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  1. #26
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    Aug 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhetherMan View Post
    2 nights at 10k+ in those kinds of winds? Fuck.
    Hopefully, they dug in.

  2. #27
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    In the sewers of Folsom
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    Just realized reading it the 2nd time, AKBruin, that's a pretty big tour, especially given the conditions . Well done!

  3. #28
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Tahoe
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    16,124
    Damn
    MT. TOM MULTIAGENCY SAR
    INYO COUNTY, CA, MARCH 10, 2021 - On Sunday afternoon, March 7, Inyo County Sheriff’s Dispatch received a SPOT notification from a hiker requesting assistance for her hiking partner who had taken a 40' tumbling fall on the north ridge of Mt. Tom at approximately 12,000'. The subject was experiencing acute back pain and was unable to move. The reporting party was a Wilderness EMT and both women were experienced hikers who had been on the route before. With deteriorating conditions and darkness approaching, CHP H-82 out of Apple Valley attempted to extract the subjects or insert Inyo Search and Rescue (SAR) members nearby. High, gusty winds made this impossible. H-82 then attempted to drop overnight gear to the subjects. Unfortunately both gear drops were unsuccessful due to worsening wind conditions and the subject's location on a steep, narrow ridge. After the gear drops failed, an Inyo SAR ground team began up the north ridge around 2:00am on Monday, March 8 to attempt to reach the hikers, however conditions turned the field team around after several hours.
    Around 9:00am the Sheriff’s Office heard from the hikers that they had made it through the night, where temperatures were below zero with wind-chill, and both of their husbands had made it to them that morning having hiked through the night to bring supplies. At 11:00am, after several setbacks, an Army National Guard Chinook out of Stockton attempted to insert 12 Inyo SAR members near the party, but the more powerful Chinook was also turned around by the winds.
    With a storm forecast arriving Tuesday morning making helicopter extraction even more unlikely, Inyo SAR deployed multiple ground teams up Elderberry Canyon to reach the party and prepare for potentially lowering the patient over 6000' down Elderberry Canyon. Given the scale of this potential evacuation, a mutual aid callout went to SAR teams across the state. While ground teams hiked, a Naval Air Station (NAS) helicopter from Fallon and another NAS ship from Lemoore made numerous attempts to reach the subject, but gusty winds turned them all back.
    At approximately 10:30pm the first SAR team reached the party and was able to assess the situation better and begin to form an extraction plan for first light. Around 2:15am on Tuesday, March 9 VX-31 out of China Lake was able to take advantage of a lull in the winds and insert a medic near the party. Both the patient and the reporting party, who had suffered significant frostbite to a foot, were successfully hoisted out by 3:00am and were flown to Antelope Valley for medical care. The SAR team and the husbands of the two hikers descended the headwall of Elderberry Canyon where they met up with dozens of SAR members who had traveled from near and far and hiked through the night to help with what could have been a truly epic extraction.
    ICSO would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the SAR members involved in this mission from Inyo SAR, Mono SAR, El Dorado County SAR, Los Angeles County – Montrose SAR, Los Angeles County – Sierra Madre SAR, and L.A. County – Antelope Valley SAR. We would also like to thank the crews of all five helicopters from Army National Guard, CHP Inland Air Ops, China Lake NAWS, NAS Fallon, and NAS Lemoore for their incredible skill and persistence.
    https://www.facebook.com/InyoCountySheriffsOffice
    powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    774
    AKB, so, if conditions had been good you would have had time to add some detours? That’s a loooong day just doing that loop without skiing anything extra. Impressive.

    Also re the Tom incident: “could have been a truly epic extraction?” Idk, that sounds pretty epic to me.

    I am always excited to see news from the east side, but these updates are all depressing. Hopefully what’s coming down now doesn’t all get blown away.

  5. #30
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Galena
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    1,033
    Just a couple pics that I took last week that I'll add to the thread.

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    Mt Tom taken from 395 over look, Sherwin Grade.

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    Taken from Ed Powers road. App is Peak Finder. It's a really cool app that I use all the time.

