Habeggars

 Elected to go for a mellow tour yesterday with my friends Dave and Rick. Knew there would be good snow in Habeggars despite the recent moderate to strong winds.

 The lighting early was gorgeous. Dave got this fine pic with Rick and I spotlit on the little ridge.

 Rick laying down fresh tracks in the second glade.

We headed to the "back bowl" for our second run. Even better snow there. Dave in the white room.

Then reappears.

 Dave also got this shot of me on the exit.

 Great snow and beautiful light. One of the best days in Habeggars in a long time.

Red Mountain

 Toured today up at Red Mountain with my buddy Rick Co. Been a while since I've skied up here since the lower slopes stay real thin in dry years.

 Rick leaves the parking area. We skinned up to the right skyline a bit right of the narrow avalanche path.

Didn't take a lot of pics today. I was trying to keep up with the kids! Looking west to McGee (foreground right) and Mt Morrison (snowcapped distant left).

Crowley Lake and the Glass Mountains

Skintrack with the magnificent White Mountains behind.

The first few turns off the ridge were slightly wind affected, but otherwise we enjoyed fine skiing top to bottom. Took two!

 Netted 5,000' today. Biggest of the year. Happily tired at the end of the day.

Throwback Thursday

 I'm sitting here in my cozy home while the snow piles up in the mountains. I got to looking at some old photos and figured it would be fun to post them up and reminisce.

 Almost exactly twenty years ago to the day, I joined my good friends Bill and Anne for a tour of Basin Mountain. 

 Bill sadly passed away in a car accident a few years later. He was a mentor, a cheerleader, and of course a great pal. Sometimes when I'm touring alone on an especially good day I still feel his presence.

Heading up the lower slopes.

Entering the basin.

Up up up

Anne was quite elated to reach the top of the couloir.

Views! Over to Humphreys

Emerson & Kindergarten Couloirs lined up in the distance.

Not the greatest pic, but the best of my descent photos. Bill enjoys the fine boot top powder.

Skinny skis, flimsy boots, tremendous fun!

Nice trip down memory lane.
 

South Fork, Bishop Creek

 After yesterday's fantastic ski we were eager to get out again. Today we elected to get into a little steeper terrain and away from the crowds, so we skinned up the South Lake Road for a bit, then headed up into a fine, seldom visited zone.

 Trail breaking was serious work from the get go. It was great to have two strong partners.

Super views over to the Unconsolables.

As we approached the ridge the winds were again cranking, transporting a lot of snow.

Patrick and Ben gain the ridge.

The skiing below the ridge was exquisite. Ben.

We popped out of the trees into this cool drainage.

 Ben got this nice pic of me in the drainage. So fun.

 The view back up from the bottom. We gained the ridge on the skyline, skied the trees up high, then dropped into the drainage that sweeps down to the left.

 Outstanding day! Thanks guys.

Table Mountain

 Today I toured up Table Mountain with Ben, Ann, and Patrick. Driving up we got a good look at Table and decided to go up. When we got to the trailhead we saw a party of three setting the skin track. Nice!

 The crew heading up the skinner on the lower slopes.

We caught the other group about a quarter of the way up. Turns out one was the son of a friend and the other two were a couple who recently bought a house in our neighborhood. Small world.

They transitioned in a nice sheltered zone while we continued up to the small summit. The winds were raging up there.

Outstanding skiing top to bottom.

Patrick get playful on the splitboard.

The views were outstanding. Bishop Bowl, Checkered Demon & Locke, with Humphries lurking behind.

It was good enough to warrant a second run. Smiles all around.

 

Deep

 Today I joined my friends Ben & Ann for a tour up Bishop Creek. The South Fork road was unplowed, barricaded, and completely impassable, so we headed over to Aspendell.

 The main highway and some of the residential streets were plowed, but not the road to the meadows. A little rallying in my Tacoma got us to the trailhead though!

Hard to be sure, but there was roughly two feet of new snow. We decided on something close and safe - back to the mini golf zone I skied Friday. Sure looked a lot different.

Mr. Proud and Defiant (see previous post) looking handsome in a new coat.

The snow was so deep we more or less straightlined the first run.

The second run was a lot better as we used our tracks to keep the speed up and make turns. Ann

Ben

Me

 Wow! That was some kind of storm.

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!