Habegger's

Skied Habegger's today with my friend Dave. A different zone than the norm, which had a lot of tracks.

Dave skins up with Table Mountain behind him.

Dave took this one of me near the top of the first slope.

Just animal tracks here!

We opted to head up to the ridge for the views.

Dave makes his way down the upper slope which was pretty wind affected.

Then enters the glades which held decidedly unaffected snow.

He took this nice one of me. Cruisin'!

Our up track taken on the way out.

Spectacular day and spectacular skiing!

Mini Golf in Aspendell Meadow

Played a little mini golf (i.e. short runs in fun terrain) above the Aspendell Meadows today.

The zone. Did two runs back right in the shade.

 Pleasant day.

On the way in.

Decent views of the Lamarck area. 

Up & down. That's the game!

Some rollers and a small wet slide on SE aspects.

Had bigger ambitions but was tired. Mini golf was good fun though!

Red Mountain

Had a nice crew up on Red Mountain today. 

There were a fair number of tracks but it's a big mountain with a lot of room.

 Crossing the huge avalanche path.

 Ann checks out the tracks off the top.

Near our turn around we had some fine views.

Ben and Ann ready to ski with Olive's tail behind Ann's elbow.

Terrific skiing.

Had to go up and get another.

Olive in the spotlight.

Ben starts his second run. The first few turns were wind affected, but below was mighty fine.

Ann caught me in the act.

The great white expanse of Long Valley and Lake Crowley

The fun days keep rolling!

Bishop Bowl

Rick, Lacey and I skied Bishop Bowl today.

Fair amount of traffic. We headed to the summit on the sky line.

 It's easy to tell which way the wind was blowing during the storm.

 Lacey on the NE ridge nearing the summit.

The terrific views on the summit towards Mt Emerson.

Owens Valley is rarely this snowy!

The snow was wind affected up high, but the mid and lower slopes skied well.

Lacey.

Rick

 Me

I love this tour!

Turns from the House

Walking our dog Bristle in the cold mornings I noticed the snow had set up perfectly for skiing with a stout base underneath an inch or two of fluff. I decided to chance it and take the backcountry skis for a spin.

Initially I had my eye on this fine line.

It proved too rocky, but this little slope seemed like it might work. From the top I wasn't too optimistic.

 The run exceeded all expectations! From the bottom. Looks nuts but skied great.

and from afar.

Took two in there. Never tapped a rock. Never broke the crust. Just a bunch of giggles.
Had a super fun run down the 4x4 road too.

The views were killer.

My little berg in winter splendor.

It's not always the deepest powder or the gnarliest runs that are the best. This one was all time!!!

Down Low Down South

With incredible snow coverage down near the valley floor Ben and I decided to go south and go low.

The Onion Valley road is plowed to Foothill Road and there is a driveable track about a half mile past that. The County is digging out and I would imagine it will be good to go to Gray's Meadow Campground by the weekend.

Olive patiently waited while Ben and I geared up.

Olive surveys the valley.

Ben breaks trail towards our destination. We ended up taking one run down the big open slope on the right and another through the trees and glades just left.

Made it up to a little knoll with big views.

Olive ponders the steep lines north of the knoll. Not today Olive!

Ben and Olive enjoy the nice powder in the trees.

The big bowl skied really well too.

We skinned up in the sun gloveless, in t-shirts, but once the sun went down the temperature immediately plummeted. Winter!

Good times. Great zone.