simon, Steve and I gave it a shot today.

We hiked up a nice boot track to the top of the moraine above Convict, then skinned up above Tobacco Flat to the North ridge of Mt. Aggie.
The skinning was a bit tricky/frustrating on the firm windboard until we reached the more even ground of the ridge. Ski crampons would have been helpful.

Steve (l) and Simon (r) skin up on the ridge with Old Man's Bowl behind (see last Saturday's blog).
We booted up the last few hundred feet to the north (lower) summit.
We arrived at the top and chatted up some friends who happened to share the same vision for the day.

Then we skied down this fantastic drainage for at least 3,000'.

WooHoo!

We enjoyed good to very good corn skiing the entire beautiful descent.

And now back to our regularly scheduled February powder skiing - I hope!

Birch Creek Area

2011-02-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I hooked up with my friends Darren, Elysia, my wife Mary, and Simon (l to r in photo) and we drove to the Birch Creek Trailhead (passable with high clearance 4x4).
After an easy fifteen minute hike we were on snow and heading up broad, moderate slopes with grand views of the Owens Valley.
The huge Big Pine Complex fire a few years ago hit this area hard, but left some striking charred snags.
The snow varied with patches of frozen fins (not good), melted fins (ok), corn (yes!), and various winter forms (mixed bag). We were able to link up several corn slopes and had a good run.

Elysia expresses exuberance on her splitboard.
Simon (l) and Mary (r) synched it up here.
Darren ripping and grinning tele style.
Mary milked this snow tongue as far as possible.
While the skis dried in the sun we sipped beer, soaked sun, and basked in the feeling of a day well spent.
Thanks crew!

Southeast side of McGee

2011-02-10T07:47:00.001-08:00

Finally getting around to updating this!

Last Sunday Anne, Steve, and I skied the southeast side of Mt. McGee.

We started from the bottom of the McGee Creek road, near 395, and skinned up to an old mining road, which we followed to the base of a nice looking drainage.

From the bottom we could see that the snow was continuous and appeared to end up near the summit.

Sadly it ended up close to 1500' below the summit, but provided excellent corn skiing all the way down.

The best route up was on the ridge to the west of the gully.
Steve skis the upper slopes with Esha Canyon behind.
The smooth, wide open slope in the lower section was nothing but smile inducing perfecto corn.
How long will this winter corn skiing continue?
I just hope spring is as good as this!

Old Man's Bowl

2011-02-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Mary and I were joined by our friends Simon and Dori for a ski tour out of Convict Lake to Old Man's Bowl and, ultimately, the summit of Mini-Morrison.

We booted all the way which was a bit tedious at the beginning, but pleasant from the top of the moraine onward.
Dori and Mary near the top of Old Man's Bowl.
We left our packs for the short stroll to the summit of Mini-Morrison while the true Mt. Morrsion loomed behind.
Summit shenanigans.

There was just enough warmth from the sun to soften the north side of Old Man's Bowl, providing decent skiing conditions up there.
Lower down firm, but edgeable, windboard with occasional patches of wind drift was surprisingly fun to ski.

Apres' ski was incredibly pleasant with warm temps and cold beer.

Mary enjoys her beverage with the summit towering behind her.
Soaking rays!
This one felt especially fun!

Huarte Creek

2011-01-29T17:46:00.001-08:00

Today was the last day of our crazy warm spell, so Anne and I looked for winter corn in one of the huge south facing chutes of Huarte Creek in Pine Creek.

This fine, bold spire greeted us early on in the climb.
Anne slogs on through the narrows.
Up, up, up!
The sheer, rugged granite landscape was amazing.
This is a view from the upper part of the chute south towards Mt. Tom (right) and the Owens Valley (left).
Anne makes her way through one of the steep rollovers.
The snow in the uppermost part of the chute was not completely cooked but skied alright. The rest of the chute consisted of classic Sierra corn and skied quite well.
Good turns were had all the way down.
Nice to get a big, warm day in the hills.

Now we return to winter.
Just hope it starts snowing again!

