Eastside Conditions Thread

[B__]

I spent Saturday and Sunday skiing out of Convict.

With the high winds I was not in a huge rush to start on Sunday.


^^Ample coverage after a 3 minute walk heading up the canyon that accesses Mini Morrison along it's east flanks toward Old Man's.


^^Booted up a relatively recent wet slide bed on the east face


^^Dropped the north side of MiniMo. It was firm but edge-able up high, transitional but fun through the bulk of the chute, with some nice corn down low.

The day before (Saturday) I hit the N couloir on Red Slate. It was dry hiking along the trail on the north side of Convict Lake. A few hundred yards past the lake continuous snow began. I did come out of my skis briefly a few times while winding up the Convict Creek canyon, but the long approach is still very well covered overall. I booted directly up the coolie in what were pretty good climbing conditions, sinking in about to boot tops. The snow was transitional, but still on the wintry side; easily edge-able and chalky. Coverage on the NE face of Red Slate is very fat. There are currently multiple ways to access the couloir from the peak. You can pretty much drop from anywhere along ridge near the summit then cut left into it; or utilize the short, steep chute right above the top of the coolie that leads straight up to the ridge.


^^From about midway up the canyon


^^Closer look at Red Slate


^^Blurry shot from within the line


^^Still ample coverage in the canyon accessing Red Slate

[bodywhomper]

Sounds like you guys are having our normal spring weather!

This is kinda normal east side spring weather, too.

[406]

Road updates from inyo county Facebook for fishmas

Updated Conditions for Inyo County Mountain Roads

The Inyo County Road Dept team has been working extremely hard to clear mountain roads before fishing opener. Due to historic snowpack in the Sierra, this year has proven to be quite challenging. However, as of this week there are some new open roads!

Upper Rock Creek, above Tom’s Place – CLOSED- Mono County Road was going to begin snow removal operations the week of April 17th, however, due to challenging snow conditions this has not been possible. Inyo will not be able to access and estimate the snow removal timeline for the last mile of Rock Creek Rd. in Inyo County until the week of May 15th.

Pine Creek Rd. – OPEN- No restrictions

Sabrina Rd., - OPEN - We have cleared and will maintain two lane access to the lake parking lot, parking is limited at Sabrina Lake. The road will still be ICY at times – so drive cautiously.

North Lake Rd. – CLOSED- Due to the narrow and hazardous sections of road, there are no immediate plans to open North Lake Rd., conditions will be monitored and reassessed May 8th.

South Lake Rd. – CLOSURE MOVING- Effective Friday (4/28) at 4:30pm, the closure will move to Parchers Resort and Pack Station. There will be limited parking available there, and ICY conditions. Walking access will be from there to South Lake.

Glacier Lodge Rd. -OPEN- No restrictions

Onion Valley Rd. – OPEN, Effective Friday (4/28) at 4:30pm. expect ICY conditions at times.

Whitney Portal Rd. – OPEN, Effective Friday (4/28) at 4:30pm.

Horseshoe Meadows Rd. – CLOSED- Due to road structural damage and rockslides; Inyo County is in the process of emergency opening repairs, we are anticipating limited access mid-June, depending on conditions.

Nine Mile Rd. – OPEN – No restrictions.

Please anticipate limited parking at higher elevations due to snow, so plan ahead. And remember that road conditions can change based on the weather so stay up to date.
You may see road workers, please be courteous!

*pictures are of South Lake (taken this week)

[enlosandes]

Yikes on Red Slate

http://www.esavalanche.org/content/r...partial-burial

[jimw]

Goddamn that is some fat coverage on Red Slate! It looks like the NE face goes as well. Still getting caught up on all the stoke I missed here the past couple weeks, lots of good stuff posted up here. Great to see such good coverage still, gonna be a good May!

Edit: just saw the above avy report, yikes! Odd that it was just posted today, looks like it happened almost a month ago?

[dishwasher-dave]

Toured from Onion Valley to Langley over Fri - Tuesday. Great conditions out there. Creeks opening around 10,500. Some south faces burning faster than others. Big winds most evenings. Saw nobody once we were 1000 feet past the Onion Valley parking lot.

Onion although technically closed was functionally open as the super cool road crews let you park a short walk from the summer parking lot.

The SE couloir on Langley is good but the approach might be getting rough from the desert...but really it's not that bad.

Low elevation coverage seemed worse at the southern end of the range than it was Bishop and north.

With the fishing season fast approaching, access should peak along with great conditions. Definitely seems like the time to get after it.


Onion Valley parking as off Friday but basically unchanged as of Tuesday (that's a south facing slope above the taco).


Looking across the Tyndall Plateau at Milestone...useful beta for E - W Sierra High Routers.


Touring across Bighorn Plateau with Russell and Whitney in the distance.


Late April in California.


13ish on the west side of Langley.


Longer than it looks.

[B__]

http://www.sierrawave.net/state-inyo...-trout-opener/

^^Recent press release on Inyo NF road openings

[jimw]

just gonna leave this Tahoe Abe eastside gem here, he just nabbed it with Baby J. N Couloir on Mendel!

Saw this buried a few pages back. Dayum. I used to think I wanted to try to get into that chute... was wondering if maybe it was good this year. Guess so, or at least as "good" as it could get. After seeing that, it doesn't look quite as fun as I imagined it. Props to those guys for getting it though. That thing has been ridden very few times AFAIK, even less so w/o having to downclimb or belay in the middle.

