[desertdawg]

[Scoop]

Great news! Thanks, Desertdawg!

[fogey]

[Walter Sobchak]

Any recent word on the status of saddlebag lake road? still gated? mostly dry? bikable maybe?

[@mammoth]

Closed, but looks bikable.

[loris]

I was up at False White on Thursday. Nice cool temps kept the surprisingly good snowpack pretty firm till two o'clock or so. The descent, at a not so early three o'clock, was on good snow, already refreezing in the shade. Suncups all over the lower areas but they were very small, about the size of an open hand. Rocky patches at the bottom but plenty of snow still there. Leaving from TPR, took skis off once to cross a tiny dirt patch but that was it. Creeks, lakes getting exposed and opening up some. My glance at Saddlebag road showed pavement at the bottom. Rumor at TPR was that the road would probably open the 21st or so... (don't know why so late) From what I could see the Conness area looked great. Lake still snowed/iced over quite a bit. Met a great guy from Istanbul and skied with him- he's biking from Oregon to Bishop w/ his skis, hitting the volcanoes and roadside hits. I've got some pics but am a total I.T. dunce and don't know how to post them... If anyone wants to see, give me a hand or maybe i can email to you if you want to check conditions... Overall, conditions were such that I'd hit it every weekend this month, but I've got to be out of town... total bummer!

[Codester]

Went up to ski Gaylor peak yesturday with the dog. Suncups are starting to get really bad down low. Parking at the base of Gaylor, there are big suncups for the first 5-600 feet, and then small suncups to the top of the ridge. They are hell to hike in, but if you wait long enough for it to soften, they're not that bad to ski on. The snow is melting FAST in the areas that had plenty of coverage last weekend. Elerly Bowl is pretty much done. I sure as hell wouldn't want to do anything off of dana anymore.. Looks like most of the snow is around the False White, White, Conness areas

[zeke-a-peak]

Final East-side Fling

Finally have some time to write up this trip. The goal was to hit the East side of the Sierra's for a final week of skiing, hot-springing, and to hike some on the PCT with Shauna before moving to Utah. Got all of these in, though not quite in that order.

A week-ago more Weds ( 5/28 ) scheduled the move date with the movers for early June and left early AM from Pioneer on Thursday to drive east over Hwy 88 and then south on 395. As I passed Kirkwood, I turned on my cell phone to check messages and heard from Shauna that she was in the Tahachapies, was in her 4th week of through-hiking and had just treked north through the Mohave along the LA aquaduct. But damn, she was still far south.

So I left her message saying I was heading up into the Sawtooths and would check back in on Saturday or Sunday when I got out; hopefully we could still meet up then.

Matterhorn Attempt, June 28-30, 2008

The view of the Sawtooths from Bridgeport was promising

but in the parking lot at the trailhead as i was gearing up

a guy, David, came out, saying that he had turned around at about 11,000 ft in the E couloir of the Matterhorn due to crazy big rollerball action, rockfall, and sloughing from the 2' of glop from the Memorial Day storms that was coming loose.

Still, I decided it was worth a try. Got on the trail about 2:30 pm, hiked for 2 miles and 1,500 feet on dirt up the Horse Creek Canyon trail

found snow at about 8500 feet, and also ran into the Turkish ski/biker guy about 1,000 ft up the first snowfield at around 5 pm as he was making his way down. It was overcast and snowing lightly, and we talked for a while about his bicycle trip down from Portland hitting Crater Lake, Mclaughlin, Shasta, Lassen, Carson and Senora Passes, etc to ski--I even got in a Merhaba! (hello). Combing skiing and bicycling has long been a dream of mine; hopefully he will post about his trip and his rig-up when he gets back to Portland!

Bivied at about 9,500 ft in Horse Creek canyon in clouds, grappel, snow, and wind

woke up a bit late the next morning, continued up Horse Creak canyon (missed the turn up into the E couloir cirque) and was somewhat sluggish breaking trail through the 1 - 2 ft of wet glop heading up towards the pass northwest of Twin Peaks


However, above the pass, the remaining 1,500 ft to the summit of the Matterhorn looked sweet

and my pace accelerated. Skis were the perfect way to stay atop the 2 - 3 feet of glop on top of tallus.

