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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    June Lake
    Posts
    2,624

    Eastern Sierra Backcountry Thread 2020-21


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    tahoe
    Posts
    3,428
    ^^^ yer biz open during these times?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    774
    Does this mean the best thread on TGR is being retired?!?

    I wasn’t able to ski there at all in 2020 and that sucked. Hopefully it snows a bunch and everyone gets a vaccine and we get lots of nice pictures of cool-ass sunny couloirs.

    Hoping to do a week-long traverse in April, that would be grand.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    June Lake
    Posts
    2,624
    Quote Originally Posted by gimpy View Post
    ^^^ yer biz open during these times?
    The pizza joint is planning to reopen in a couple weeks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    June Lake
    Posts
    2,624
    Toured from Obsidian Dome parking lot to top of White Wing. Surprisingly good coverage, only scraped bottom a couple of times. Boot top pow in the trees.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    14
    Anybody touring this weekend in Mammoth? This thread is looking quieetttttt

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    In the sewers of Folsom
    Posts
    207
    Some pics from last friday from the East side/High Sierra... Overall things look pretty bleak Bishop and below. But even north of that things looked pretty low for late Feb. Hopefully we'll have a miracle March again. All of the pics are from the Car and crappy, but might give you a feel for how things are if you don't live there. We were thinking of doing the S. side of Tom, or Victoria, hoping for coverage and some corn, but climbed instead and then hit Tahoe Sunday(Good Corn). Spoke with a group from Reno that skied Kidney and they said it was good in the chute, but crappy as expected on the ski around and out.

    Bridgeport:
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    - great info recently on S side on the Bridgeport Avy center. They used to be mostly sledder focused, but they've recently been putting up great info for skiers.

    Lee vining:
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    Convict:
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    Bishop:
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    the Access to the S. side of Tom looked ok, but everything southerly looks pretty burned.
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    Big pine: Thought of doing the S side of Alice? the one next to Temple, but after seeing how dire conditions are, that was out. W/o some big storms the S. Side of Split and other options might not go this year.
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    hmm. not sure why TGR rotates the pics. Well, you get the picture. Tinemaha looks like a skeleton right now

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Access to Granlibakken
    Posts
    11,172
    Thx for the pics. Been itching to get down there but keep hearing discouraging reports.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ventura Highway in the Sunshine
    Posts
    22,429
    I just spent four days up at Virginia Lakes yurt with High Sierra Snowmass. Sorry, no pictures of my own, but maybe somebody else on the trip will add some. We hit it at a very good time, a day after Mammoth got their last one foot dump. Avi conditions were a bit sketch but we got a lot of good runs in none the less. Three great powder days, but the Northwind kicked up and there was some solar effect so day four was pretty marginal.

    Coverage was mostly very good, but the persistent deep layer was still present. Food was great, the yurt is comfortable and Tim and Zack continue to provide a great experience.

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

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Eastside
    Posts
    387
    Quote Originally Posted by hutash View Post
    I just spent four days up at Virginia Lakes yurt with High Sierra Snowmass. Sorry, no pictures of my own, but maybe somebody else on the trip will add some. We hit it at a very good time, a day after Mammoth got their last one foot dump. Avi conditions were a bit sketch but we got a lot of good runs in none the less. Three great powder days, but the Northwind kicked up and there was some solar effect so day four was pretty marginal.

    Coverage was mostly very good, but the persistent deep layer was still present. Food was great, the yurt is comfortable and Tim and Zack continue to provide a great experience.
    Nice! I met Zach climbing this summer and he seemed like very good dude

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    307
    I protest!

    The old thread had too much goodness to retire, especially while conditions are this poor.

    https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...24#post6252824

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Cruzing
    Posts
    11,905
    posting here for future stokage

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Arroyo Seco
    Posts
    195
    Toured between Bridgeport and Bishop the past few days. Lots of variability in the snowpack, with the best coverage and conditions in the Mammoth/June Lake area. We encountered essentially every type of snow on this trip, though the one constant was windboard and breakable crust on steeper northerly and easterly aspects. No real corn cycle was observed on east aspects.

