Eastside Conditions Thread

[Ottime]

Thanks for the beta. I figured as much and basically am trying to decide if I want to drive all the way up to Independence. (Looks about 5 hours) to ski. Texass pics of Onion Valley looked nice enough. But if I end up there solo, I'll stay on mellower terrain.

I'll watch the swell as well. Trestles is only 1.5 hours from the condo.

Been going down there every April since '12. That year I found snow on San J and Tahquitz. Since then it has been bone dry down there. Tram Top Cam does not look like I'd bother heading up there to ski. And I've never skied Baldy either. But that looks like it wouldn't be worth the two hour drive.

Might just end up scrambling around Joshua Tree ourselves.

[SchralphMacchio]

Lots of mellow in Onion Valley. Just ski the aprons. 3.5 mile corn run from east face of University back to the car. Its a longish but totally reasonable drive from Palm Springs. 247 to 395 or what not.

[meter-man]

Lots of mellow in Onion Valley. Just ski the aprons. 3.5 mile corn run from east face of University back to the car. Its a longish but totally reasonable drive from Palm Springs. 247 to 395 or what not.

Obs from yesterday at Onion Valley http://www.esavalanche.org/content/o...alley-mt-gould

[whitekingsalmon]

It's good to have skier friends....

[davieboot]

Just read the ESA observations. Has anyone been out there on northern aspects? Is it too firm to bootpack? Windboard? I'm heading out this weekend and trying to decide on my crampon situation.

[AKbruin]

Just read the ESA observations. Has anyone been out there on northern aspects? Is it too firm to bootpack? Windboard? I'm heading out this weekend and trying to decide on my crampon situation.

Murphy's law: If you leave your boot or ski crampons in the car, you will need them on your tour. If you take them, you will not use them but simply lug around their dead weight.

[davieboot]

Murphy's law: If you leave your boot or ski crampons in the car, you will need them on your tour. If you take them, you will not use them but simply lug around their dead weight.

I know. Always happens.

[hutash]

Thanks for the beta. I figured as much and basically am trying to decide if I want to drive all the way up to Independence. (Looks about 5 hours) to ski. Texass pics of Onion Valley looked nice enough. But if I end up there solo, I'll stay on mellower terrain.

I'll watch the swell as well. Trestles is only 1.5 hours from the condo.

Been going down there every April since '12. That year I found snow on San J and Tahquitz. Since then it has been bone dry down there. Tram Top Cam does not look like I'd bother heading up there to ski. And I've never skied Baldy either. But that looks like it wouldn't be worth the two hour drive.

Might just end up scrambling around Joshua Tree ourselves.

Climbing and surfing have been way better in southern California. Ventura county surf has been epic all winter. Fucked all our beaches, but amazing surf. Climbing in J-Tree was perfect last week. I hadn't been in years, and forgot just how nice spring climbing is there. Temps are ideal, crowds? not so much so.

[jorion]

Drove SF->LA the long way around the Sierra this weekend and squeezed in a tour Saturday morning. It was last-minute and rushed so I didn't quite get the timing right, but it was a fun day anyway.

Based on recent reports I was aiming to find corn and maybe some pockets of winter snow coming down the east face of University Peak. I camped in my car outside of Mammoth Lakes. Had I been a little more prepared I could have tent camped at the Onion Valley trailhead and gotten an early start. As it was I didn't start heading up the Robinson Lake trail until 10:45, which meant by the time I got to the bowl just beneath the peak around 2PM I started post-holing through the wet snow so I turned around. I was also feeling the altitude and not-so-great sleep. It seemed like it would have been good corn on Eastern aspects up high if I had hit it a little earlier.

Coverage doesn't allow you to take the main fall line all the way down. (The peak is cut off on the right side of the pano. You have traverse above the big rocks in the near foreground to connect up to the lower bowls.)



I did get some solid skiing in down lower though.

Some nice soft snow still in wind-and-sun-protected areas and some crust in others.



Looking forward to getting back with more planning. The mountains sure are bigger on that side.

[AKbruin]

Nice.^^^

Any info on how far one can drive on the following roads?
*Rock Creek
*Buttermilks
*North Lake (168)

It sounds like one can drive all the way to the Onion Valley trailhead.

For those of you up north, you can drive all the way to the Sardine Lake turnoff (Sierra Butte), but getting to the fun stuff is something of a PITA from that direction.

[whatsupdoc]

Some beta after a recent trip:

Virginia Lakes road is open all the way. Coverage is OK there. Black Mtn looks pretty wind hammered. That ridge above the red lake bowl is pretty bare. South Peak and Olsen look fine. We didn't ski here - just took a look.