Eastern Flank of Kearsarge Peak

2011-01-27T07:49:00.001-08:00

I went for a quick morning ski before work yesterday.

The Onion Valley Road is passable up to the saddle.
However it does not look like it will melt out above there any time soon.

The old dirt road to Sardine Canyon and Little Onion Valley is melted out in spots.

From the saddle I found myself climbing this gully system almost immediately.
This treed bowl forms the head of the next gully system to the north.
Big views south.
Since these are east facing gullies, I found a whole smorgasbord of snow conditions.

The southeast facing snow was corning. The more southerly the better.

The center of all these gullies was firm windboard which I skied lower down where the southeast facing snow thinned.

The northeast facing slopes held some nice recrystallized fluff up high in the trees, but an unpleasant mix of windboard, wind scultpted, and soft snow below.

The descent gully. I worked that left side as far as I could.
Nice to be back on the planks!

Palm Desert

2011-01-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

Mom generously let us use some of her timeshare points for a midwinter trip to Palm Desert.

We planned on escaping the cold, but in fact we escaped the mild! The weather there truly was perfect with highs around 80 degrees and little if any wind.

We definitely appreciated the deluxe digs too.
Huge terrace!
Outdoor shower.
Spent a lot of time here!
We rode our bikes quite a lot.

Too much boulevard biking, which was mostly tolerable as long as there was a bike lane or actually a bike lane/golf cart lane.
We eventually made our way out into the sticks.
And enjoyed big views on quiet roads.
Re-entry was a little weird with huge tracts of dead orange trees and strange stands of sickly palms and tamarisk.
After three hours of riding we needed nourishment, so we headed to the Shields Date Garden.
Got ourselves a couple of date shakes - just what we needed!We didn't stick around for the show however.
Funky old place. Was great for people watching too.
After two days of riding we took a hike in the hills above Palm Desert.
This Penstemon was blooming nicely.
I was struck (but not literally) by the huge variety of cacti.

And the Ocotillo was simply amazing.
After the hike we packed up and headed home.
Pleased as punch!

Down Valley

2011-01-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

I spent yet another work week down valley

Took a satisfying stroll/scramble in the Alabama Hills early Tuesday morning.

Had our first significant dust storm of the season.
Just too busy to ski!

Convict

2011-01-19T06:52:00.001-08:00

Anne, Steve, and I met at Convict Lake for a tour up the Convict Creek drainage and a possible attempt at the summit of Mt. Baldwin.
This is the early morning view across frozen Convict Lake to Mt. Morrison and "Mini Morrison."
The Pinner Couloir looked filled in without significant avalanche debris. This is the exit.
Mini Pinner looked good too.
We tried to climb up out of the main valley towards Bright Dot Lake, but a short, steep section with firm windboard snow turned us around. An ice axe and perhaps boot crampons would be quite helpful for traveling in the high country now.

Anne turned around while Steve and I headed on up canyon to Mildred Lake.
This view of Mt. Baldwin appeared as we skinned up the broad valley.
Red Slate Mountain wore a fascinating cloud veil for a bit as the weather cleared.
This is the fine, unnamed peak south of Mt. Baldwin.
As the clouds parted, the temperature increased dramatically, so in the interest of safety and ease of travel we headed back.
The skiing in the canyon was kinda fun on softened windboard.
Below the mouth of the canyon the snow was mostly rotten, but not nearly as taxing as we had feared.

Although we had not come anywhere near our original goal, we still had a great outing thanks to the amazing scenery and the good cheer of our team.

Aspendell

2011-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

Saturday brought brilliant sunshine and warm temps for Mary, Simon and I as we skied out of Aspendell.

Mary had not been on her backcountry gear in close to five years and Simon had never been backcountry skiing at all, but they both looked like veterans skinning up.
The hot weather took its toll on the snow, so we elected to head down pretty quickly.

After a couple turns Mary found her groove in the mushy snow.
We had a short stretch of pleasantly soft winter snow here.
Then back to the mush.
Sometimes the toughest part is getting off the skis and onto the road!

Our day was spent in the terrain directly above Simon's head.
Both Simon and Mary did an awesome job skiing in fairly poor conditions and I very much enjoyed getting out with them.

