Two Days in the Blue Crag Area

 I like skiing in the Blue Crag area early season. There's great tree skiing, some fine alpine runs, lots of nooks and crannies, and generally good coverage.

 An unusual storm visited the area Monday blessing us with nearly 36 hours of light snow with little or no wind, piling up to about 8" to 10" in the Mammoth Lakes basin and even more north.

Tuesday I took advantage of the improved conditions and toured in an area I knew would have good coverage and fun tree skiing.

The storm cleared as I reached the top of a small knob that would be high point for the day. The wintery scene was magnificent!

The skiing in the trees proved to be phenomenal!

The next day I followed my skin track up and then pushed into the terrain above treeline.

This broad, open slope looked promising but too many rocks lurked just below the surface, so I turned around here.

Tip toed down, only tapping a couple of rocks lightly, but had no interest in lapping it.

Headed east to some promising looking bowls.

Took two fantastic runs in there.

Last view before the run down to Emerald Lake.

 The snow was so good. Cold, light, with no wind affect. I just wish we had a deeper base to allow some bigger lines to be skied. Can't complain though. Wonderful day with some more storms on the way.

I experienced no cracking or collapsing of the snowpack. I observed no natural avalanches. Pole probing revealed an "upside down" snowpack with very low density facets at the bottom in most locations. The thickness of the facets ranged from zero to about 20cm, however the snowpack was stable with the danger rating at low to moderate.

Mammoth Lakes Basin Skiing

Yesterday I headed up bright and early for a ski tour in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. The day's forecast was for cold temps, light winds, and increasing snow showers. I was looking forward to a wintery day in the mountains.

I again grabbed my new Voile skis with scales since the approach is long and I didn't expect any steep or demanding skiing. On the way to the Coldwater Creek trailhead I decided to follow the summer trail to the historic Mammoth Consolidated Mining site which had been nicely packed by snowshoers. Good fun on the new skis, but would have been tedious with skins on.

Along the way I was afforded this great view of the Mammoth Crest from Blue Crag (left) to the TJ bowl area (right).

The mining area.

Beautiful Blue Crag

I wound my up to the little col on the skyline here.

Nice views from the col. SE towards Duck Pass (far left).

Looking NW down into the Lakes Basin with Lake Mary on the right. The skiing down the open bowls was fair on wind affected snow. The flat light and variable conditions kept me on my toes.

 Here in the trees the skiing was much better. Zippin' through the forest was a total hoot!

A fine tour. Obstacles are very much an issue. Especially up at treeline and above. The new skis suffered a little today. Fortunately no damage to the old body!

Back to White Wing

Today I went back to White Wing. Maybe because I was feeling unimaginative. Maybe because my visit last Sunday was so incredible.  

I didn't expect conditions to be as good as Sunday's, but I figured if they were half as good the trip would still be worth it!

The eastern end of White Wing, which really is a long east/west trending ridge, with my old tracks from Sunday.

It was quite apparent the recent high winds had reeked havoc on the snow. Here, up high near the ridge top, the snow had all sorts of different textures. Lots of breakable crust. Lousy skiing!

Looking over towards the summit.

And off to the south to Mammoth Mountain (right).

I found good skiing along the western edge of the bowl, among the trees. Took two short runs in there.

Out in the meadow the wind had transformed these animal tracks into an interesting pattern.

My ski track from Sunday. My passing had compressed the snow making it more resistant to wind erosion. The rest of the snow simply blew away!

Not as good as Sunday, but still a lot of fun.

More snow is in the forecast, but how much will fall?

Skiing White Wing

Yesterday I headed out bright and early from Deadman Pass to Glass Creek Meadow and on up to the summit of White Wing. The temps were unexpectedly cold, 8F at the trailhead!

Soon I came across this beautiful dried snow plant lit by the soft morning sunlight.

After an hour or so of touring I arrived at the east end of the meadow. Still quite cold!

Once I emerged from the shadows I found amazing hoar frost twinkling in the sun.

Soon I navigated my way to the bottom of a large bowl directly below the summit and found these peculiar tracks that seemed to dead end, or perhaps turn around? Pretty sure they are snowshoe hare tracks.

The bowl, my skin track and The Negatives.

The views from the summit were splendid. It was calm and comfortable so I lingered for a good bit.

The skiing started very near the summit and proved to be terrific. Despite the appearance of wind texture, there was no crust. Just a few inches of soft light snow over a reliable base. Ego snow!

The lower slopes were even better with 6" to 8" of light dry snow. So much fun!

The day warmed nicely as I left the meadow.

 An incredibly rewarding day. There was no one else in the meadow. No tracks even, and with nearby June Mountain closed for now, it was quiet and serene.

It was the first day out new skis, Voile Objective BCs, which have a pattern base. This tour is at least ten miles round trip with a lot of flat and rolling terrain which was perfect for the speedy kick and glide these skis offer.  I've toured back here with skins which was slower and way less efficient and the skis performed well on the descent too. I'm looking forward to more adventure on them sticks!

Skiing Chicken Wing

Yesterday's storm over produced giving us much more than forecast. I had to get out and ski!

I took a chance and headed up to Deadman Pass and was pretty pleased I did.

Right off the bat there was at least 10" of new snow and the temperatures were in the teens. The big concern was coverage. 

Chicken Wing is the smallish peak here.

Lots of brush showing on the way in.

The forest was magnificent and the coverage was promising.

 

I took two short, but terrific runs down from the north ridge. Bumped a stump or two, but no rocks.

After the second run a figure appeared behind me. It turned out to be my friend George. He was grateful to have the track broken up to the ridge and offered to break the rest of the way to the summit. Heck yeah!

 

Soon we were at the top.

 

These glades skied very well.

As George will attest.

In fact the whole run was great. Did scrape a couple of rocks and a little wood, but ski damage was minimal. Well worth it.

Just an incredible day. Thanks George!
 

Mammoth Pass Tour

 I went for another little tour up towards Mammoth Pass today.

Old bear prints. Probably enlarged after a little melting out, but still pretty big.

Skied along the shores of McCloud Lake again.

The north facing trees are still holding good snow with a tolerable base. The skiing is tight and fast though. A little scary!

Back to the shoreline with Mammoth Mountain behind.

Fun tour. Sunny slopes are melting out and the roads are generally packed out from walkers and quite firm, even icy. Travel is easy though and it's pretty out.

To assuage those with a case of FOMO..... It ain't that great, but it IS sliding on snow.