I haven't been there recently but Lundy Canyon road was open all the way in Feb, so I don't imagine much is changed there.

V bowl above Lee Vining is burned off down low. We walked about 25 min on bare ground to get to snow. Not too bad.

You can drive the Buttermilks Rd pretty far, but not all the way to the Humphrey's reservoir. The creek crossing is fine. You climb out of the creek and make that R turn up towards Humphreys. I'd say we had to park within about half a mile of this turnoff. I imagine you can drive to within less than a mile of the reservoir. Not exactly sure how much further we had until the end but it seemed pretty close. We walked less than 0.5 miles to get to snow to access the Locke area. Others skied Humphreys and walked out in their boots, so it couldn't have been too bad.

McGee Canyon road is open all the way. Looked like about 20 minutes or so of dry walking to get to snow on Esha.

Skied out of Twin Lakes as well. Walked less than 30 minutes until snow. Able to ski within about 400 vertical feet of the camp ground/RV park.

Tom/Basin are burned off quite a bit down low and don't seem worth the effort at this point. Basin had a lot of exposed rocks in the chute/bowl likely from being wind fucked.

Emerson N couloir doesn't go all the way to the ridge. We got a look from kindergarten chute. Looks rocky at the very top.

Not sure about Rock Creek or 168.

Nice.^^^

Any info on how far one can drive on the following roads?
*Rock Creek
*Buttermilks
*North Lake (168)

It sounds like one can drive all the way to the Onion Valley trailhead.

For those of you up north, you can drive all the way to the Sardine Lake turnoff (Sierra Butte), but getting to the fun stuff is something of a PITA from that direction.

[AKbruin]

Good stuff, right there. Now post some photos!

Also, it's never too early for those in Cal Trans knitting circles to start gossiping about projected 120 and 108 openings.

[whatsupdoc]

[whatsupdoc]

[whatsupdoc]

[claymond]

Fuck yeah. Hope to get some riding in out there in a month or so

[gimpy]

Fuck yeah bugs!!!
Ski dreams, coke, wahoo, kindergarten (only knew the last cuz u said it)

Just drove south on 395 and it looks like u nailed it as good as u can this year. Sierra south of bishop looks like slim pickings. Agreed tom and basin with large entry fees as the snowline is way high. Even bmilk zone looked weak from afar but u proved otherwise. Snowline creeping up everywhere so the moral of this story is........ Get on it sooner then later this year

[BGnight]

Sweet photos! Ski Dreams looked like amazing snow. What day did you hit that?

I want to know when access opens to South Lake and Sabrina. I have a mission out of North Lake I want to do but that long slog up a dry road from Aspendell with an overnight pack doesn't sound fun at all.

[whatsupdoc]

Ski Dreams was Thursday, and yes it was amazing snow.

[Zeedashbo]

Daaamn son! That looks spectacular.

[hutash]

Some nice looking photos , but overall thin conditions for March. Does not look like the long season we had hoped for.

[AKbruin]

Nice, whatsupdoc!

I want to know when access opens to South Lake and Sabrina. I have a mission out of North Lake I want to do but that long slog up a dry road from Aspendell with an overnight pack doesn't sound fun at all.

The road to Sabrina (and thus North Lake) is closed but I'm told the North Lake Road still has snow on it. I'm considering the same general trip I think you are this weekend. Although Humphreys/Locke is super tempting.

Some nice looking photos , but overall thin conditions for March. Does not look like the long season we had hoped for.

It's not an epic year, but it's not horrible either. Franzklammer and I put together a really nice 9-day Eastern Sierra trip in late April 2013, which was a much worse year. That said, it seems like a lot of the storms have favored Tahoe (and Lassen/Shasta) this year.

[Gerome]

Shasta's snowpack is pretty phenomenal right now, There is a 10 foot thick base at Bunny Flat, where we stayed last weekend. Shockingly different than the snow line at Basin Mountain.

[davieboot]

Some observations from further south. We made an attempt on Mt. Williamson last weekend. We hit snow around 8200' on the north facing side of the drainage, and could stay on the snow until the ridgeline at 13,000'. The snow was nothing special, no matter what aspect you were on. The coverage up high was not great, and we had to weave around some rocks, but it will be passable for the next several weeks at least.

[BGnight]

Way too good and too early to be thinking about Shasta over the Eastside right now. While the front country may be thinner than normal, once you get back into the mountains things are really fat just about everywhere except maybe way down south. Great time to do some overnighters/longer tours.