Little Onion Valley

2011-01-14T18:26:00.001-08:00

Feeling the need for a bit of adventure, I threw together an overnight kit and headed up towards Onion Valley after work.

The Onion Valley road is plowed to the summer homes in Seven Pines and is passable only a short distance beyond. I put chains on my 4x4 Tacoma which allowed me to get up another 1/2 mile or so - hardly worth the effort.

Under a bright moon I skinned up the main road to the Sardine Canyon mining road and followed it to where it enters Little Onion Valley.

I made camp on the road with the twinkling lights of Independence directly below.

After a mild night I broke camp and headed up into Little Onion Valley.
Relatively easy travel on a mix of windboard, windblown snow, and crust brought me here, to the top of the major bench in the canyon.
A bit further I enjoyed an alluring view of this nice chute on the south side of Mt. Mary Austin.
Click on the pic to enlarge!

At last I arrived at Parker Lakes which has an awe inspiring alpine feel.

Black Mountain is back right in this photo and sports a magnificent Y shaped couloir. Both arms appear to arrive at or very near the summit.
A closer view of Black Mtn.
Nice Fin!
The skiing out was somewhat of a chore. Lower in the canyon there were large swaths of solid, dependable windboard which made for acceptable skiing, but most of the snow was just too wind jacked to have fun on.

Honestly though, I came for the scenery and adventure knowing the skiing would likely be poor and I was not at all disappointed!

Back to Mammoth Crest

2011-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Steve, Anne and I headed back to the TJ area hoping to ski another fine chute off the crest

We began our tour at the Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center, where we were quickly greeted by this fine sight of a Bald Eagle soaring over Twin Lakes.
We were a bit dismayed by the stronger than expected winds, although the back lit snow plumes off the ridges were beautiful.
I set off a shallow hard slab slide on the way up. The crown was 2" to 4" thick and about 15 yards wide. The slab had formed from wind deposited snow over the old, soft snow.
It ran a couple hundred feet down the apron. Not dangerous itself, but a huge warning sign to stay off steep terrain and watch for the localized slabs.
Fortunately we found some nice powder snow that had not yet been wrecked by the wind.
We skinned over to Hammill Bowl to have a look, did not like what we saw (steep, windloaded terrain) and skinned back over to the shallow, treed run next to TJ Bowl.
Anne found good snow here too, although we had to watch for crust.
Good fun and a good reminder - there doesn't need to be a recent storm to increase avalanche hazard, wind alone can move a lot of snow and create dangerous slabs.

Mammoth Crest

2011-01-08T06:18:00.001-08:00

Much of the Eastern Sierra backcountry snow has been affected, even wrecked, by high winds which swept the region about a week and half ago, but a cold, relatively windless storm last Sunday left well over a foot of goodness in the Mammoth area while leaving most other areas with little or no new snow, hence we headed up to the Mammoth Lakes Basin.

I hooked up with a new ski partner, Brian and we headed up under bright blue skies.
The Mammoth Crest above TJ Lake holds several nice chutes. Just east of the chute known in the guidebook as "Sister Chute" is this chute. Not the greatest pic as the chute looks more like a bowl and the lighting is poor. We skied the line just looker's left of the big block.
Near the top of the chute we attained this slight ridge which divides the TJ area from the Hammill area.
Good skinning on a comfortably stable snowpack brought us to the top. Here's the view down the chute.
Brian skis the upper chute. After the first turn or two, the snow was light and fun all the way down.
And Brian skis the lower section.
The snow on the apron wasn't quite as deep, but was about the easiest snow to ski imaginable.
The fun continued all the way down to TJ Lake.

What a day!

Hairpin Gully

2011-01-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

I got up and out at the crack of dawn to ski the Hairpin Gully off of the Whitney Portal Road.

FYI the road is driveable to the usual midwinter spot at the bottom of the switchbacks. There is good coverage above there.

