South Fork, Bishop Creek

 With warm temps and rapid warming, I elected to ski a west facing line I've been eyeing all season.

 Unfortunately it's a bit of a bushwhack to get to the base of the chute. A chainsaw would have been helpful.

Many years ago locals diverted a small spring to form this waterfall.

The bushwhack wasn't the only issue on the approach. I started with boot crampons and hard snow, but isothermal mank resulted in deep post holing here. I switched to skis & skins briefly, quickly finding firm, supportable snow in the chute. I climbed it with boots and crampons.

Looking up the run just above the throat.

There were many of these old, beautiful snags on the way up.

I topped out at about 11,200' and enjoyed killer views.

Stark windswept terrain up high.

The first 500' was still a little firm, so I worked this sun softened aspect.

Real nice skiing once I got a little lower here.

Good run. Had to be careful of the mank at the bottom. Found a good route out that avoided the worst of the bushwhacking too.

The line, left.

 Another new one!

Old Friend, New Friends

 I spent the last four days skiing with an old college buddy, Tim, and his three friends Dave, Dave, and Syd. We had a load of fun!

 The first day out we did a tour on McGee Mountain. The crew was acclimating to the altitude so we kept it short.

Tim busts a move on the skin track.

We found decent skiing almost all the way to the car.

After a super fun day skiing lifts at Mammoth we decided to ski the Sherwins near Mammoth. The leader (me) got a little off route at the bottom of the hike which resulted in some bonus exertion, but no one seemed to mind too much.

Back on the trail it still wasn't exactly easy strolling.

Tim was happy to finally reach snow.

The main Avy Path skied great.

Tim on the exit across the meadow with our ski line behind.

On the final day the guys had found their mountain legs, so we went for a longer tour up Table Mountain outside of Bishop.

Dave & Dave approach the summit.

Dave, Syd, Tim, and Dave pose for a summit photo. All smiles!

We found a little stretch with sun cups up high, but most of the run was nice smooth corn. Syd cruises.

Dave liked it too.

More Syd a little lower.

 Super fun set of days. It was great to reconnect with Tim and meet his buddies. Lots of laughs, lots of good skiing!

Round and Round

 Round Mountain looms high above our home, so I've had my eyes on it for a very long time. I got close a couple of weeks ago, but turned around as conditions were warming fast and I erroneously thought the summit was further and higher than it was.

Essentially, it was well within my grasp but I turned around!

 Needless to say, missing the summit has been nagging me pretty badly since then, so I decided to have another go.

 Round Mountain and the large chute falling from it's South Ridge.

 This time around I decided to make it an overnighter. It made for an easier summit day and an earlier start allowing for ideal skiing conditions.

The creek in Shannon Canyon was raging making for difficult hiking and wet feet.

Sweet views from camp.

Home sweet home.

I was indeed able to get a good early start and was on snow quickly.

The chute. Looks small but definitely is not.

The coveted summit.

More killer views.

Looking down at Bishop

Lousy pic, but good turns right from the tip top.

Dropping into the SE face/chute system.

 Delightful corn down the chute, fair skiing on old avy debris below that. Mission accomplished!

South Fork Bishop Creek

The road above the winter closure is plowed, but gated so I strapped the skis on and spun up to the snow. The road is only cleared for about a mile and a half, but well worth it on the bike.

Toured up and down the little drainage on the left. Doesn't look like much, but provided easy skinning up and fun turning down.

Above the initial slope the terrain opened up. Again doesn't look amazing - but was. Ended up on the treed knob far right.

Cool hidden cirque up on Table.

Looking up the South Fork towards the Inconsolable Range.

I'm a sucker for these expressive dead snags.

West to the Sierra Crest.

Very fine skiing top to bottom.

 Delightful tour.

Powder?

 Mammoth Mountain reported 3" - 5" of new snow out of the Tuesday storm, so I decided to take my chances yesterday and headed up to the Mammoth Lakes Basin - which usually gets the most snow out of these smaller systems.

Absolutely stunning morning. I found 1" or 2" at the Twin Lakes trailhead, increasing to 4" to 6" near the crest. Cold too. 17F at the start.

Backside of Mammoth.

Great to get another taste of winter scenery with sparkling surfaces and rimed trees.

Low angle skied great, but hit the old crust on anything steepish. Quite fun nonetheless.

 Getting warm and sticky on the exit around noon. Another five inches and it would be real nice up here, but it doesn't look promising. Fingers crossed!