12/13 Eastside - Mammoth/June mountain stoke & conditions thread:

[~mikey b]

jimw ftmfw

[potatoeskillme]

awesome jimw! thanks for the photos... looks like saddlebag might be a good bet for the long weekend!

[rod9301]

nice, jim.

we are leaving on monday to go back to oregon, lots of fresh snow??

challenging though to camp with kids.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[jimw]

awesome jimw! thanks for the photos... looks like saddlebag might be a good bet for the long weekend!

Should be, if the weather can figure out what it's gonna do...

we are leaving on monday to go back to oregon, lots of fresh snow??

Yeah, I saw that too... Gonna be in Bend around June 10, may try to hit up something in the Sisters.

[rod9301]

jim,we still might be there, let me know.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[Franz Klammer]

I miss it. Memorial Day in the Eastern Sierra was my favorite. Back on the east coast

JimW, friend me on FB

[jimw]

What is FB?? Oh yeah, that thing I get on like once every few months... I'll take a look when I'm done SHRALPING THE EASTSIDE!!!

Sorry to rub it in.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. WE INTERRUPT THIS POST TO BRING YOU THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

SADDLEBAG ROAD IS NOW OPEN TO THE LAKE!!!

Just drove up there this morning to make sure I didn't just dream it when I passed it last night at 3 AM...

[Vets]

^ Is Saddlebag Lake Resort open and running the boat taxi?

[Tahoe tim]

I doubt the taxi is running as the Lake was 90% ice covered last Saturday.

[Tahoe tim]

Last Saturday on our way to Conness.

[gimpy]

exxxcellent!!!! guess we can leave the bikes at home now. thanx for the timely beta jw

[jimw]

Saddlebag Lake Resort is not open, but their website says they are planning on opening on June 15. That could be fantastic news for easy access late spring riding, since the weather seems to be hanging onto winter (possibly even snow this week??).

Saddlebag lake is melting fast. It was probably 75% NOT frozen this weekend.

Suncups starting to form around 10k, but not too big and easily mowed over in the afternoon. In the AM we found it was easier to just boot it around the lake.

North Peak today was possibly the best I've ever seen it! Totally fat, great snow. Lookers left chute also looked really fat, wanted to do that too but we were too late. I bet that line might still even have a little pow hidden in it.

[Sierra Cement]

Thank you Jimw!
Yesterday Gimpy and I enjoyed both the left and right side couloirs on North Peak and even finished it off with corn in the Kook.

[rod9301]

thanks, jim and sierra cement.
great pictures.

what time did you ski the north peak couloir?

would 1 be too late?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[BGnight]

thanks, jim and sierra cement.
great pictures.

what time did you ski the north peak couloir?

would 1 be too late?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

We dropped right about 1 and it was perfect and you could probably get it as late as 2 before it started rehardening. Damn, I wish we woulda hit the lookers left!!!

[BGnight]

I was shocked to hike up the back and see that thing as good as it was without tracks.

[skier666]

I would have loved to slay a couloir but had just as much fun with my 4 year old at Mammoth last Friday and Saturday...

Just a tad firm first thing but both days had long windows of fast yet soft snow...



Great weather...



Huge jumps...



Ellery looking thin but doable on Saturday afternoon...

[potatoeskillme]

Thrashed some fun chutes above Greenstone lake this weekend. Plenty of coverage back there still, and the corn was great!

[PowerWhore7]

Wow, looks like you guys had a terrible time....


Solid work fellas

[rod9301]

Anyone knows if the saddlebag campground is open?

Called inyo national forest hq in bishop, and"

I dont know where it is.
Near tioga pass.
Where is that?

Then she read off the nf website:

Open when conditions allow!


Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[rod9301]

Just found out it will open june 14th.
From the lee vining visitors bureau.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[tahoedreamin]

potatoes, you guys had a nice set up by the lake, and the pics indicate a good time was had by all. Such a good vibe at Tioga in the spring!

Rod, you're omnipresent man! Shasta, Oregon, back to Tioga - seemingly all in the same day, or at least same week! (mark at squaw)

[rod9301]

Yeah, well, we wanted to go back to oregon, but it's not freezing at night, and they got 2 1/2 ft recently, so I think it's all mank. Maybe later.

Which mark are you?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[w j b]

Anybody heading up to Tioga this weekend?

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Well, given we are getting into the summer and away from ski season, I guess we can keep the Eastside Thread going with love for great Eastside rock? I will delete this stuff if folks don't want it hear. Just posting some stoke.

TR: 2013 High Sierra Week – Part I – Direct South Face of Lone Pine Peak

Climbers: Enginerd & UCL

Dates: Saturday, May 11 – Sunday, May 12, 2013

Photos: Enginerd & UCL (as noted)

Synopsis: Similar to the winter of 2012, this Winter was a pretty low snow-year throughout the Sierra Nevada. Throughout the Winter, Enginerd and I had been tentatively planning a week-long ski-tour in the Eastern Sierra. As the months passed along, days grew longer and the weather warmed, we realized that once again the Winter would not provide optimal Spring ski-touring conditions.

On the other hand, the low-snow year lent itself to great, early season alpine climbing opportunities throughout the High Sierra. With that in mind, Enginerd and I headed with a loaded car down Highway 395 to the high peaks of the Eastern Sierra to try and take advantage of a good weather forecast and climb some classic, big routes.

