Eastside Conditions Thread

[bobz]

Yesterday at Virginia Lakes; note the kite skier right of center. Lots of snow, was firm up high east-facing; Dunderberg’s south gully was the more smooth fun.

Oh, and Wood east side was refrozen choppy crust on the upper section; that was on Wednesday, a cold day; could be different now. The looker's left line down may have been just enough more in the sun to be better than the mid-line descent that I took, I don't know. Oh well, it's always great to be in the high mountains even when the skiing's not the best. And the skiing was pretty fine later in the week at Virginia.

[mbc712]

Quick 3 day trip last week.
Day one Tue 4/30. Rock Creek to Mt. Dade. Cat Ears Coolie was firm AF. Went a ways up Treasures East face after but nothing softened up. To cold and windy all day.

[mbc712]

Day 2 Wed started out of Bishop to ski Emerson or Wahoo. Decided on Wahoo since the North facing stuff seemed real firm and it was cooler again.

Looking at Emerson from Locke. Their were some bad ass tracks in the lookers right chutes



Day three we went for another big corn run off the big east face of Basin Mt. Still clocked in at 4500 of corn skiing with only a mile 1/2 of dirt walking

Looking off the top of Basin towards Peak 13 and Emerson

[sfskier]

Just got home from 4 days on the eastside. Pics soon. Highlight was Feather Peak North Couloir on Saturday during a 2-day basecamp at Golden Lake Fri-Sat. Bookended by Gibbs East Face on Thursday and a Virginia Lakes double this morning of Dunderberg South Gully and north face of South Peak.

[meter-man]

Onion Valley has a soft closure to the TH. Get some!

Back last night from 3.5 days out of Onion Valley in the Rae Lakes area, 60 Lakes Basin, and Kearsarge area. Coverage is awesome.

[AKbruin]

Onion Valley has a soft closure to the TH. Get some!

Back last night from 3.5 days out of Onion Valley in the Rae Lakes area, 60 Lakes Basin, and Kearsarge area. Coverage is awesome.

Shit, dude. We should have met up. Whatsupdoc and I tried to go to Onion Valley on Friday but were turned around by the closure. (There were bulldozers working within view of the gate the second time I tried.) I ended up taking an involuntary rest day.

[meter-man]

Shit, dude. We should have met up. Whatsupdoc and I tried to go to Onion Valley on Friday but were turned around by the closure. (There were bulldozers working within view of the gate the second time I tried.) I ended up taking an involuntary rest day.

Ah, bummer! Yeah, we just drove around the "Road Closed" signs....and brought beer for the plow guys just in case.

We had going deep on tap for a friend's last hurrah before he moves from Cali to the (skiing) boonies of Southern Oregon. Next time! Seems like you had a ridiculously successful week otherwise - good work.

[Jack Burton]

Got out with MadTurtle, M51593 (strange handle MG :-) ) & The Best Mexican Skier among a number of others, pics later.

East face of morrison was fun Thursday May 2, the climbing line (on snow) does not come into view very quickly but seemed like plenty of snow for a while any way. Madturtle lead a fun way out just under the massive face of morrison, pretty cool in there. Pic is dirty pinner, then my phone dies for the day.

Ripper and aspen chutes were great (friday), there are three potential aspen chutes that look to go, we took the middle one (normal to me), the exit is still money, crossed the creek just upriver from aspen campground, access was up powerhouse. Looking at 3rd pillar from below - the rubble/runnel that was in the choke is not too bad. no word on opening 120 at mo-mart. We visited a very kind wall that i kissed a few years back then kept climbing up powerhouse MG (M51593) dropping ripper as skier 3 , ripper from below

Buttermilks road is good to go as high as i've ever cared to go, mcgee creek in a stock tacoma was no worries. access from there to emerson goes pretty high on the shoulder of Locke. North on Emerson on Saturday was good, on the firm side, one member of our party did Zebra and it was quite firm. Entry to North on Emerson was pretty firm looking back at Emerson from Locke the next day

somehow our quick 3 hour tour on locke yesterday took 6 hours so not breaking any speed records out there - it was a blast though! MadTurtle doing what he does and seeking/finding the less tracked line deconstruction of camp

[CS]

Got out with MadTurtle, M51593 (strange handle MG :-) ) & The Best Mexican Skier among a number of others, pics later.