I always enjoy the early morning views across the valley.
A similar shot taken from in the gully itself.
As you can see, the main gully is broad and moderate, but several more interesting north facing chutes spill into it from the south. I chose this one, which resulted in some tedious skinning.
The ski down was a disappointing mix of wind crust (none breakable), sun crust, old avalanche bed, and powder. Seemed like no two turns were the same. Not a ton of fun, but challenging.

As a side note, I saw this huge flock of white geese, (Ross ?) near the west shore of Owens Lake. Really nice!

They're on the left side of the meadow. Click to enlarge.
Fully zoomed, so lousy quality.

Red Mountain

2011-01-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

I joined Dave, Trisha, and Anne for a tour up Red Mountain near Tom's Place. The north side of Red is a vast series of glades, bowls and chutes easily accessible from Crowley Lake Drive.

Here are Dave and Anne heading up just above the parking area. We skied the open glades to the right of the avalanche chute on the right.
Anne skins up under darkening skies.
For the most part the skiing was great in about a foot or more of settled and recrystallized powder, although there were areas of crust which was usually, but not always, supportable.

Here's Dave enjoying some of the good stuff.
All in all, another fine outing!

Avalanche concerns were minimal here. The wind slabs were occasionally hollow sounding, but we could not get them to budge with stomping or ski cuts. There were no shooting cracks or whumping. Small (6" to 8") crowns were observed high up in the glades near the ridge which appeared to have occurred during the last storm cycle.

Hemlock/June Lake Area

2011-01-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

Dave and I utilized our June Mountain ski passes to ride to the top of the J7 chairlift and from there dropped into Yost Meadow here at the base of Dream Mountain.
Like last weekend with Steve, we found a nice skin track heading up into the Hemlock area which we followed all the way to the mini summit.

Here's Dave kicking back at the top, sipping hot coconut milk with tea (he shared!), and enjoying the ever spectacular views.
Like this one of Mt. Wood.
We decided to get a little adventurous and skied through this steep chute system below Hemlock Ridge. Sorry about the poor pic quality.

The snow was deep and light up in the chute, but we did cut loose some small soft slabs, so we picked our way cautiously until we were out on the apron.
We skied right down to the skin track and headed back up to Hemlock for a run down "Ghost Trees" and then down the fun lower slopes to Four Seasons.

Here's Dave tearing it up in the open trees.
Just another fine day skiing powder!

There were, as noted above, some stability concerns. We observed no cracking or collapsing, but we did set off a couple of small soft slabs in the chute on convex rollovers. They were certainly large enough to push you off your feet and into trees or over cliffs if you were not careful.

Larger natural avalanches had occurred in the Ghost Trees during the most recent storm with crowns up to 18". Like Habeggar's, new snowfall and/or wind deposited snow had partially obscured the crowns and debris. Starting zones were up high near the ridge on Northeast facing slopes. The snowpack in that area had stabilized some as evidenced by settlement cones and we had no results ski cutting convex rollovers.

The higher, open terrain was much more wind affected. Although no natural avalanches were observed in the Negatives, a moderately large avalanche started off the North shoulder of San Jouquin Mountain.

Habeggar's

2010-12-30T17:50:00.001-08:00

Steve, Anne and I got together and initially headed up the South Fork of Bishop Creek from the road end to see what looked good. We headed part way up a broad gully when we decided that the skiing was going to be awful there. The wind had formed the skiers nemesis; breakable crust.

We skied back to the car, drove the short distance to Habeggar's, and skinned up the old road to the glades, hoping that they held good snow as they usually do.

As we traveled up the slopes the big views opened up and we could see that the winds were still howling over the higher peaks. Thankfully the wind was light in the glades, although it was downright frigid, with temps in the teens most of the day.
Here's Steve and Anne on the ridge eager to take the first run of the day.
Anne drops in.
The snow proved to be quite good, as Steve will attest.
Anne was smiling too.
Love them glades!
I thought we did a darn good job of salvaging the day given our initial disappointment.

The overall snow stability was good. We saw no shooting cracks nor did we experience any collapsing snow. There were hollow sounding slabs, but we did not encounter them in steep terrain.