    Some pics:
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    2,181
    Man it is looking dry there. But the Eastern Sierras are one hell of a beautiful place.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    112
    Quote Originally Posted by thejongiest View Post
    Man it is looking dry there. But the Eastern Sierras are one hell of a beautiful place.
    Member even a few years ago... Mammoth. the what>? Wasn't even a resort thread. Now people are posting every piss they took on the hill. Welcome.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    tahoe
    Posts
    3,428
    Thanks for sharing jeb.......irie chute++++

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    2,181
    Quote Originally Posted by Westmeister View Post
    Member even a few years ago... Mammoth. the what>? Wasn't even a resort thread. Now people are posting every piss they took on the hill. Welcome.
    Heh, try moving to Seattle. Consider yourself lucky if you can make it work living on 395. It will get worse...a lot worse but enjoy some modicum of solitude while you can.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    Great photos, Jeb!

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    Suffering from Tahoe-based ennui and having cancelled my original plans (Great Basin NP) for lack of snow, I did a dorky tour in the Bishop Creek area on Sunday.

    I’m sad to report that the High Sierra is in pretty rough shape. There was more snow below 11k than above it. The last several weeks of constant multi-directional wind has taken its toll above treeline and stripped away a ton of snow. It’s probably a little better between Mammoth and Bridgeport, and probably a lot worse south of Bishop. Anyhow, I knew conditions were crappy, which is why I chose to do a long, scenic meadow-skipper.
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    Look at this fat little ptarmigan.
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    Glacier Divide is one of my favorite parts of the Sierra, and Muriel Peak, while not huge, has long appealed to me. I had wanted to ski it on this tour, but there was visible sastrugi in the couloir. In fact, there was sastrugi everywhere above 11k. As a result, I was slower across otherwise mellow terrain than I had hoped.
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    Humphrey.
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    Goethe.
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    The view from Alpine Col. While not a lot of vertical, the climb up was slow going. I skinned up the first half and booted the last 300 feet, which consisted of breakable crust on top of sugary abysses next to endless boulders.
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    This the descent down Alpine Col. Sadly, it offered the best descent and conditions of the day.
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    I would like to ski this.
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    Looking toward the Hermit and Evolution Valley.
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    Looking up and then down Darwin Valley. I crossed a dozen or so lakes. Most were sastrugi-strewn wastelands. Others had pretty but difficult to skin water ice.
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    Darwin may not see any ski descents in 2021. It had terrible snow coverage and large swaths of visible water ice.
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    Ubiquitous Darwin-and-Mendel-with-park-sign photo from Lamarck Col.
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    And here’s a view from Lamarck Col toward North Lake, which you’ll notice is largely bereft of snow. I had originally planned to ski Lamarck’s super fun summit couloir, but I was behind schedule and conditions in other couloirs were did not appear promising. The long 3,500’ descent back to North Lake offered up a bevy of terrible snow conditions. Above 11k, there was nothing but sastrugi over breakable windboard and rocks. Below was a mixture of breakable crust and mush. I do not exaggerate when I say that my entire descent was graceless survival skiing.
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    Anyhow, I’ve painted a pretty grim picture out of honesty. Apologies for the anti-stoke. That said, I still had a pretty fun time. It was great to be deep in the high Sierra again.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    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?

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    In the sewers of Folsom
    Posts
    207
    Thx for the conditions update Jeb/AK. Great pics. Still hoping for a Miracle March for the East side and Shasta. Else probably time to do another Volcano tour further north this spring. It's too bad that up high what snow did fall got blown away by the high winds in many areas.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ventura Highway in the Sunshine
    Posts
    22,429
    Even in bad snow years the east side is still an amazing place. Glad you guys made some lemonade.

    winds have been brutal on the snow pack this year.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Tahoe
    Posts
    16,105
    Anyone have any more info on this? Sounds like everyone is ok but almost two nights up there would be pretty brutal.
    https://www.kibskbov.com/2021/03/dra...cue-on-mt-tom/
    powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    8,938
    Nice job with the alpine col loop!

    Sent from my SPH-L710 using TGR Forums mobile app

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Eastside
    Posts
    387
    Quote Originally Posted by powdork View Post
    Anyone have any more info on this? Sounds like everyone is ok but almost two nights up there would be pretty brutal.
    https://www.kibskbov.com/2021/03/dra...cue-on-mt-tom/
    2 nights at 10k+ in those kinds of winds? Fuck.

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