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.
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