There was evidence of several small slabs that appeared to release during the most recent storm. They were in the 4" to 6" range. Wind deposited snow and/or additional snowfall obscured the crowns and debris. They mostly occurred on North, Northeast, and East facing slopes amongst or just below rock outcrops.

In more open areas the wind had created dangerous looking crossloading in many of the gullies, although we saw no natural releases of these slabs.

Christmas Skiing

2010-12-27T18:25:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve Mary and I joined Steve, and his daughter, Emma for a day at June Mountain Ski Area.

The atmosphere at June is pleasantly relaxed, the views astounding, and powder can often be found days after the last storm.

Here's Mary in black and Emma in blue with Mono Lake obscured by the winter fog known as Pokonip.
Steve watches as Emma heads into the trees in search of powder patches.
Fun day!

On Christmas Day I rallied for an afternoon ski after a morning of opening gifts and sipping Mimosas with my family.

I headed over to Punta Bardini, made good time up the well established skin track, and enjoyed the views of Long Valley and the nearby Sherwins as a storm rolled in.

I managed to find some nice, untracked lines in the Old Growth, and topped the day off with a center punch down the eastern Tele Bowl.
The snow was great, if felt like a foot plus over a spongy, supportable base.

Steve, Mary, and I headed back to June on Sunday.

While Mary had a great day on the groomers, Steve and I headed O.B. to the treed slopes known as Hemlock.

We reached a small summit on the long ridge north of the Negatives and ate lunch while soaking in the fine views.

Here's Ritter and Banner poking up over the Sierra Crest south of Carson Peak.
Steve enjoyed a few Christmas cookies.
The skiing in Hemlock was nothing short of incredible.

Deep, light snow, steep slopes, big smiles!
The lower slopes above Four Seasons skied very nicely too.
Santa (and Ullr) was good to me this year!

Table Mountain

2010-12-23T15:18:00.001-08:00

Bluebird!
An incredible, gorgeous day.

I was fairly time constricted today, so I opted for a quick tour up Table Mountain from the South Fork of Bishop Creek.

I was amazed by the incredible snow depth and pleased by the snow quality.

The views didn't hurt the eyes either.

Looking west towards Bishop Bowl and Mt. Emerson.
The big Owens Valley behind my skin track.
There was no sign of avalanche activity in Jawbone Canyon. I was glad.
I skied up & down real conservatively given the recent huge snow totals, but I was impressed with the overall stability.

The skiing was nothing short of great.
Had to go up for another lap!

Owens Valley Cyclocross Finale

2010-12-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sunday we held the seventh and final Owens Valley Cyclocross for 2010.

The weather was spectacular, 70 degrees and not a hint of wind.

Hence the turnout was terrific.
Nemo's course layout was super fun with twists, turns, and runups.

Here he lines up to ride the short hill that everyone else had to run.
And this is me running said hill.A group of four of us got off the front early, but Nemo's steady, grinding pace gradually took its toll and we found ourselves riding on our own.
I was able to muster a satisfying second place, while Nemo (center) made it look easy, and BxCx (right) rolled in just behind me.
Fine Belgian Style Ale was soon consumed (after the PBR) along with some delicious Brats.

Thanks to all that showed up and made this the best 'cross season EVER in the Owens Valley!

Blue Crag Area

2010-12-11T17:44:00.001-08:00

After a fine day skiing lifts at Mammoth I was ready for a peaceful tour in the Mammoth backcountry.

I headed up to the Blue Crag area in the Mammoth Lakes Basin primarily for the fine alpine scenery this area serves.

Travel was fast and easy on a frozen rain crust (mid elevations) and wind crust (higher elevations).

This is the view of the Ship's Prow area.
And shortly thereafter the views of the Blue Crag area emerged. The massive block on the left is Blue Crag proper.
One of my favorite runs from last year was here in the "Blue Pinnacles" area.
And the views northwest towards Mammoth Mountain.
I skinned up towards the crest, arriving at a steep rollover where I dug a quick hasty pit. I found a thin wind crust over a spongy, dense layer which sat over granular low density snow. It took a bit of an effort to pull a block out, but the "upside down" or hollow type structure gave me pause, so I turned around.

