Altadena Hiking

Mary and I traveled to Altadena to spend Christmas with my mom. We had a great time and got in some wonderful hiking.

Went for a warm up hike right from Mom's on Christmas Eve Eve.

The north facing slopes were cool and lush.

The creek in lower Mallard Canyon was flowing nicely.

Loved the breathtaking Oak groves.

Next day Mary and I went on a good long hike to Echo Mountain and Inspiration Point.

The ruins at Echo Mountain are remarkable. Here's what remains of an electric train that ran from Echo Mountain up to the Mt Lowe Tavern. More info here

The bull wheel from the incline railway.

Mary poses at the top of the steps that went to the hotel and casino.

The Echophone. Not the original but still amazing. A shout through the funnel echos off numerous cliffs in a wonderful cacophony of sound.

The remains of the hotel and casino.

We continued up the steep and rugged Castle Canyon trail. Looking back to the broad hump of Echo Mountain.

The Castle Canyon trail is a beautiful path through amazing terrain.

Steep!

Looking down to Pasadena from high on the Castle Canyon trail.

And up to our destination, Inspiration Point

Alas we arrived at the top.

Fine vistas to Mt Wilson

We hiked down the upper Sam Merrill trail.

 

The Castle Canyon trail is barely visible low center here.

Back to Echo Mountain.

A fine, rigorous hike!

TJ Area

Skied at the ski area yesterday and had a good time on the reported 6" to 7" so I figured a tour was a in order for today.

Pack station at dawn.

Went up in the TJ zone. The tree skiing looker's left of the bowl is usually good and if conditions warrant there are nice runs above and in the bowl itself.

Both the snow and the light were nice in here.

At and above treeline the snow was once again quite wind affected.

Still a lot of rocks showing higher up.

Although the winds were not as severe as yesterday there was still a lot of snow transport.

 Elected to ski these glades.

Which proved to be a veritable mine field although the skiing was decent.

Made it through those glades with a bit of ski damage then found real nice skiing in the trees down to near the lake. A view of Crystal Crag from TJ Lake on the way out.

Could of done without the rock skiing, but at least I didn't hurt myself and it was a beautiful day to be up in the mountains.

Hammil Cirque

Another day in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. I wanted to get up into the alpine territory above Hammil Lake and see what kind of damage recent winds did to the snow.

There's something about winter forest scenes I really like.

The terrain above Hammil Lake.

Nice alpine scenery.

The cirque. There was a boot pack up to the col. A bit tempting but alas no.

Poor light but great rock formations.

The view down from my high point. "Interesting" skiing on a mix of breakable crust, windboard, and wind eroded soft snow for a few hundred feet.

This zone actually skied quite well.

Evidence.

I was a bit surprised how much the winds affected the snow lower in the trees. What had been nice soft snow on Tuesday now has a crust. Only the most wind sheltered areas still held good snow.

To make things worse, warm temps were creating heavy, sticky conditions below about 9500'.

We need another storm!

Tree Skiing in Mammoth Lakes Basin

Went for another tour in the Mammoth Lakes Basin today. Working up the gumption to try other zones, but I know the coverage is good here and the quality is hanging in there too.

Crystal Crag over Lake Mary.

These sheltered glades held great snow.

Views back toward the Hammil Bowl area.

 Last Saturday's playground in center.

Goofy shadow pic.

Blue Crag on left.

Big views!

Skied this little chute during one of my runs. Scratchy in the throat.

But nice below.

Splendid above too.

Lots of wind affected snow in open areas, but the trees skied great.