East face of morrison was fun Thursday May 2, the climbing line (on snow) does not come into view very quickly but seemed like plenty of snow for a while any way. Madturtle lead a fun way out just under the massive face of morrison, pretty cool in there.

Ripper and aspen chutes were great (friday), there are three potential aspen chutes that look to go, we took the middle one (normal to me), the exit is still money, crossed the creek just upriver from aspen campground, access was up powerhouse. Looking at 3rd pillar from below - the rubble/runnel that was in the choke is not too bad. no word on opening 120 at mo-mart

Buttermilks road is good to go as high as i've ever cared to go, mcgee creek in a stock tacoma was no worries. access from there to emerson goes pretty high on the shoulder of Locke. North on Emerson on Saturday was good, on the firm side, one member of our party did Zebra and it was quite firm

somehow our quick 3 hour tour on locke yesterday took 6 hours so not breaking any speed records out there - it was a blast though!

Wait, were you the crew that parked next to the two dudes camping on Saturday? That was myself and neverpostsanymore Telephil (who doesn't tele anymore) who were the campers.

[Jack Burton]

Right on CS - Hope you had a blast out there as well

[bobz]

Tioga Road plowed to eastern YNP entrance (not open yet, but presumably soon).

That same post mentions that it's plowed (not open) to White Wolf on the west side; jeez, in a normal year, that area pretty much melts out on its own, and it isn't serious plowing until at least 10 miles later around May Lake (and by the time Tioga opens all the way through, it's patchy ground at Tuolumne)... so it's going to be a while.

[whatsupdoc]

Good stuff everyone. Keep the pics coming.

I'll finish up posting pics from my trip to the east side last week with AKbruin and 2 others.

Tuesday the weather wasn't looking great for a big line. Big winds forecasted. So we skied a one of the McGee Creek chutes near Wineglass. In retrospect a N aspect probably wasn't the best call. We thought it might be more sheltered from the wind. And we started late, thinking it might corn up by the afternoon. But the winds were cold enough and strong enough to prevent the top 1/2 of the line from softening. The next 1/2 was actually pretty good corn. We had to dodge some avy debris down low. Corn turns on the apron were fun. Still a worthwhile day.

We crossed the creek by the Esha approach. In retrospect this wasn't necessary as there was a snow bridge up canyon that would've prevented any bushwhacking. Oh well.



Booting:



AKbruin at the top of the line with nice views of Morrison:



Skiing (AKbruin making the normal turns):

[whatsupdoc]

Wednesday after some Whitney permit SNAFUs and a last minute audible we ended up skiing the E face of Mt. Wood.

Starting at sunrise:



Skinning above Grant Lake:



Skinning:



AKbruin leading the way:



Booting higher up:




Despite it being very sunny, it was colder than expected and softening took a while. We hung out on the summit until 11:30. We were still probably a little early but the skiing was still damn good pretty much the whole way.

Skiing (AKbruin in the yellow jacket):

[whatsupdoc]

A few more from Wood:






On Thursday it was just AKbruin and I left from the original group. We planned on a big day in the Palisades, trying to ski Thunderbolt and U Notch from the car. BGnight joined for the approach but some aches and pains sent him home a little early over Sill (for the North Fork to South Fork tour).

AKbruin silhouetted at sunrise:



Sunrise colors on the way to the Palisades:



Skinning across Second Lake:



Third Lake reflections:



AKbruin skinning above Third Lake:



Taking in the views:

[whatsupdoc]

BGnight below the Palisades:



AKbruin skinning towards Thunderbolt:




Booting Thunderbolt:




Views from the notch:



Snow in Thunderbolt was very good. Mostly soft, wintery snow. A little bit of wind effect here and there as well as a couple of tracks from previous parties, but for the most part it skied very, very well.

Skiing Thunderbolt:

[whatsupdoc]

A few more from skiing Thunderbolt:





More to come in a bit...

[CS]

Awesome.

I really need to get out to the Palisades.

[trogdortheburninator]

Seeing all the good looking skiing in this thread, and the impressive numbers on the Eastside snotels, a pilgrimage west was in order.

