With an inch or two of new snow falling overnight I just had to go up and check out conditions in the Mammoth Lakes basin. I brought my Voile skis with waxless bases and enjoyed the kick and glide up to Skelton Lake and beyond.
First stop was at Emerald Lake. Cold, crisp air and the freshly fallen snow. Magic
Soon I was at Skelton Lake (named for prospectors) with Pyramid Peak above.
Fine winter scenes as clouds rolled in and light snow began to fall.
Heading home
Despite a dearth of snow, I am still at it! Figure if I can have fun skiing now I will really have a blast when/if it actually snows.
A few days ago I toured up to Heart Lake. I had never been there before summer or winter.
Views on the way up.
Did three runs on this puny but fun slope above the lake.
Serene meadow on the way out.
Today was the first day this season I've toured with partners. McKenzie and Ann joined me for a tour along the western Mammoth Crest.
First we cruised up to Red Cone. Pretty bleak.
We found a little patch of corn and could not resist taking a run. Good fun.
Heading back to the top.
Entrance to Red Cone chute is gritty.
A quick stroll across the lake brought us back.
A couple of rewarding "hike with skis on" tours.
I've been wanting to visit the Crowley Columns since I first saw pictures of them, so yesterday Mary, Bristle and I made the trek.
The first glimpse.
Down at the beach, amongst the pillars. Amazing!
The ice was really cool too.
Spectacular day!
Trail/direction info here
An explanation of the column formation here
Just because it's low tide doesn't mean you can't swim!
I was hoping the meager snowpack near Deadman Pass was holding up well enough to warrant a visit, so I toured up Mount Downs (near the south June Lake junction). I was pleasantly surprised to find good snow, just enough coverage, and a cool series of connected glades almost all the way to the top.
Nice views of June Lake (bottom) and Mt Wood on the lower slopes.
The slopes above June Lake are bombed to control avalanches down onto the highway.
These new skis made the long stretches of Forest Service road a pleasure.
Weather sculpted pine on an exposed ridge.
Summit sentinels
Summit views. June Mountain ski area (left), The Negatives (center), Ritter & Banner (far right).
Bald Mountain, open flats and the White Mountains (skyline).
Chicken Wing is the horn just left of center.
Things did not go smoothly to start. The "road" I chose to head south has been converted to a moto trail with steep ups and downs - not so good with the scale skis. There were no tracks so I was breaking trail and there were several melted out spots.
Once I reached Hartley Springs Campground traveling conditions improved. I broke trail for a short distance then connected with a well trodden skin track to the summit of Chicken Wing. Love the views up there.
There were an amazing number of tracks off the summit. The upper glades looked just like a ski area! I found fewer tracks, tight trees, but good skiing by adhering to the north ridge, soon landing on the Forest Service road heading north.
Fine XC style skiing in the forest here.
I was super grateful this snowmobile track otherwise I would have had to break trail for nearly two miles. It saved me a lot of time and effort.
Eventually I left the snowmo track and traversed over to the previous day's skin track up to Mount Downs.
Another summit shot south to Chicken Wing.
No tracks on the descent besides my own! Skiing in the shady north facing forest is staying good. Coverage could be better but most hazards are visible and avoidable. Starting to get slightly grabby here and there by mid day.
Great two day project! The Voile patterned skis made it all possible. No way would I want to skin those many miles of Forest Service road.
I drove up Bishop Creek to take a look at conditions up there. Low expectations were met.
Table Mountain is unskiable.
Ditto for the Tyee area.
Nothing doing up above Parchers in the Brown Lake zone either.
I did enjoy the XC skiing on the road. Was hitting asphalt with the poles here and there but the side roads were especially fun.
Today I toured in the Mammoth Lakes basin - again. Up in the Sky Meadow area - again. Visited some glades I like to frequent.
Unfortunately the last "storm" dropped only a little snow and came with a whole lot of wind, so most everything was wind affected.
The deepest trees still held good snow though.
Looks like we went from a low quantity/high quality situation to low quantity/low quality one.
Still nice to get out. Will probably focus on touring for scenery over touring for turns for now!