[telemike]

another great Sierra TR - you and EricO are driving my crazy with this shit
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[madturtle]

F'in outstanding. Really appreciate the arm chair stoke. Keep on gettin it!!

[steeleman]

Day Two:

Took me awhile to wake up this morning. Yesterday's 10+ miles with over 4K in gain, virtually all in the rarified air above 10,000', really took it out of me. Especially with sea level lungs and the pig on my back. Sadly, I'm no Eric O living the dream in Tahoe and skiing 5 days a week. I'm what my friend Chuck calls "office guy", as in "Check out office guy puking his guts out over on the side of that mountain." So office guy got up and got moving at around 7:30, tragically late given the time of year and the weather, but I decided to make the best of it and avoid foolish decisions late in the day.

Setting out for Bear Lakes Basin. SW side of Mt. Gabb behind me. This thing is like a giant ice cream cone with rivulets of melting yummyness dripping down all flanks. I was more determined than ever to bag this sucker.



The first obstacle of the day: the hanging valley known as Dancing Bear Pass.



Climbing up the pass in the morning cold led me to one of those "what the hell was I thinking" moments. Ski crampons were helping me crank my way up the slope, when suddenly I had the oh shit realization that I was about 1 millimeter's worth of edgehold from sliding all the way back down to Jumble Lake. A hasty retreat back to a slightly lesser angled part of the slope, a delicate transition from skis to crampons, and I was back on my way. Stupid office guy. I did finally scratch my way up the pass and was greeted with the sublime sight of Seven Gables rising above the hanging valley.



I wrapped around to Black Bear Lake to catch a glimpse of Feather Peak and pass.



I still had another ridge to cross to get out to Seven Gables. This shot looks straight down the Big and Little Bear drainage, but I wanted to ski out to Vee Lake, long rumoured to be the prettiest spot in the high Sierra. So my route wrapped left and over another ridge of peaks.



I skied some softening (though not quite corn) snow down and through some of the upper Bear Lakes, then skinned up for a quick climb to the pass above Vee Lake. She was still frozen, but I hoped to find some water near the outlet.



I skied straight down to the lake and indulged in a guilty pleasure -- skating fast across a frozen lake at 11,000'+, gobsmacked by the scene around me, and cranking old school Rush on the iPod.

Some scenes from Vee Lake. Looking south to the unnamed quasi Tallac/Mount of the Holy Cross peak.



Looking southwest to Gemini. A fine looking chute between the twin summits holds snow all year long. Time for some Big Foot'n in August perhaps?



Looking east to Feather Peak



And to the west of course is Seven Gables, so I skied down from the outlet of Vee Lake to the chain of lakes below and started my climb up to the small couloir on the peak.







Going up the couloir, I started to posthole 3/4 of the way up the thing. I began to fear I was too late for the summit, that at best I would be postholing, and at worst I would be buried under tons of oozing wet snow. I still wasn't even sure if the NW slope of the peak would be skiable. So I convinced myself as I kicked and scratched my way up the couloir that it would be a big pile of talus and not worth going up anyway. This was my rationalization for being too lazy to get up early enough to beat the corn window. So of course imagine how bummed I was when I saw this:



DEFINITELY skiable off the top! But I contented myself with the views from the col.



And with the knowledge that I had just basically skied across the Sierra. Looking west, I could drop down to the John Muir Trail and in only slightly farther distancewise than it would take me to get back to camp (but nearly all downhill), I would be at Lake Edison on the westside.



But of course I was heading back east over a mindblowing chain of rugged peaks.





Here's a random unnamed rock wall off the south side of Mt. Hooper. Just another stupendous piece of rock that nobody's ever heard of.



Time to ski. The snow was textured at the top for about 30 feet, then smoothed at the steep rollover and was sheer BUTTER all the way to the Seven Gables Lakes far, far below.





The great buttress of the north peak. Another classic sierra wall.



I skied the big run from the top of the couloir down to the valley below and man was it a fine run. It wasn't just the perfect corn; I'd skied that before. Rather, it was arcing turns in the most incredibly sublime wilderness I'd ever set ski in, and knowing that I was the only person within about a 10-15 mile radius, save for the occasional jetliner passing above. I was literally laughing with stupid glee as I ripped turn after turn down the Seven Gables.