[bodywhomper]

with the road closures, the approach to mt mendel must have been pretty big. some friends and i skied up to the bottom of mt mendel in 2000 or 2001 with lofty plans. it had snowed over a foot the previous day and slopes were shedding in the may sun. the approach apron was sketchy. we got to the top of the apron when the mushrooms really started kicking in. it was a pretty good powder day for may. with good coverage, there are several north-ish facing lines in that canyon beyond the obvious two on darwin and one(?) on mendel. if i remember right, there were two other more skiable lines in the same little bowl as the coveted mendel couloir. the other nicely aesthetic lines are down canyon.

Toured from Onion Valley to Langley over Fri - Tuesday.

ding ding! fuck yes! that's a hell of a tour!

ETA: that helmet cam if Mendel is prett impressove

[AKbruin]

Oh yeah!


Also, go read klar's very entertaining TR on her trip to California, which includes a significant Eastern Sierra section. It also includes her always excellent photography, such as this shot above our camp on Lake Italy:


See ya in ten days or so.

[Greydon Clark]

Thanks for the update on the Whoa Nellie Deli. I'm heading down tomorrow morning and will need a Sandwich at some point.

[406]

Did three day trips south of Mammoth last weekend. Nothing all that exciting, but skied some areas that require good snow years.

Friday 4/21, it felt like it got cold overnight (20's) in camp, so I was hoping for unicorn spring conditions on Pinner. Hiked around the lake in the dark and the apron was nice and firm. My excitement soon faded as we got inside the chute, the walls stayed warm overnight and kept the snow from freezing. Figured we couldn't boot up fast enough in the deep mush to get to the headwall prior to it getting baked and being very unstable. Plus the risk of wet slide from all the gullies feeding into the main chute. So pulled out and decided to check out north facing aspects.


North face of Mini Morrison looked nice from the parking lot, so booted up that. About 10 turns down I triggered a good sized ~fast wet slide, it wasn't really a surprise and I was skiing cross fall line and cutting with the expectation it was going to go. Despite 2 guys skiing down 15 min prior and not triggering anything.


Our wet slide debris:

[406]

Saturday 4/22 booted and skinned up the Tungstar Bowls.


I had wanted to make the ridge line but the chute to the ridge had funky snow at the bottom at 11,400 ft. Isolated column failed just after isolating. Always hard to back off after going that far, but felt good to get back to the town and read reports of others doing the same at the same aspect and elevation in different locations(Plus Mountaineers route slid that day).


Very scenic area and the ski down was fun, turns got better the lower we got.


Lower half was all perfect spring snow, Me:


Cool exit through the rocks and we could ski to within ~250 vert ft of the parking lot:

[406]

Sunday 4/23 Strong west wind moved in overnight, but I figured one of the gullies on north side of Kid Mtn would be wind sheltered enough for some good corn. Snow went right to the campground, so easy boot up, but tired legs and some payback from the 2x BBQ for dinner in Bishop the day before made for more stops than normal.


Nice view from our high point along the ridge, but extreme wind:


Those 2 look fun:


Perfect spring snow on the way down. Fun high speed turns:


Nice long, fall line run:

[whatsupdoc]

Good stuff B__, dishwasher-dave, and 406.

E face of Gould on Tuesday:

Skinning to the E face. More cloud cover than forecasted and strong winds kept things from softening much so we waited around about an hour before heading up. Ultimately the sun came out, things softened, and the skiing was very good for the most part.


Skin track:


Summit pano:


The Great Western Divide from the top:


Skiing:

[whatsupdoc]

Wednesday/Thursday we did Ritter. God damn, it's a long walk from Mammoth, but worth it when things work out.

Started later than expected Wednesday after a minor dental emergency and some parking snafus. Camped at Shadow Lake. Getting up to Shadow Lake was the sketchiest part of the trip, traversing steep slopes on sloppy snow above cliffs and fast moving water. All of the options seemed equally bad and scary. Tagged the summit and made the LONG walk out the next day. Corn was good most of the way. The very top bowl was still frozen but the rest of the skiing was nice corn.

Skinning along the road towards Minaret Summit and Agnew Meadow:


Minaret Vista:


Bear prints on the way in:


Skinning the next morning towards Ediza Lake:


Ediza Lake:


Minarets:


Ascending:

[whatsupdoc]

Summit views were outstanding. Mountains everywhere. You can even see the S side of Half Dome.





Skiing:








A mildly sketchy bridge crossing over the San Joaquin River on the way out:

[whatsupdoc]

One more. Ritter summit pano:

[Powcruzer]

Doc and 406 bringing the house down! $ Thanks for the big time stoke and awesome account of it.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

406 - nice to see you back out there man!

whatsupdoc - cool trip man. Every time I see pictures of the Minarets, I wish they had good rock for solid alpine lines. Sadly, gigantic piles of choss.

[somethingclever...]

Any of you guys have a feel for whats going on with the road to Mcgee Creek TH?

[MTT]

So many awesome photo's

[gimpy]

Anybody shred the northern east side this weekend? How was corn window?
Did Lundy or va lakes open for fishmas?

[somethingclever...]

Anybody shred the northern east side this weekend? How was corn window?
Did Lundy or va lakes open for fishmas?

Went to Lundy this past Wednesday. The road is good to go all the way. Everything looked great. I say looked because it was 50 and rainy when I got to the TH so i didnt even put boots on. I went by VA Lakes afterwards and it was still closed way down by 395.

[enlosandes]

Anybody shred the northern east side this weekend? How was corn window?
Did Lundy or va lakes open for fishmas?

Corn window was virtually all day yesterday after an extended freeze. Today we used Mammoth's lifts and both the South (12pm) and West (2pm) facing sidecountry were really good.

Lundy is open to the dam. Virginia Lakes still has a ways to go. The gate for Rock Creek is still locked at East Fork even though the pavement is dry for miles.