  6. #31
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    Dec 2006
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    3,711
    Quote Originally Posted by jorion View Post
    AKB, so, if conditions had been good you would have had time to add some detours?
    In retrospect, skiing Muriel would have been a bad idea. I had a mental time table, and presumably I would have been off that table and thus forsaken Alpine Col and skied back down Piute Pass. Otherwise, it would have probably added 90 minutes and, had I continued the loop, it would have meant that I would have finished after dark, which would have been sketchy until I reached North Lake. It's easy for me to plan aggressive tours based on the assumptions that (a) I'll be able to move a "normal" level of efficiency and (b) that I won't be slowed down by things like mechanicals or route-finding mistakes. In that regard, assuming I had good conditions and no issues, sure, I probably could have added 2-3 hours worth of side projects. But it would have been dumb to have done so given that it wouldn't have left any margin for error, where a single fuck up could transform a fun tour into a scary epic.

  7. #32
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    Aug 2006
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    8,966
    Fwiw, moynier describes it as an approx 20 mile tour.

  8. #33
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    Dec 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by bodywhomper View Post
    Fwiw, moynier describes it as an approx 20 mile tour.
    From the Aspendell gate, I measured it as 22 miles on Caltopo, but it came to 24 miles via my GPS watch, which may or may not be accurate. I think it's probably 20 from the North Lake turnoff parking and 17-18 from North Lake itself.

    Wanna lend me your Moynier? Because it's out of print, it cost like $75 on eBay last time I checked. But Moynier has a number of multiday tours that I'd like scan.

  9. #34
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    Nov 2009
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    CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Sierra Skier View Post
    Just a couple pics that I took last week that I'll add to the thread.

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    Mt Tom taken from 395 over look, Sherwin Grade.

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    Taken from Ed Powers road. App is Peak Finder. It's a really cool app that I use all the time.
    OMG, that so brutal for early March Damn. Thanks for sharing.

    PeakFinder is pretty sweet, but that pic is a little off. Humphrey's is actually between the flags for Emerson and Grouse, Emerson is further south than its flag. same with Lamarck
    sproing!

  10. #35
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    Nov 2009
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    CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by AKbruin View Post
    enlosandes: If we're doing a new Eastern Sierra thread, can you provide links to the older Eastern Sierra/Eastside threads at the top, which I think date back to at least 2013? Sometimes it's nice to look at older TRs and photos for beta and/or nostalgia.

    Also, which pizza joint do you run?
    Sweet pics AKB. Sad state of affairs down there - way to get after it though!

    I kinda wish we had not left the old thread behind. This thread will be quickly forgotten...
    sproing!

  11. #36
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    Aug 2008
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    Eastside Til I Die
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    2,236
    Quote Originally Posted by AKbruin View Post
    Wanna lend me your Moynier? Because it's out of print, it cost like $75 on eBay last time I checked. But Moynier has a number of multiday tours that I'd like scan.
    You can borrow mine.
    ((. The joy I get from skiing...
    .))
    ((. That's worth living for.
    .))

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    In the sewers of Folsom
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    207
    Can't believe Moynier's out of print. just googled it. no new copies, but this showed up for $5 bit on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Backcountry...75.c101224.m-1

    BTW, the older rev has more tours, but it's kinda crappy graphics/maps:
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    Thanks for posting the pics of the E. Side ESS. It really helps us that don't go down there often.

  13. #38
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    Aug 2006
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    AKB, I think you’re right, the ~20 miles is based on starting at the north lake TH. I can loan you a copy of the newer edition.

    I’ve always wanted to ski the great western divide tour in the first edition. Had a former coworker that did it in the late 90’s. It sounded fun.

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    the Low Sierra
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    17,818
    I didn't believe in reincarnation when I was your age either.

  15. #40
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    Mar 2012
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    Salt Lake City
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    490
    From the last couple days. The way the wind was ripping on the drive down we were surprised by how good the snow was

    Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk
    Last edited by claymond; 03-18-2021 at 08:51 AM. Reason: Better photos

  16. #41
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    Mar 2012
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    Salt Lake City
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    And some more from various days earlier this year.

    Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

  17. #42
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    Oct 2003
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    tahoe
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    3,428
    Danksauce!......thanks for sharing

  18. #43
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    Jul 2004
    Location
    In the sewers of Folsom
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    207
    Thanks Claymond! great pics.

    on a side note, most sites i've seen say that fishmas is still happening this year around 4/24, so plowing at VA lakes, lundy, etc. should be happening per usual in April.
    Noticed on the Mono county road status page that they put up a special winter parking etiquette map for Virginia lakes.
    https://www.monocounty.ca.gov/sites/...ette_flyer.pdf
    https://www.monocounty.ca.gov/roads/...-road-closures
    Good pics of snow pack on BAC observations https://www.bridgeportavalanchecente...g-crater-crest
    And ESAC observations https://www.esavalanche.org/content/...her-conditions

  19. #44
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    Jul 2004
    Location
    In the sewers of Folsom
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    207
    Snow pack video from ESAC yesterday from Rock creek:


    Even there Easterly stuff is pretty burned already Sounds like only a couple feet on the road at rock creek:
    https://www.esavalanche.org/content/...w-conditions-1

    https://www.esavalanche.org/content/...her-conditions
    Yikes

  20. #45
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ventura Highway in the Sunshine
    Posts
    22,431
    It is currently puking here in Mammoth. Light snow all day, but heavy wet snow now for about three hours. Light winds in town, but howling up high, so BC conditions are likely to be a bit sketch tomorrow, but this should add nicely to the base and extend the season a good bit.

    I agree it is a constitutional right for Americans to be assholes...its just too bad that so many take the opportunity...
    iscariot

  21. #46
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Tahoe
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    Little late to the party here, but here's some pics from a few days out on the east side this season.

    In mid February AKbruin and I headed down to Twin Lakes for a day. The persistent weak layer was still an issue and it had been very windy, but we went out for a look. We went up the Tamarack Lake drainage. The day started clear but clouds quickly rolled in and the light got super flat. We skied some mellow terrain and the snow was very wind affected and honestly not very good, so we ended up heading back over Crater Crest to the car. The gully had some consistent wind board which actually skied well. Not too many pics were taken as the light got super flat and the wind was howling by the end of the day.

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    At the end of February I ended up heading back down to Twin Lakes with claymond and his girlfriend. Not sure she's on this board, probably not, this place is quite the sausage fest. Anyways, we went looking for corn on the S gully of Hunewill Peak. It was a beautiful east side day. The terrain getting out there was more convoluted than expected, but we made our way up the gully and to the summit. The views from the top were excellent. We found terrific corn on the line and managed to nail the ski out without too many shenanigans. An overall excellent day.

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  22. #47
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Tahoe
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    More from Hunewill:

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    The following day the 3 of us headed to the Dana Plateau. We planned on skiing the Kidney Chute, thinking it could hold good corn. The day started calm but by the time we got to Kidney Lake the wind was blowing hard. We climbed Kidney, but the high winds made it clear that Kidney wasn't going to soften up. We called an audible and walked over to Coke Chute, thinking it might have some soft snow. The walk across the plateau was windy as hell, just brutal. The transition was difficult in the wind, I felt like my skis could blow into Nevada if I didn't hold on to them. We dropped in by the bootpack on skier's right (not knowing what we were getting into since we didn't climb it). I've skied it twice, and there's usually some rocks that way, but I've always been able to ski around them without too much difficulty. After a couple hundred feet it became clear we'd have to down climb around the rocks. Transitioning back to crampons on the windy slope was a pain in the ass, but we eventually safely negotiated the rocks, transitioned back to skis, and completed the descent. The snow was pretty wind affected. The bottom of the chute skied decently though. V bowl was absolute survival skiing. The winds were horrendous the whole way down. One of those days when you're just happy to make it back to the car.

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    Evidence of the the wind by Kidney Lake:

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    N side of Mt. Gibbs:

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  23. #48
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Tahoe
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    Climbing Kidney:

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    Walking across the plateau:

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    A bit blustery on the way down...

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  24. #49
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Tahoe
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    Earlier this past week claymond, his GF, and I headed back down to the Mammoth area for a couple of days. We had our eye on Pika Peak on day 2, so we checked out Ship's Prow on the Mammoth Crest to feel out the snow in the area. It was windy on the drive down the evening before, but the snow was surprisingly awesome. We skied 2 laps of excellent pow.

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  25. #50
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Tahoe
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    A couple more from the Mammoth Crest:

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    The following day we went out to Pika Peak. The approach over Duck Pass wasn't too bad. Duck Lake is a cool area, I'd never been there before. We were able to skin the whole way (we had verts and billygoat ascent plates after wallowing in deep snow the day prior but of course never needed them). Conditions were thin but the main line went from the top. The snow was awesome. The pow turns on the apron were certainly memorable. Getting out wasn't too bad. Another fantastic east side day.

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