A quick lunch was consumed down at Seven Gables Lakes, then a quick skin back up to Vee Lake, where I survived a very sketchy but very necessary water recovery move.



Then skinned back over the Vee Lakes ridge (under the white dot).



From the divide, I saw my next goal, Dancing Bear Pass, between the two peaks on the left.



Paused for the standard steeleman bc snack -- PB from squeeze tube on bagel



Made it back to the top of Dancing Bear Pass, but starting to feel pretty whipped



I skied back down to Lake Italy on very nice snow, although I had to cut a pretty high traverse above Jumble Lake to avoid having to skin up. The corn snow was, again, simply firing. I got back to camp around 4pm and figured I would move camp up the valley to better position myself for the planned early morning attack on Mt. Gabb. So I packed up the pig and set off, skiing across Lake Italy's boot, and then above Toe Lake towards Gabbot Pass. I found a flat spot just below the pass and quickly pitched the betalight. The campsite had sweet views back to the peaks of the Bear Lakes Basin, the Rock Creek Crest, and of course Mt. Gabb.





My "office guy" feet weren't looking so good, sporting some borderline trench foot.



Nothing dry socks and some second skin can't heal. Fired up the stove and made a phat dinner.



And watched the moon rise over Bear Creek Spire!



Which ushered in the commencement of the magic hour...







Day Three:

This morning's goal, Mt. Gabb. The sun was already on it at 5:30am. I hoped I could get high enough on the peak to make it worthwhile before the wet slide and rockfall danger became too great.



I didn't even bring my skins; I just cramponed over from Gabbot Pass, and then climbed the chute on the left side of the face.



Gabb is the tallest mountain in the area, save Mt. Morgan which is only seven feet higher and way over to the east. Mt. Gabb is also one of those huge Sierra peaks that doesn't sit on the actual crest itself, so the views are uninterrupted.





I got up the the top of the chute and hit the ridge at around 13,300'. I still had over 400' to the summit over big blocks of talus.



Since I was here to ski today, I passed on the summit. Instead, I had a quick snack and admired the views.



Sorry, no pics of the descent since I was having too much fun. But here I am at the bottom.



The next goal, with the pig on my back, was Cox Col. That steeper-than-it-looks hump at the bottom of this photo was the crux. Since it was still refrozen, I had to boot up it with my entire load and skis on my back. Ugh.



But I made it. Looking back at the line down and across from Mt. Gabb.



Skiing back down from Cox Col on the eastside.



Creeks and snowbridges definitely opening up on this side between 10,000' and 10,500'



Made it back to my car. Bear Creek Spire is just a speck in the distance from here.



After a stop at Giovanni's in Mammoth, I hauled butt home in time to put my oldest daughter to bed. 5.5 hours on the nose from Mammoth to Tiburon. I drove right past the pricey gas at the old MoMart in Bridgeport. Yes, that says $4.19 per gallon for V-Power. Notice also the Monster Truck, whose driver probably is broke these days.

[Gumpie]

What an epic trip you had! Congrats to you, Steeleman and your photographer buddy Leki, thanks for sharing the great pictures.

[joesnow]

[bobskiing]

Good stuff, Rich!!

This is the first year I've had significant blister problems on trips. Next year I'm putting old innerboots in the newer shells; I've decided Thermofits don't work for me on multi-day trips.

[Eric O]

Way to go, Rich! Yep, your TR definitely made it to "Huge" warning status.

You, my friend, are a certified Sierra longdistancemeister and a TRmeister at that. I read the whole thing and paused to extract all possible beta from each and every fine photograph.

Thank you for the "magic hour" section... I think that's de rigeur.



Betalight and Jetboil: great minds think alike

[steven hatcher]

Encore! Encore!

These Sierra Nevada TRs are very impressive and very beautiful. Thanks for sharing your little corner(s) of the world.
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[Benoit]

Another awesome TR from the Sierra. Thanks for the stoke.

I never skied on my own, must be a little spooky, but the experiences are probably more intense? Do you prefer it?
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[steeleman]

[Eric O]

[Kara]

[mchin]

Excellent Rich! From our Barnard/Whitney vantage point, Lucy and my eyes would gaze northward looking for you. Hope our pending TR matches yours,Eric's and the others, stiff competition!

[bobskiing]

Can't wait, Mark!

[ja_surf]

You've got some Purdy looking feet there, and the TR ain't half bad either