Lamarck Area

 Yesterday I parked in Aspendell and poked around above North Lake. I wanted to see what the effect of all the wind had here.

Fool's Ridge left. Wound up skiing the open slopes half way up the ridge which actually provided pretty good skiing. Smooth windboard and faceted powder were found.

This chute on the eastern end of the Paiute Crags should "corn" up soon. Might be worth a try.

This snow bridge collapsed on the way out. Didn't get wet thankfully!

Today I elected to head up towards Lamarck Col. Early light on Fool's Ridge.

Cruised by Grass Lake. Always holds fine views of the Paiute Crags (red) and Mt Emerson (grey).

Turned around here. Just didn't feel like post holing through this rubble field.

Down canyon views.

Found a sunny spot (It was cold!) to have a snack and regroup.

Fun skiing on this smooth windboard.

Scoped the map, scouted around, and eventually found a good route to Upper Lamarck Lake.

A short run then brought me to Lower Lamarck Lake.

 A bit of fair to poor skiing in the woods got me back down to North Lake.

Not the best skiing, but a fantastic tour nonetheless.

SoHa

South of Habeggars. SoHa. Not sure what else to call it as there are no named drainages, peaks or ridges nearby.

 A favorite. Somehow the snow is always good in there. The open glades up high are the main attraction. So is the solitude.

The views down the South Fork of Bishop Creek aren't bad either.

The first run was real nice.

So I went up for another. Spotted this sculpture on the way.

Made it up to treeline where the winds were a cranking.

 Then enjoyed a terrific run all the way out.

Skiing Again!

I am finally back home after lots of travel which thankfully was uneventful. Time to wax the skis and head to the hills! I eased into it with a short tour out of Aspendell.

Plenty of wind transport on Table Mountain during the drive up.

Interesting wind erosion where the wind funneled through a choke point. Mini golf zone behind looked kinda wind affected but may have skied alright.

I meandered up to the little notch on the skyline right of center. By carefully reading the snow texture and aspect I found good snow - but there was a lot more bad snow than good!

Today my buddy Ben and I headed north for some tree skiing. Cold start. 10F at the car, but with full sun and no wind it didn't feel too uncomfortable.

We climbed our way up through nice glades to this ridge.

And on up to a small summit for outstanding views.

The tree skiing was very good. The snow that fell out of the trees was a very slight nuisance, but we found plenty of undisturbed, cold powder.

 Solid fun! Great to be back in the saddle.

Christmas Hiking in LA

 Mary and I spent Christmas at my Mom's in Altadena. She lives at the foot of the mountains with a sweet little trail leading down into Millard Canyon just a few minutes walk from her door. 

After our drive down, Mary and I set out and soon encountered a family hiking along who had seen a bear up canyon near some cabins.

 Sure enough we saw the bear! It seemed lazy and lethargic though, so we were a little worried about it.

The next morning a storm was rolling in so I elected to get out early before it came in full force. Dense clouds rolled in and out of the canyons. Very moody.

Damp but not too wet. Not a soul around.

Fall colors lingered here and there.

I examined the spot where we saw the bear and found this.

A bit gruesome. I suppose the bear was lethargic from its big meal! I know the feeling.

More color.

We also joined our friend Saja for a hike in Griffith Park. Again, damp but not too wet. Swell views. Downtown.

Mary with Griffith Observatory on the skyline left.

Lastly I took one more foray into Millard. So much comes to life with moisture down there.

The creek was chugging along. Still crossable in spots though.

Oaks!

Oases on the edge of the megatropolis.
 

Rock Creek Skiing

 After the last tours to Habeggar's and Red Cone I decided to ski somewhere a bit more off the beaten path. I drove up to the winter closure on Rock Creek Road (no Sno-Park required, trails not groomed), hopped up onto the bench to the west, and meandered on in to the base of Patricia Peak (summit out of view up to the right).

I skinned up to treeline just right of center and did two nice runs in the glades.

Another pretty day in the mountains.

Avalanche debris from the big storm a week ago.

The open glades skied very well.

A little more wind affected up here, but still solid fun. The terrain above was very wind hammered.

 I've never skied these slopes before. Nice little zone. 

I am taking a little time out to visit my Mom for Christmas. Let the snow pile up!!!

Red Cone

 Today I was joined by my friend Dave as we toured up Red Cone in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. Wow! There's a ton of snow up here. Good snow too.

 We got a nice early start and had the place to ourselves.

Red Cone bowl itself was wind packed and the two sets of turns in there didn't look great, so we elected to ski the east facing glades on its flank. Our turns from the first run below us.

Another beauty of a day. Crisp, but not too cold.

Looking west into the bowl. Ritter and Banner off to the left and Mammoth Mountain right.

Dave's an accomplished splitboarder. The only action shots I got were of him in the white room!

Magnificent day! Thanks Dave.
 

Back to Habeggar's

 Habeggar's glades are a great, relatively safe spot to assess the effect of recent storms on the snowpack.

This area got about 4" of new snow and whole ton of wind yesterday, so I was eager to get up there and see what happened.

I met my friend Anne and new friends Paula & Wayne and we headed up. It's still pretty thin on the way up to the glades.

The snow had stripped SW facing slopes and deposited new snow on NE slopes, so overall conditions improved a bit in the glades although there was a little wind affected snow here and there.

The snow quality improved further into the glades where the snow was better protected.

Great to be out on the skis again!