The turns down required focus and a bit of extra effort, but the snow was consistent and the skiing fun until I reached the mid elevation rain crust.

In the shade the snow was crusty and fast and in the sun the snow was quickly turning to gloppy mush - and this was well before noon! Conservative survival skiing was the order of the day.

Certainly not the best skiing, but the weather and scenery were terrific!

Alabama Hills

2010-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

The coming of winter also means I get to camp in the Alabama Hills during the work week.

A sunrise stroll & scramble is surely a grand way start the day.

It's more than great to be back here.

Ski Season Has Begun!

2010-12-05T17:55:00.001-08:00

Now that Cyclocross season is winding down, it's time to ski!

I hooked up with my buddy Jed for a tour in the Mammoth Lakes Basin.

Here's Jed breaking trail above Horseshoe Lake.
The weather was decidedly wintry - which was fine by us.

Jed surveys the scene with Mammoth Crest behind.
We skied the area known as "Hollywood" just west of the popular Red Cone where we found great boot top powder.
Coverage is looking pretty good in these parts although Jed & I both managed to tap a few rocks. Right now the Lakes Basin is pretty much the only game in town unless you are willing to brave extremely thin conditions.

Great skiing, fine scenery, and enjoying it all with a good friend, I could not have asked for more on the first tour of the season.

Think Snow!

Marin! Cyclocross & Coast Time

2010-10-20T08:38:00.001-07:00

Mary and I journeyed to Marin County last weekend to race cyclocross, enjoy some coast time, and visit my old high school buddy Alan Reynolds.

After a surprisingly long drive we reached San Anselmo where we stayed at the San Anselmo Inn.

The next morning we had a short drive to Fairfax, the site of the Lion of Fairfax cyclocross race.

Here I am ready to roll.
Zoomin' through the fun singletrack section.
I started with about twenty guys in the 45+ B division. We were quickly racing amongst slower 35+ B riders who started two minutes ahead.

I am fourth rider in this pic, with the first two riders 35+B riders. I battled with the guy in front of me in the green & white most of the race.
Concentrating!
Sadly, I suffered a flat tire midway through the last lap whilst running fifth or sixth. Kind of a bummer, but I had raced real well, feeling strong & smooth, so I wasn't crying too much.

After regrouping & redressing we reconnoitered at the Biketoberfest bike show & beer tasting.

Here's myself, Mary, and my buddy Alan having a good ol time.
These folks played a lively Russian polka.
Hmmm. Maybe he's right. At least 50% right anyway.
Saw a lot of exotic bikes.

This one did not purr, but it's tail swayed when rubbed in the right spot.
Saw this startling woven Kevlar fiber bike.

Loved the classic lugged steel bikes from Steelman.
Wood bikes are the latest rage.
They reportedly have a smooth, damp ride.
Looks cool too.

This is a Calfee with hemp fiber lugs and bamboo tubes.
More bamboo from Calfee.
Renova displayed this hardwood beauty.
Marin is home of eccentric!
We slept long and peacefully and woke up feeling chipper, so we headed out to Point Reyes.
The storm cleared just as we got out to the lighthouse.
The deer were abundant and tame.
We strolled on South Beach.
and Stinson Beach.
Where Mary made easy work of this V9 route.
Alas the trip was over too soon, and we headed home over Tioga Pass. The scenery here at Olmstead Point was especially grand.
Lots of driving, but lots of fun.

Lakebed

2010-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

'bout time I put sumpin' on the blog!

Pics of bike rides aren't real exciting nor are they convenient to take, hence the blog suffers.

The lakebed at Owens Lake, however, is always interesting!

The Surly

2010-06-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have two 'cross bikes, a racing bike and an "adventure" bike. The "adventure" bike is a Surly Crosscheck with a wider gear selection and less expensive, but very functional components.

Here's the Crosscheck.