One of the most fun parts of a week-long trip is the pre-trip gear sorting (and endless emails it entails). We were taking everything – rock gear, ice gear, skiing gear, car camping gear – you name it. We ultimately wanted to be flexible. Photo: UCL



We drove down to Deadman’s Summit by Mammoth to sleep at some altitude on that Friday night, with the goal of heading to Bishop Saturday morning to get permits based on availability.

Between Mammoth and Bishop on Saturday morning, the low snow year was pretty evident. Blood Couloir on Bloody Mountain looking pretty burnt out. Photo: UCL



Mt. Tom – ever looming, but with Elderberry Canyon completely dry. B]Photo: UCL[/B]



We did stop to take pictures with the big lens of the North Face of Mt. Humphreys – one of our potential objectives for later in the week. We had brought ice tools and alpine gear for a potential mixed climb up the face. Ultimately, it never came into fruition due to snow conditions later in the week. Photo: UCL



A panorama of the Buttermilks. Photo: UCL



We had initially planned to begin our trip by hiking in the North Fork of Big Pine Creek to climb at Temple Crag. However, upon arriving at the Bishop Ranger Station early Saturday morning, we had arrived just after a group picked up all 14 remaining permits! All those beta photos above cost us.

As we discussed options in our potential tick list, we were both still a little hesitant about altitude issues so decided to go climb one of our longest, but lowest, objectives – the Direct South Face of Lone Pine Peak.

The Direct South Face of Lone Pine Peak is a Grade V route – meaning, very, very long. Fortunately, it only tops out at around 11,000 feet (give or take), so we were not worried about altitude issues.

On the drive down to Lone Pine that morning, we were first greeted to great views of the Eastern Face of Mt. Whitney (14,505 ft.), the tallest peak in the Lower-48. Photo: UCL



We drove past and headed up towards the Southeastern flanks of Lone Pine Peak, which tops out at 12,944 ft. Photo: UCL



Arriving at the trailhead, we packed very light with the goal of hiking up to the base of the route and bivying for a very early start the next day. Enginerd and I excited to begin a week long climbing trip. Photo: Enginerd



The beginning of the approach goes up good trail to an old stone hut (which we would sleep outside of later that night – more on that later). Photo: Enginerd



On the back corner of the hut, we got our first glimpse of part of the Direct South Face of Lone Pine Peak. While the actual route cannot be seen (as it is around the corner), this gives a good sense of scale of the route (which Summit Post says is 16 pitches, but we definitely linked a bunch of pitches). Photo: UCL



The approach from the stone hut was pretty straight forward – you definitely need to stay high and left in the approach on the opposite side of the canyon. However, our plan of bivying near the base was dependent on one key point – water.

As we continued up Tuttle Creek drainage, we could not find any running water. The only water source was down by the stone hut, but we kept moving towards the base of the climb.

Finally, we realized there was no water up there, so we came up with Plan B. We climbed up the approach gully to the base of Pitch 1, and left all of our climbing gear in a little cave. That way, we could sleep down by water at the stone hut, and get up early with little to nothing to carry to the base of the climb except water.

For future reference, I would highly recommend this approach, as the descent puts you way down the road past the trailhead after the climb – and it would be rough to have to hike all the way back up to the end of the climb to get your bivy gear (unless you wanted to climb with it – but who wants to do that!). The hike up to the stone hut from the trailhead after the climb was not awesome, but definitely not bad as you are at least on trail.

Standing below the base of the climb. Because the wall is very ledgy and leaning, you are really only looking at about half the climb (with the upper-half out of sight beyond the upper most part visible in this picture). Photo: UCL



We hiked up the gully to the base of Pitch 1. There appears to be other awesome walls and spires in the area – not sure what the routes are though! Photo: Enginerd



Another shot of the first half of the route. Photo: Enginerd



Don’t slip and fall on one of these guys! Photo: Enginerd



So we hiked back down to the stone hut and cooked dinner there and just slept on the ground outside the hut (as it was a clear night with great stars). A shot of the Milky Way literally from my sleeping bag. The red light on the trees is from the red night-vision light on Enginerd’s headlamp. Photo: UCL



The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and moving – the approach went super fast given we had little gear and knew the way from the prior day. Photo: Enginerd



Enginerd starting off the climb in the somewhat dirty first pitch. Basically, the first 4-5 pitches of this climb are dirty, have loose rock (in particular if you are off-route) and involve a couple of super tight squeeze chimneys that are very run-out. Great way to start the trip…. Uh, what did we get ourselves into? Photo: UCL



I took the 5.7 squeeze chimney – it is extremely run out and was not fun to put it blunt. I hate chimney climbing, in particular squeeze chimneys with a pack hanging from my harness. I got pretty cut up and dirty, but after that pitch it was more or less smooth sailing and became incredible climbing for the remainder of the route.

I did try and avoid another chimney on the third pitch and went out on the face – the rock is very loose down there. I would recommend staying on route – and once you are beyond Pitch 4 you are all set as the rock is great for the remainder of the climb.

Looking back down after a couple of pitches. The climbing is starting to get good here, with no more chimneys and good looking rock! Photo: UCL



Enginerd took the next block of three pitches, which were awesome and worked up this corner and below these massive roofs towering above. You can’t even see half the route beyond the roofs! Photos: UCL







UCL following up below – I was loving it at this point. Photos: Enginerd







Hey Enginerd – how’s it going…. Not too bad man, not too bad. Photo: UCL



Things were starting to get exposed high up on the route. Photo: Enginerd



Continued...