Crested out at the top of the E. Couloir at about 12,000 ft

decided I didn't want to try it solo, and continued traversing up the back side of the ridge towards the summit, when--SNAP!--my right binding cable on my G3 binding broke.


It was getting late, the remaining 400 ft or so to the summit was steep, I didn't fancy postholing into tallus in my teleboots, and so I decided to turn around and ski down on one ski. Needless to say, that was difficult + tiring too, and I'll forgo showing pictures of the carnage of traversing, side-slipping, and kick-turning that pretty much wrecked that entire face.

Lower down below the pass where it was less steep and better corn snow, the "skiing" was a bit easier. Back in Horse Creek Canyon, I tried toeing the right ski with the broken binding and found that was easier than skiing on one ski--my toe only slipped out (and I fell) every few hundred yards.

Got back to my bivy spot, decided to stay the night, got a good nights sleep, slept in late, and then made the 2-ski limp down the final snow field and hike back to the parking lot by noon or so.

Bloody Mountain and Couloir, June 1

Still no word from Shauna as I cruised through Bridgeport and Lee Vining, but I figured my best option was to head to Mammoth to find a replacement cable for my binding. This would also put me a bit closer to Shauna, should she call.

As I drove south from Conway Summit down 395 I spied Bloody Mountain and its namesake coulior

and knew i'd have to try it.

Found and replaced the cable at Mammoth Mountaineering, checked email, had a good burito dinner, and, with still, no word from Shauna, headed out on Sherwin Creek Road towards Laurel Lakes. I have a 2wd low-clearance Saturn loveship wagon, which meant I was only driving to, camping at, and walking from 7200 ft at the bottom of the Laurel Lakes road.

Woke at about 6 am to a gorgeous east-side sierra sunrise

was on the trail by 6:15 am, up and around the corner into the Laurel Lakes canyon shortly thereafter

and finally reached the end of the road, the start of snow, and the bottom of the couloir at about 9800 ft above the upper Laurel lake by about 8 am. 4.5 miles and 2500 vertical in 1 hour 45 minutes. Not a bad warm up.

Skinned up the apron a bit

soon switched to crampons and ice-axe and ascended through frozen-over avy debris


that I hoped was just slough from the ski tracks on the previous day or two before.

Higher up past the central tower and in the crux where the chute swung looker's left past a rock band, my cell phone rang. I wasn't in a place to answer, but it did motivate me to climb faster and stronger! Above the rocks, I kicked a platform to sit, undid my skis from my pack to access my phone, checked my voicemail and heard that it was another friend wanting to know if there would be a chance at the end of the week to meet up before I left for Utah. I figured I would wait to return the call.

The final 4 or 500 feet to the summit was slightly less steep but slow postholing through the 2+ feet of sugary/soft/wet snow glop from the Memorial day storms. It kept balling up on my crampons and I had to knock my boots every step or two to release the snow. But there were fab views west and north to the summit, Mammoth, Minaret crest, Ritter, Banner, Koip and Kuna further north

Not a whole lot of snow there, though.

As I traversed the ridge to the summit, saw skier tracks from the day or two before head into the steeper (skier's left) part of the couloir that runs pretty much right to the summit. Crested out on the summit at about 12,500 ft about 1:30 pm

had super fab views south to the higher Red Slate Mtn

and tried calling my friend back, but had no cell coverage at the summit.

For the descent, I traversed back over to the couloir I had climbed, was a little leary that the whole thing may slide, but a ski cut held, as did the first turn, and the next, and the next--just compressed and punched down through the soft powdery glop.

Pretty much did a turn, stop, turn, stop, check that the pinwheels weren't too big, down the first bit towards the rollover and crux. At the end of each turn, I wondered, will I really ski this?

Finally, I rationalized, if Sierra Fred skied the Bloody Couloir, surely I could (thanks Fred!). And I continued turns down through the 2' of glop in the crux.

Below the crux and above the rock towers where the steeper couloir from the left joined in and the slide/slough from those skiers had cleared all the overlying glop away, there was smooth corn and I linked more turns together.

Sorry, don't have pictures of the turns or the skiing; I guess that's one of the down-sides of solo skiing.

Down on the apron past the avy debris, it was interesting skiing through 6" to 1' of powdery glop that had partially filled in the shallow sun-cups from prior to the Memorial Day storm.

Skied snow all the way down to the upper Laurel Lake, took a dip

and admired the whole descent route. Switched over to tennis shoes and was down the road back at the car by about 6 pm.