I bought this frame over ten years ago. At that time Surly used Reynolds 631 tubing instead of the 4130 tubing they use now (a fairly useless fact only a bike geek would care about).
The trickest piece on the bike is this Wound Up carbon fork (old school 1"). The original steel fork has better clearance and perhaps a plusher ride, but the carbon fork is way lighter and rides pretty nicely itself.
The business end. I like my bars high and wide with Ultegra shifters left and right. The front is original. It's beat, but works fine. I think I am on my third rear. These things just get thrashed! The Runkle levers work well for long descents since they give more power than braking from the hoods.
I just put on the Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires which have a tread that seems to works well for most conditions around here.

Down low I have Time ATAC pedals attached to an old Ritchey 110 bcd crank (172.5) with 46 36 rings. The Ultegra derailleur has stood the test of time.
In the back I've gone to an XT mountain bike derailleur and a 12x32 cassette to give me some nice low gears for climbing.
Note the blue Velocity Aerohead (no relation!) rims. I confess to running my tires at a fairly low pressure for better handling and comfort, but the penalty is occassional pinch flats and rim abuse. These wheels, my second set for this bike, have held up surprisingly well.

I can't honestly say I have a favorite bike in my quiver, they are all different, but I truly love this bike for the places it takes me and the comfort it provides.

Hogback Creek Cross

2010-06-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

End of the absence!

I camped in the Alabama Hills, which I'll keep doing until it gets too hot, and rode north to Hogback Creek. I headed out on Movie Road to Moffat Ranch Road on wide, well graded, roads which were a touch washboardy, but decent overall.

This is the view heading down Moffat Ranch Road just above the creek crossing.
Once I crossed the creek I found the road heading to Manzanar and took it for a mile or so until I realized I needed a lot more time to do that area justice, so I headed back to Hogback Creek.

This is the road heading to Manzanar. Twas a bit soft and rocky here, but looks sweet lower down.
I headed up the small road on the north side of Hogback Creek which proved to be real nice riding in a pleasant setting.
Found these flashy flowers growing in the road too.
The road eventually crossed back over Hogback Creek and joined Hogback Road which I took back down to Movie Road.

Mighty fine fun on the 'cross bike!

Heap of the Week VI

2010-06-03T14:08:00.001-07:00

Another fine old truck from Keeler!

This one is literally a few feet from my office.

Bike Club Ride

2010-06-02T18:03:00.001-07:00

My annual transition from skiing to cycling is underway. There's plenty of snow in the hills, but warm weather lures me onto the saddle.

The Eastern Sierra Velo folks had a ride from the County Park at Mono Lake out Highway 167, so Mary and I joined them.

I realize cycling pics aren't nearly as fun to look at as skiing pics, but here goes.

This is out near what appeared to be a small summit on Highway 167, maybe five miles east of the Nevada border.
167 is one straight road for a long long distance.
A great spread was waiting for us at the end thanks to Sara and Steve (right).
Tyler, myself, and Tom eye the desserts.
I hooked up with Tyler, Tom, and Jason for the ride out, taking turns on the front riding moderately hard. On the way back I ended up on my own and riding really hard. I was hammered by the end. This skier's body felt pretty good in the old saddle!

Heap of the Week V

2010-05-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

This week's Heap of the Week is not technically in Keeler, but it does sit on a hill about one mile away.

For whatever reason most of these older trucks seem fade to an army green color before turning to rust.

How Quickly A Week Goes By!

2010-05-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been almost a week now since I've last checked in.
I've been taking it pretty easy after the long ski tour.
Still having fun though!

The Alabama Hills were as striking as ever.

And I had a visit from my wonderful wife and THE BEST DOG EVER!

Flora.
Mutant puffball.I had a great 'cross ride this morning out Movie Road to Hogback Road (with Mt. Williamson, the second highest peak in California behind).Then on up to Whitney Portal Road. Absolutely great conditions for 'cross riding.
I'm starting to feel more like a cyclist and less like a skier.
We'll see!!

Heap of the Week

2010-05-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot!

This beauty is literally a stone's throw from my office.

Yosemite Border Tour, Day 9

2010-05-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

A trans-Sierra ski tour always involves the logistical quandary of the return home. After our last tour (Monarch Divide in '08) my dad kindly picked us up and drove us home to Bishop. It was a great trip, but we ended up driving for close to eight hours, which was not easy on the body or spirit.

