Southeast Basin Mountain

I woke up yesterday with no specific plans, but after coffee and a little breakfast I got an itch to get up in the mountains.

The southeast side of Basin Mountain is an area I visit pretty much every year because it is close, has some nice runs, affords access to bigger country below Mt Humphreys, and is just a beautiful locale.

This is the current view of Basin.

Dang thin!

The good news is one can drive all the way to the usual road end (which is now about a quarter mile higher) and easy hiking (about twenty minutes) brings one near the end of the approach gully, which is filled in nicely.

The SE chute of Basin is probably skiing pretty well now.

I skinned up to the ridge for views of Mt Locke.

And Peaklet.

The view down. A strong cold front passed while I was up here resulting in high winds and dust down in the valley. Fortunately I was sheltered from the winds for the most part.

A real mix of snow, with soft, eroded snow high up, funky crusty snow on east facing slopes, corn/supportable sun crust on southeast facing slopes, and a little recently deposited wind slab in the gully - which skied real nice.

The bad news is I took a freakish little fall and twisted my knee. No pop. No swelling, but not good. Likely down for a week or two.

Sheesh!

Xinalani!

I spent last week down at Xinalani, a yoga retreat south of Puerto Vallarta in Old Mexico, with Mary and a gaggle of good friends.

This is truly an amazing place.

The beaches at the retreat were stunningly beautiful.

Most every morning was spent riding the great waves. Me!

Mary got into the act too!

Most every afternoon was spent reading and relaxing in our delightful palapa.

Each day we had a morning and an evening yoga session with our instructor from Bishop. I made a lot of progress in my yoga practice.

 

Absolutely fantastic!!!

Going South

Headed here.

For a some of this.

Maybe a little of this. Probably on a boogie board though.

Lots of this.

I am ready.

It better snow while I am gone!

A Fine Slog In The Mammoth Frontcountry

This weekend the energy was a lot better, so I got a hankering for an adventure off the beaten track.

It turned out to be a terrifically long but mostly pleasing slog out to an unnamed, yet attractive peak just east of Valentine Lake.

Found a cool tepee frame along the way. 

 
We liked the sweet views of Pyramid Peak and Para-chute.

Para-chute up close. Another Sierra gem.

About three quarters of the way up the peak the snow quality, our energy, and thus our enthusiasm took a sharp downward turn.

So we called it good and did some downward turns.
Which were pretty darned good.

Seven hours out. 1,200 feet of turns.
Not the greatest ratio, but still a great time.

Weekend At Home

Catching up time.

Weekend before last I was hit with a spell of low energy, so I took it easy around the house.

Hung out with our boy Bristle.

Finished up a couple of projects.

Another incarnation of the Surly (see surly for a previous version).

Classic monster cross now with Conti Race King 2.0 tires mounted on Velocity Dyad rims, bar end shifters, wide as heck Nitto bars & a sweet Brooks saddle.

Got these babies mounted.

About time! Now all we need now is some fresh snow. 

Cleaned up the garage a bit. Worked on shop taxes.
Not the most exciting weekend, but satisfying in a different sort of way.

Eastern Mammoth Crest Tour

I followed one fine day in the mountains with another.

Joined Rick and Lacey and skinned up towards Duck Pass in the Mammoth Lakes Basin.

We arrived at Barney Lake, below the pass, to find wind wrecked Barney Bowl.

Nice views of the peaks beyond Duck Pass (foreground).

We skinned up and around to the right and took a short run on this slope. Kinda like yesterday's wind eroded snow, but chunkier.

We then skinned up to a little saddle above Sky Meadows where we enjoyed the views.

We found decent soft snow in the shady aspects.

Lacey kept the telemark stoke going.

Skinned up again in the trees and found fine skiing.
This little chute and the glades below provided the best skiing of the day.

Covered a lot of ground!
Was nice to enjoy a good long day in the mountains with some new partners.

Patricia Peak

Ever since I enjoyed this view of Patricia Peak back on 1/11, I have been wanting to ski the big, broad slopes from the summit.

I hooked up with Steve and headed back up Rock Creek. Again.

The Junipers were in their perpetual fine form.

We chose to attain the upper slopes by following my old skin track to the southeast shoulder, then up and around this sub peak.

Interesting downhill & traversing skinning through here.

Decent skinning the rest of the way to the summit.

Summit registers.

Other attractions in the neighborhood.

We were both pretty surprised and very pleased to find consistently good, fun skiing all the way down the     big slopes on wind eroded, soft snow

We did find a little firmer snow below in a chute, but otherwise the skiing was great.

What a day.

What a nice little ski peak!

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