Headed back into Mammoth for another burito dinner, still hadn't heard from Shauna, decided that I pretty much had to bail on her, and started heading back north for more skiing and hot-springs.

Day-hiking above Parker Lake towards Koip and Kuna peaks, June 2

Decided to drive to the north end of the June Lake loop and head for the Parker Lake trailhead. Hopefully there would be good skiing on Koip and Kuna peaks higher up--where the Madturtles had found good powder the year before in April.

Pulled into the parking lot about 10 pm, threw down the bivy, woke up a bit late, found a disappointing view of little snow

and opted instead for a day hike up to the water fall that would have been an ice bulge if there was more snow

This made for a good stopping place, nap, and pleasurable expose to read my book, 100 years of solitude, which I'd last had a chance to read 3 weeks back in Beijing.

Returned to the car about 5 pm, headed into Lee Vining to find that I had seven voice mail messages from Shauna--she was in Lake Isabella. In an instance, I scrapped ski plans for False White, Conness, Virginia Lakes, Senora Pass and the hot springs in between, and opted for the 4 hr drive south down 395 to meet her. Pulled into the hotel where the PCT through-hikers were crashing about 10 pm, took a shower, and, close to midnight, motivated a group to (with a car, such luxury!) try to find a nearby hot springs. We piled 7 into my wagon (a few on laps), took a bunch of wrong turns down really winding roads, had to stop twice for one guy to get out and puke (he had been drinking way to much, celebrating the stop in town), never did find the springs, and got little sleep that night with so many people piled into a single motel room plus all the snoring, heat, and sinky beds.

Through-hiking the PCT from Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows, June 3-5

The next morning, we got a California alpine start at about 11 am, but still managed to pull off 18 miles and 5500 feet of elevation gain. The next day it was 24 miles, and day after, a more leasurly morning stroll of 10 miles into Kennedy Meadows by about 11 am. They all ripped, and for once, I had to huff to keep up. But it was nice to go with a light pack without all the ski, boots, ice axe, crampons and avy gear weight.

Here's Shauna loading the Saturn wagon in Lake Isabella

excited not to have to walk (or hitch) 40 miles back up CA 178 to Walker Pass. Later, posing with some Joshua trees near a water source

the two of us smiling further down the trail

and the final stretch along the Kern River into KM


I left Shauna at KM on Thursday in the early afternoon (excited to head up into the High Sierra the next few days towards Whitney with--from my report driving down 395 on Monday of--very little snow south of Bishop). I hitched a ride back to my car at Walker Pass in a single ride with an interesting guy named Gordon who 'follows through hikers' (on the PCT, Appalachian trail, Continental Device Trail, and most recently this past winter, the Florida trail--who knew!?) in a big white GM van loaded with ice-chests of water and gatoraid that he hands out at will.

Did find the hot springs east of Isabella on the 3rd try (4 gorgeous tubs right on the Kern river made of cement and inlaid rock with inlaid inscriptions like "love is wonderful" and "blessed are the peaceful", plus cemented channels to drain off excess water), enjoyed an afternoon soak and camp along the river. Friday, pulled through Bakersfield in the AM, Berkeley in the afternoon to say good bye to my brother and several friends, and Davis Fri night and saturday for some errands, more goodbyes, and to pick up my cat and a bookcase. Now finally back up in Pioneer for the last round of packing.

Moving to Northern Utah on Monday or Tuesday. It's been a jolly awesome 7 years in the Sierra with, I hope, many more to come in the Wasatch and Bears. Give a holler if you're swinging that way.

[dirtbag]

Nice TR! I was going to post some pics of Round Top but that's a hard act to follow. BTW there's probably another week or so of snow left up there. Better go get some.

[Eric O]

Way to get it, Zeke! Thanks for sharing. And this after many declared the Bloody Couloir "done" back in early May! Late storms are the Jam on the toast of the Sierra.

[Walter Sobchak]

[thornton]

nice, mr. sobchak!

me = jealous

you must have some tasty bar tape (are you sure it wasn't that you didn't pack enough food?).

[jediah porter]

[bcrider]

Anyone up for Echo Boat Taxi tomorrow? I need partners.

pic from last sunday.



Its not over yet!!!!
_________________
more cowbell!

[jimw]