Eastern Sierras 2010-11: The Eternal Stoke

[Franz Klammer]

I am going to be in Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra on Monday to Wednesday. Anyone interested in making some backcountry turns?

[ReticentMarvel]

213 - nice stuff guys! Those last two scenics are great. Looking accross Mono is particular cool.

And I have a Panasonic LX-3 - love that (comparable to the Cannon G series). Agreed with Gerome that they are bricks, though.

Back to regular programming....

My 2 cents on this: Canon S95. I looked into the LX-3/5 and the G11 and ended up with the S95. It's the same sensor as the G11, the lens is just as wide but doesn't have quite as much telephoto reach, has full manual control and raw, and it's legitimately pocketable, unlike the other two. That being said, you're taking better pictures than I am, so no need to fix it if it's not broke.


Dawn over Mono Lake

It's a pano, so not directly comparable, but it's the best Sierras pic I've got from the S95 on short notice. I had it printed 5 feet long, turned out super crisp. I'll be hanging it over my bed. Do you know how much it costs to frame a 5 foot long pic?

Edit: I see Gerome also mentioned the S95, should have read everything first. And nice to meet you too Splat.

[splat]

Sick ass Mono shot, Reticent. Good meeting you on the chair today.

[AKbruin]

So, what's skiing well/decent between Bridgeport and Bishop right now? Any beta on current conditions?

[spanghew]

the corn harvest is underway down-valley . . . and I hear it's in the 60s up in Mammoth, too.

[hutash]

If anybody is in mammoth for the weekend shot me a PM.

[stoepstyle]

Ill be in the Bridgeport area scouting hut locations 21st to the 24th or so. (Its during the week)

If anyone wants to join me hit me up.

[Franz Klammer]

Esha Peak Direttissima on Saturday -- it was glorious.

Kid Mountain Northwest Gully on Sunday -- I've never seen so much avalanche debris!

I am going up to Mammoth if it snows this week. What's the forecast? Thursday, Friday?

[Witty1]

yeup.... I plan on being in Mammoth this week too.
Looks like its going to snow there all week.

[gimpy]

we were hoping to head south of tahoe this week but the weather might keep us local. soooooo, what is this storm doing down mammoth way???

[Franz Klammer]

If this was you, I apologize:

"Nice. C dominated the 395 as well. he drafted people the entire way back. he followed this suv with a bunch of baggage on the roof for like 50 miles at less than a car length. a girl then leaned out of the window with half her body and was screaming at C. it was AWESOME. i think she was just impressed with the driving skills and wanted his digits. C thought she was going to shoot him ..."

[highanxiety]

Looking forward to some fresh snow at Mammoth this week.. Here are some pics from the Weekend. Did the Morrison Col near Convict Lake on Saturday, got a mtn bike ride in on the Rock Creek trail on Sunday and Monday did the Scheelite Chute down toward Bishop.

day1






Looking over at the Pinner...




Day 2






Day 3

[stoepstyle]

Sounds like a great weekend! Nice pictures

[Zeppelinskier]

seems like its getting near....

[jrf]

It took me a while but I finally got the footage from our early January Whitney climb and descent put together (same trip that Dark Star wrote and posted about). Hope you enjoy:

[SchralphMacchio]

hells yes finally some great eastside stoke! very nice highanxiety and jrf!

highanxiety - love the eastside splitstoke. are you on sb.com? Have you seen the Kalifornia Eastside Splitparty thread? I can't make it this year, but it would be our 3rd in a row over at Convict Lake Resort. It's a great way to meet fellow eastside splitters.

I love all those lines out of Convict Lake. I've only done the Hippies / Old Man / Mono Jim East Gully ... still plenty more terrain to explore. Not that I have the huevos grandes to even consider a line like it, but how did the choke over in Mendenhall cooler look on the other side of the lake? And it looks like the creek runouts go (almost?) all the way down to the lake right now? Damn I'm sad I'm missing the splitparty when you can make turns all the way down to the parking area.

jrf - loved the video. parts of the climb looked absolutely puckerlicious. Do you know when BAWT is doing anything with Bobbie Foster? I'd be happy to help her out for a day.

[Franz Klammer]

Esha Peak


We skied the direct line from the summit

[highanxiety]

hells yes finally some great eastside stoke! very nice highanxiety and jrf!

highanxiety - love the eastside splitstoke. are you on sb.com? Have you seen the Kalifornia Eastside Splitparty thread? I can't make it this year, but it would be our 3rd in a row over at Convict Lake Resort. It's a great way to meet fellow eastside splitters.

