Canada Day 3. Skinning up Sunshine

The goal for the day was to get a little exercise skinning up Sunshine Ski Resort.

Right off the bat I spied this incredible ice waterfall replete with a climber about to top out!

 After a bit more than an hour skinning I arrived at the ski area boundary. Nice terrain in bounds.

Nice terrain out of bounds too! I managed to find a nice little slope with untracked powder near here.

 Loads of amazing scenery.

Wow!

Canada Day 2. Lake Louise XC

After the so so day at Lake Louise we decided to try a little cross country skiing.

More stupendous views.

Fun on the trails.

Lake Louise itself was a fun and gorgeous spot.

We treated ourselves to a fine meal at the Chateau.

Canada! Day 1 Lake Louise

We woke up in Calgary and made the amazing drive up to Lake Louise.

Skied a half day at Lake Louise.

Really pretty, but mediocre conditions.

Duck Pass Tour

Took a short tour with Steve up to the Duck Pass area.

It appeared 8" to 10" of new snow had fallen before the snow level rose and rain prevailed. After the rain stopped, freezing levels dropped again so the whole mess tightened up pretty well. We were traveling on supportable rain crust all the way up to around 10,300'!

A second storm was developing throughout the morning, making for a good wintery mood.

The crust was firm, but not icy. Fast traveling!

Steve skates across Skelton Lake.

The turns were fun as long as the supportable crust remained supportable. Lower elevations in the trees was a bit dicey.

There were signs of instability. 

Seemed like the most problematic areas were in the higher, north facing trees where the faceted snow was still prevalent prior to the storm. We experienced numerous collapses (whumps) near and just below treeline.

Nice little leg stretcher.

Sky Meadow

I woke up without any real zeal for skiing, but figured the clearing "storm" would make for nice scenery if nothing else.

The back of Mammoth and Emerald Lake. Rimed and dusted!

 Still dark and moody up on the crest.

 Skinned up some nice glades just south of Sky Meadow

Skiing was surprisingly good.

Cleared out fast.

Glad I rallied! One of the most beautiful days in hills this season.

Owens Valley Gravel Grinder I

I pre-rode the course yesterday. Amazing weather.

I managed to create a map.  Click here.

February 1, 2015 10am, about 50 miles.

Meet at the back of the Bishop City Park across from the Senior Center or meet us along the way out towards Millpond.

Course description at the bottom.

Chalk Bluff Road

Artesian well along Owens River Road

Rawson Canal Road

Airport Road just north of Warm Springs Rd

Views along the Airport Road

Nice sight along the Buckley Ponds Road

Great fun!

All distances approximate – or perhaps completely wrong!

First # is the distance of segment (miles) second is the running total distance.

1. 5.0/5.0 City Park to jct Red Hill Rd & Ed Powers Rd via West Line St (turn R)
2. 3.0/8.0 to jct Sawmill Rd & 395 via Millpond (straight across 395) end of “neutral” section
3. 1.8/9.8 to jct Pleasant Valley Dam Rd & Chalk Bluff Rd (turn R onto C. Bluff)
4. 6.0/15.8 to jct Fish Slough Rd, Jean Blanc Rd (stay R onto pavement/Jean Blanc)
5. 0.6/16.4 to jct Jean Blanc & 5-Bridges Rd (straight, stay L onto dirt)
6. 2.8/19.2 to jct Jean Blanc & Hwy 6 (staight)
7. 0.8/20.0 to jct Jean Blanc & Upper McNally Canal (turn R)
8. 1.6/21.6 to jct Laws Poleta Rd (paved) – cross Silver Cyn Rd (stay R/merge onto pavement)
9. 2.6/24.2 to jct E. Line St/Poleta Rd (turn R)
10. 0.3/24.5 to jct Collins Canal Look for cattle guard on left near the trees (turn L)
11. 3.2/27.7 to jct Eastside Road (turn R onto pavement)
12. 0.8/28.5 turn R on Warm Springs Rd to jct with Owens River Rd (turn L)
13. 3.4/31.9 to jct Collins Rd (turn R)
14. 2.6/34.5 to jct Rawson Canal (turn R) Close gate behind you!
15. 0.7/35.2 to unnamed jct (turn L)
16. 2.3/37.5 along Bishop Cr Canal to unnamed jct (turn L)
17. 0.8/38.3 to jct Warm Spring Rd (turn R)
18. 0.9/39.2 to jct “Airport Rd” just after cattle guard (turn L)
19. 1.4/40.6 to jct unnamed Rd (turn R)
20. 0.6/ 41.2 to jct unnamed Rd, stay on more used road (turn L)
21. 0.6/41.8 to jct unnamed Rd (turn R)
22. 0.5/42.3 to jct unnamed Rd (turn L)
23. 0.5/42.8 to jct Buckley Ponds Rd (turn L)
24. 3.6/46.4 stay on main road all the way to East Line St (turn R) Prepare for quick left
25. 0.1/46.5 to jct Aiport Canal (turn L)
26. 1.0/47.5 to jct Airport Rd (turn R) Prepare for quick left
27. 0.1/47.6 to jct Airport Perimeter Rd (turn L)
28. 1.2/48.8 to end of Wye Rd through opening next to gate (straight on Wye Rd)
29. 0.7/49.5 to jct Spruce St (turn L)
30. 0.5/50.0 back to Bishop City Park (straight)   

San Joaquin Ridge

More touring for exercise. This time with Steve and Anne.

Frozen snow machine tracks made for tolerable skinning.

Tried out the tow bungee. We were skeptical at first, but found it to be potentially very useful. Seemed like the towee gets a 10% or so boost and the tower barely feels it. Good discussion here

Can't go up the ridge without taking a pic of the Ritter Range.

Tagged the little knob just south of the Minaret Vista too.

The views back where we had traveled along the ridge.

The bleakness continues.
Where there is a will to have fun there is a way to have fun nonetheless!