Soggy

 Yesterday I went for a quick tour up in Aspendell to get a little fresh air and check on conditions. I arrived at the parking zone to find temps of 42F, light rain, and erratic winds.

The view from the car. The normal exit from Bishop Bowl right of center. Definitely low tide here still.

I call this the "mini golf" zone due to all the cool, albeit short, features. I skinned up the bowl to the tall trees at the base of the headwall.

I was fairly well sheltered from the strong southwest winds, but the constant roar reminded me that it was howling over the ridges. Looking across canyon to Table Mountain/Jawbone Canyon.

Northeast to Aspendell. Lots of rocks showing, but coverage wasn't much of an issue on the descent. Snow quality was a mixed bag though. I found fair skiing on the old rain crust and poor skiing on the soggy drifts of newer snow.

Proud and defiant.

No pot of gold for a skier. Nice to get out though.

 The entire snow pack (up to ~60cm) was saturated. The stout rain crust I found at Habeggars on my last tour was decidedly weaker, but still supportable on skis. The next storm is forecast to bring one to two feet of new snow here. Bring it!

Habeggars

 I went up to Habeggars again today to see what the latest storm brought. Generally found 4" - 10" of light new snow over a rain crust that persisted up to my high point at 9700'.

 The rain event triggered several sizeable wet, loose avalanches on the east side of Table Mountain. The largest was left of center here with dirt entrained.

Bluebird day.

Winds were variable. Blowing pretty good here at the corner.

The "outside" slope. Wind scoured with new snow drifting. The rough textured snow was the rain crust.

West and southwest winds had deposited a good amount of snow into the glades.

Decent skiing in the glades although hit the rain crust frequently. Also wind affected in spots.

Couldn't complain about the views.

 Roadside photos of slides on the drive home.

Good exercise. Fair skiing. Saw a grouse and a pair of  golden eagles. Good to be out again!

SoHa

SoHa = South of Habeggar's. This is always a special tour owing to it's beauty and lack of visitors. Seemed fitting on this day of the Solstice.

 Looking across canyon at Table Mountain. Still quite thin low, but the upper slopes look real nice.

Grouse taking flight.

The wide open upper glades are sublime.

Above tree line the snow was much more wind affected. Probably would of skied pretty well though.

Fast, faceted snow made for great skiing. Took two.

Nice run down this ridge too.

I was somewhat concerned about the lowest slope, but although it looks sketchy it skied well. Didn't hit anything except a couple of shrubs.

Picture perfect day with mild temps, calm winds, and the low Solstice lighting.

Last blog post until after Christmas. Hope yours is a merry one!

 

McGee Again

 Yesterday I went back to McGee. This time I went to the Northwest end. There are so many large, open features this place could be a ski area. In fact, it once was - before Dave McCoy realized there was a lot more snow at Mammoth mountain.

I started at the little berg of Long Valley. A place I called home back in 1993. The temp was -4F, but thankfully warmed up appreciably once I climbed a couple of hundred feet.

Long Valley, Glass Mountains and the White Mountains.

Stumbled on a USGS high sensitivity GPS unit used to measure ground deformation around the Long Valley Caldera.

I skinned up almost 2,500' and skied from there. Nice snow from the get go.

The best snow of the run was in here though.

I elected to cash in yesterday's hard work and went back up my skin track today.

The previous day's handiwork.

I took a great, long run down to Tobacco Flat then skinned back out. Down track is just beyond the up track.

Took another fine run down near where I skied yesterday. Snow was best low, where the air is staying cold and the wind hasn't affected it as much.

Such an incredible zone. One could spend several days working this area and never ski the same run twice!
 

Bishop Skiing

 This last storm was a good one. Good enough to bring the roadside attractions above Bishop into play.

Yesterday I headed up to the Habeggar's Glades to check on conditions. I found easy skinning, decent coverage, and light, super enjoyable snow.

Wind sculpture.

Views across canyon to Table Mountain

Total ego snow in the glades.

Grand scenery with Humphreys, Basin, and Tom on the skyline.

The "outside" skied really well too despite it's appearance of being wind affected.

Today Ben and I hit the classic Bishop Bowl. We would gain the ridge to the right of the summit and ski the large glade on the right.

The views from the ridge are always stupendous. Mt Emerson back and Paiute Crags front,

Looking back to Bishop.

We found great skiing in the glades.

For a little extra credit we skinned up to the small knob above North Lake. Ben surveys the scene.

Good skiing here too albeit a bit more wind affected.

 The exit down the moraine was a little thin in spots, but totally skiable. Always nice.

A spectacular couple of days close to home. Loving it!

Skiing McGee

Yesterday Mary and I skied Mammoth (excellent conditions just about everywhere) and on the drive up I spied a line on McGee Mountain that looked safe and filled in.

 Today I gave it a go. I parked the car at the end of the plowed section near the hamlet of McGee. The car said it was 3 degrees F! The snow looked great, but once out of the car I found it to be a dusting of fluff over a nasty rain crust.

The early view from the parking spot. I wound around way to the left.

Despite the cold and crust I skinned up the road in old tire tracks and ski tracks to the bottom of my line.

Once off the road I found the crust to be largely supportable, so my outlook improved. The views over Long Valley were wonderful too.

Pretty quickly the crust disappeared and I was skinning up fine powder. Twas a lot of work breaking trail solo, but oh so worth it. 

Tracks!

Dorked it up a bit here.

The northeast side of McGee. My line is just to the right of the big drainage spilling from the summit. Didn't make it even half way up!

 The tree skiing has been fun, but wide open powder runs are unbeatable.

Avalanche danger is rated as Moderate with a scary layer of weak facets at the bottom of the snowpack. The basal layer was thin to nonexistent on my line, the slope angle was less than 30 degrees, and I stayed out from under big steep slopes. Great to play it safe and still have a super tour.

Storms!

More storms. More skiing!

After a great day skiing at Mammoth the weather came in, so I elected to go for a short tour Saturday.  Damp and windy.

Skied lowish angle trees. Short laps, but good fun on creamy snow.

Loved the winter scene.

Sunday afternoon I drove up into the Bishop Creek drainage. Mt Tom with a massive snow plume & cloud.

The Whites did not get a lot out of this system.

Conditions are still mighty thin at the roadside attractions. Table Mountain.

Approach to Bishop Bowl/Mini Golf zone.

Did a little XC skiing and enjoyed the incredible sunset.

Yesterday it was back to tree skiing on low angle slopes. The day started off with moderate snowfall and gusty winds.

Fine untracked, widely space tree runs.

Skiing was quite good on the new cold snow and graupel.

The skies cleared on my exit providing splendid light.

 Great to be out and about on snow again!