I love all those lines out of Convict Lake. I've only done the Hippies / Old Man / Mono Jim East Gully ... still plenty more terrain to explore. Not that I have the huevos grandes to even consider a line like it, but how did the choke over in Mendenhall cooler look on the other side of the lake? And it looks like the creek runouts go (almost?) all the way down to the lake right now? Damn I'm sad I'm missing the splitparty when you can make turns all the way down to the parking area.

jrf - loved the video. parts of the climb looked absolutely puckerlicious. Do you know when BAWT is doing anything with Bobbie Foster? I'd be happy to help her out for a day.

Thanks man, and no I am not on sb.com yet, but looks like a lot of good info over there, so I'll have to get on that. That split party sounds like a great time and a great way to meet other splitters in the area like you said. So close to Mammoth also and lots of fun lines right there. Unfortunately I will not be in the area during those dates, which sucks, but maybe next year will work better for me. Thanks for the info though..

Pic Laurel on Saturday:

[highanxiety]

Esha Peak
We skied the direct line from the summit

Nice! Looks like a fun line..

[SchralphMacchio]

Pic Laurel on Saturday:

Nice! The choke looks puckery for sure ... but that is such a big and gorgeous line from top to bottom. I'm going to have to work myself up to that sucker!

[jrf]

jrf - loved the video. parts of the climb looked absolutely puckerlicious. Do you know when BAWT is doing anything with Bobbie Foster? I'd be happy to help her out for a day.

Thanks Schralp. That last section is definitely as steep as it looks with the GoPro, and some of the more thrilling climbing I've done short of needing a rope. We had bomber snow for climbing but unfortunately there was a choke about halfway up that 3 skiers wouldn't have been able to get through on the descent, esp with the exposure below that section it would have been risky, so we ended up entering a bit lower down the summit plateau and traversing back to the top of the Mountaineers Route. Too bad cause those turns would have been pretty exciting.

Next time I talk to Kyle at BAWT I'll ask him about Bobbie Foster and definitely let you know. Those guys are incredible what they're doing for the kids they impact.

[Franz Klammer]

Helmet cam freeze frames from Esha Peak, I am too lazy to edit the video:

[highanxiety]

Bump for light deeeeeeeeeeep snow today... Lost my gopro at Mammoth on my last run which fucking sucks, had some ridiculous footy from today. Took some stills and will post later... Anyone else get out? Tomorrow will be more insane as its still dumping.

[SchralphMacchio]

i'm confused as to which line is the s face. do you mean the n face of s morrison??? if so, then yeah its got a couple lines that look to go but dan's line from his book does not look to be in as the exit traverse doesnt connect.

wednesday we skied the east face of n morrison from the top, then back up to the col to ski the east facing falline beneath the col which was perfect corn and then back up to the col again to ski the n side down to the lake. pretty much perfect conditions as the mtn was totally socked in until we reached the col when it majestically popped bluebird so it didnt overheat from the morning sun.

yesterday we had the intention of skiing something on laurel and then back up minipinner to the bloody/laurel col and then skiing bloody to a car we left on sherwin creek rd. but it was waayyyyy too hot and sketchy to safely climb back up the east facing exposure to get to the bloody col so 2 of us skied the pinner and one skied the mendenhall and we called it a day. both lines skied well and were mostly clean except for some debris towards the bottom. mostly snow and minimal ice in the mendenhall choke.

this coming monday and tuesday look to be ideal conditions down there w/ hard freezes and sunny days. git sum!!!

Rad lines you got in, that day you had around the Morrison Col woulda tired me out but I'm sure it was way fun.

I was mis-oriented... I meant the East Face of Morrison proper (not Morrison North). Way lookers left of the col entrance (if coming in from the eastern approach around Mono Jim Peak) is a crazy gnarly line from the ridge to the bottom drainage. You can see it clearly from the Hippie Chutes and it needs a REALLY big year to fill in. It might be in the book, I can't remember.

This is a photo of NoKnees dropping into Hippie Chutes (April 2010) and I think the burned up line in the center of the backdrop is part of the line I am talking about. It needs serious amounts of snow to go because it has so much gnarly rock rolls and is east facing (I originally thought south facing).

[213]

Wheeeeeeee!!!!