Lime Canyon

 After Friday's tour it was evident strong winds had created poor skiing conditions in most zones. Reports from around the Sierra confirmed that view, so I visited an area I hoped had been spared the worst of it.

 The view up canyon from the road. Independence Peak in the background.

I was quite grateful for a skin track . Got too steep in spots, but definitely made the travel a lot easier.

Another view of the canyon from higher up.

Skin track stoke.

Looking down from the top of my first run. Skiing was quite good here.

Went back up for another. First run tracks.

My second run was "exploratory."  Good one though. Run #3 started from here. Really nice skiing too.

 Bluebird day with no wind. No one around. Excellent day!

Windy

 Yesterday I drove up Highway 168 right out of Bishop to have a look. The South Lake Road is still closed although passable. I skipped that and drove to Aspendell. Incredibly windy there with large drifts across the road, so I skipped that too.

Driving back down the hill I noticed a nice little run up the moraine to the west, so I gave it a try.

Trees were a little thick at the bottom, but the drainage opened up nicely higher.

Topping out on the moraine brought some nice views. Looking down canyon towards town.

Peaklet poking out among the clouds and blowing snow.

Table Mountain getting raked by the gusts.

Bishop Bowl and Mt Locke made a brief appearance.

I skied the open glade in the back here. Good fun. Glad I rallied for a short tour. It felt good!

Today I decided to check out the "dream line" I noted in my last post. I was able to drive a good ways up the 4x4 approach road, then skinned up towards my goal, the big bowl center.

After meandering up through the Pinon forest I found the entry to the gully surprisingly straightforward.

I was able to get up through the throat with the aid of ski crampons. Loved the rugged terrain here.

Above the throat the drainage opens up into this incredible valley. It looked like a powder paradise.

However it was not a powder paradise. A couple of inches of new snow covered a quite variable surface with plenty of breakable crust. I kept hoping I'd find better snow higher, but it was not to be.

The view down from just below my turnaround point.

Valley views from below the throat.

The variable snow and the jumbled, avalanche wracked terrain made for tedious skiing, so I exited the gully ASAP.

I found fun, low angle skiing right away.

Skiing through the forest was a little lumpy, but good. Delightful squiggles on the road were cool too.

 Amazing place. Can't wait to come back when the upper slopes are in better shape!

Grays Meadow 2

 Had ideas of touring up near the Shepard's Pass trailhead today. I had spied a good looking line Saturday and thought I'd give it a go.

It was somewhat of an adventure drive in there with up to a foot of new snow over an icy dirt road. Once I got close, the line didn't look so good. The narrow gully was too narrow and steep sided and the nearby trees looked too dense.

 I was looking at the drainage on the left through the trees.

Spied this dream line though. Access doesn't look too bad. Someday hopefully!

I ended up back at the Grays Meadow area. A lot of new snow had fallen since Saturday, so I could skip the funky gully and head right up the hills above the road.

Got a good look at the Lime Canyon Glades. Looking nice!

Looking down at my first run.

 

Tracks. Good skiing. Very slightly wind affected in spots lower down, but solid fun.

Went higher for run two. Real pretty slopes.

Looking down the run. This skied exceptionally well.

 The slopes above the road were more wind affected, but still fun. Nice to ski right to the car. No one around either. It stayed cold and north breezes added a wind chill. Keeping the snow nice!

Grays Meadow

 I still had a little left in the tank this morning - and a never ending desire to ski, so I decided to get out early before the storm rolled in. Went down to Independence to check on the scene above the Onion Valley Road.

 The road is plowed to the usual spot at Grays Meadow. This is looking back down the road from the closure.

Not as much snow as I had hoped, but this little drainage and the slopes above it caught my eye, so I forged through the funky gully to the fine slopes above.

I ended up skinning up the ridge on the left and skiing the shady slopes. Not huge terrain, but bigger than it looks. Well over 1500' to the top - which I did not make it to.

Early in the day the edge of the cloud shield pouring over the Sierra had not blotted out the sun.

Pleasing views down to the Alabama Hills and Owens Lake as the sun played peek-a-boo.

I got to the top of my run and enjoyed the last of the decent light.

Good, fun run on creamy powder. Went back up for another, but the light got incredibly flat. Even with my previous tracks it was hard to see the surface. Still good skiing though.

 Great area. I'd never skied in this drainage before. Certainly warrants a trip back someday.

Westgard Pass Skiing

 Whew! I needed a rest after that last set of days. Thankfully a huge storm cycle rolled through and gave me a few days off.

 With the copious snowfall I figured something new (to me anyways) and off the beaten path would be fun, so I drove east from Big Pine to the Westgard Pass area.

Surprisingly, the most obvious ski zone was full of tracks with several skiers lapping it, so I utilized their skin track for a bit then headed up a different area across the canyon. Looked promising on the way up!

Sweet snow sculpture up on the ridge.

The first run was good fun.

So I went up for another.

After a few false summits along the ridge I arrived at this, Tollhouse Point (per the USGS map).

Splendid views. South with the dark shapes of Squaw and Waucoba on the right.

Sierra vistas weren't bad either.

Had a great run off the top, down and out via the skin track to the highway just above the narrows.

I had such a good time yesterday, I decided to go up there again today and explore some other zones. I followed the other parties' skin track to the top of a knoll. Pretty cool up there.

Looking over to where I skied yesterday.

Made good time on their skinner.

Another good view south towards the Inyos.

I skied northeast facing slopes down to the 4x4 road. Fun at the top and at the bottom, but cluttered with dead Pinyon in the middle.

I then skinned up a big north facing bowl and discovered some fine glades.

Deep Springs Valley off to the northeast.

Had an excellent run in there. A nice long one in open glades straight down to the road and out to the highway.

 Meadow skippers paradise up here!