This time we elected to fly home. We took the YARTS bus from Yosemite Valley to Mariposa (2 hours & very scenic with lots of ephemeral waterfalls), spent the night there, and met our pilot, Geoff Pope, at the airfield just outside Mariposa on Saturday morning.
There was just enough room for the skis, packs, boots (very smelly) and us.
Within about twenty minutes we were flying right over our route. Merced Peak is in front center and the crescent shaped shoulder we crossed on day 5 is to its right.
Just a bit farther on we could see our route over the south shoulder of Triple Divide Peak just left of the prominent, shadowed ridge. We then skied down towards the front right of the photo and made our camp in the trees before the storm hit on day 4.
The camp was in the left most clump of trees. We were even able to see our skin track!
We also got this great view of Mt Lyell (skyline left center), Rodgers (skyline right), and Foerster (midfield left).
Mammoth!
After fortyfive minutes of outrageous views and smooth air we landed in Bishop.

NOW the trip was over!

Yosemite Border Tour, Day 8

2010-05-19T17:47:00.001-07:00

The Last Day (sort of)!!!

We both slept well and were happy to find sun shining on us at 6:30.
Allowing plenty of time to relax and sip coffee.
We took a short hike along the Panorama Trail.....and enjoyed more incredible views.
We hiked down the Panorama Trail to the John Muir Trail (I think) and on across the footbridge just above Nevada Fall.
Woah! There's a few hundred feet of air beneath the camera.
We decided to hike down the Mist Trail for the views of the waterfalls and we were not disappointed.
Above Vernal Fall we noticed a lot of soaked people so we put on our shells and headed down. Clouds rolled in, mist filled the canyon, and it felt like I was in England again!

Needless to say, we stuck out like sore thumbs with the skis on our backs. We spent a lot of time explaining to people where we had been and what we had done. Most were amazed, a few gave us the "you are an idiot" look. The nearly constant questions and comments only grew wearisome near the end since almost everyone was in a joyful mood.

Some great college students took this one of us near the trailhead.
We took the shuttle to Yosemite Village and continued to enjoy the splendor of the valley.
But we REALLY enjoyed the double bacon cheeseburgers with fries and a Guinness!!!

Yosemite Border Tour, Day 7

2010-05-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

The seventh day dawned bright and mild.

I took a couple of shots of two of our morning rituals.

Condensation was always a bit of an issue in the Mid and although our gear never got soaked, it did get damp, so we set the bags out each morning to dry.

We set up the Mid in the afternoon when the snow was soft and damp then, when the sun went down, the snow would "set up" like concrete, so each morning we got out the ice axes and hacked the snow out around the stakes and the edges and freed the tent.
I took a some parting shots of Grayling Lake.

And we headed out.
We cruised down on ridges and slopes just south of Red Creek.
At the beginning there was plenty of snow and the travel was fun, but gradually the snow thinned and became patchy requiring some improvisation.
And finally the snow ran out altogether. Twas the last skiing of the trip.
We proceeded cross country on foot, which started out nice enough.
And got a little tricky with rotten snow and deadfall logs.
Then turned swampy.
We finally reached the Mono Mills trail very near its junction with Clark Creek. We were surprised the trail was so faint, we almost walked right over it without noticing.
The trail skirted the southwest side of Mt. Starr King and its satellite domes.
The burned snags were wild.
Mt. Starr King (left) and a satellite dome (right).
Eventually we found a tolerable camp site on a small knob with good views, but the weather darkened and it started to rain, so we headed down towards the valley in search of a better campsite and good views.

As we hiked down we noticed the light brightening, first on Liberty Cap, and then lower, so we dropped the packs and hustled down to the rim to discover this incredible sight.

We could not get over our good fortune.

Steve drinks in the view of Half Dome, Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall.
We also found a great campsite with a fire ring and plenty of wood nearby.
We stayed up late recounting the great moments of our adventure and retired to our bags underneath a fine starry sky.