Left CO on 4/23 and started heading W. A desert mountain range at 250 % of avg snowfall got in our way, so we got out and stretched the legs on a quicky



Got back in the car and kept heading W until CA welcomed us with open arms.



Next day we slept in a bit, then decided to get our bearings above the Buttermilks.

When we found water ice in a moderate angle classic, we realized we should have checked a map (and maybe brought along some steel).



Oh well, this line was super cool anyway and dropped from near the West Summit of Emmerson.





Skied down in great pow, then corrected course and jammed out the classic N couloir. Then up to Locke and down the Kgarten in kinda shitty snow.



Pleased with the general state of conditions, we thought we should climb Tinemaha and get eyes on Split. Unfortunately, the directions in the guidebook led us astray with roads. We tucked tail and sought 4k of sweet corn redemption on Kid. We also eyed this delightful north face:


Plans were hatched, ropes were packed, and we headed out the next day to give 'er a look.

A nice climb up the east side revealed a still cold/firm entrance to the couloir. Napping ensued. Then impatience kicked in and we went skiing.



The cliff looked quite large from above and we questioned whether it could be >60 m. After finding a place to build the anchor, we tossed ropes and committed.



55 m later, after some icy footing, we touched down. Perfect corn ensued down to ~8k.


Next day we wanted to check out the coverage around Williamson, so we drove around the closure signs and headed up to Onion Valley. A quick ski up Independence and a bit of scrambling to kill time.


With questionable weather to the South the next day, was rolled the dice heading North to convict. Forecast had backed the clouds off another hour or two by 6 am, so we give red slate a go.





Upper E face was a real delight, with good snow and a fair bit of airiness. N couloir was kinda firm and beat, but still cool. The more glorious corn for a few k of shit eating grins.

The storm left with a bit of a punch, and winds were raging on the 30th, so we hatched a plan with options for protection. (A) would be S. face of split to N. couloir of Cardinal. (B) would be just hiding in the Cardinal couloirs. After getting blown over quite a few times getting to the base of Split, (B) became the plan. Beautiful couloir skiing ensued.









Next day called for a shorty to drop Mike at the airport in Reno. Esha fit the bill. Coverage was amazing from the car. Found an unctracked line from near the summit and went skiing.



Ate some incredible food at the Barn in Bridgeport, dropped Mike in Reno, then kept rallying up to Shasta. The next day, a firm upper gave way to a glorious lower half and a bonus short lap.





Figured while we were in the neighborhood, we may as well check Lassen out too. It delivered the consistently best skiing of the whole trip by linking up 3 sides as the sun made its way around the mountain.





Finally, it was time to head East again. We pulled off in the shit-tastic Super8 in Elko. Got up the next morning and decided to tick a line from the coffee book while we were there. Conditions were shit. Ambiance was epic post-fire.





Rolled into bed in CO around midnight. 3 days later now, and I'm still feeling a bit tired. That said, it's snowing again in CO, so plenty more skiing will have to happen.

[bbrianburke]

a bunch of cool photos and skiing

nice one!

[CS]

General Baddassery

Holy crap well done.

I'm such a lightweight.

[whatsupdoc]

God damn trogdortheburninator, well done!!

[whatsupdoc]

After skiing Thunderbolt we headed back up to U Notch.

Skinning to U Notch:




Booting U Notch:




At the U Notch:



The snow in the U Notch pretty much sucked. Lots of frozen over tracks and bootpacks. The bottom 1/4 was more consistent but generally difficult snow. The corn turns on the glacier however were memorable.

[whatsupdoc]

Getting out from the U Notch:




Saturday we headed for Whitney. We got a permit to stay legit.

Sunrise on the way to Whitney:



Booting at dawn:




Taking a break at Lower Boyscout Lake:



Skinning towards Upper Boyscout:

[whatsupdoc]

Skinning beneath Mt. Whitney:





Starting the bootpack near Iceberg Lake:




Booting the Mountaineers Gully:




Chilling at the notch:



Above the notch there was some rock scrambling. A short pitch of steep, firm snow led us to the top. AKbruin nearing the summit plateau:



AKbruin on top:

[whatsupdoc]

We ended up skiing the N face. We spotted a line that seemed to go and dropped in.

Skiing the N face:





Climbing back up to the Whitney-Russell Col:




Skiing back to the car: