Eastern Sierra BC 21/22

[thefrush]

Well some folks have been getting after it in spots since the late Oct/early Nov storms so I figured it was time for a thread.

Last year's thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...Thread-2020-21

2018 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...rt-Thread-2018

2016 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ditions-Thread

2015 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...rra-BC-2014-15

2013 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ditions-thread

2012 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...00-quot-Winter

2011 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...-Eternal-Stoke

2010 thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ALiForNiA-2010!

This year's Mammoth thread: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...mandate-thread

Links:

Eastern Sierra Guidebook: https://www.wolverinepublishing.com/...astern-sierra/

Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Mammoth Ski Patrol weather observations

Mammoth Weather Guy

Open Snow - Mammoth

Howard's Forecast

Bakersfield Radar Loop

Far West Satellite

West Coast Satellite

June Lake Loop Cam: https://junelakepizza.com/index.php/loop-cam/

[thefrush]

Inspired by Wobby & friends (https://www.nvbackcountry.com/single...n-of-fall-2021), I got out on the Bloody Couloir on Wednesday to start my BC season. Better than expected with recycled pow up top and a mixture of chalky windboard & windbuff in the couloir.

With a proper vehicle you can drive to snowline, but the bottom of the road has some huge washouts. We walked.



The last mile or so to the apron was a mixture of skinnable and some short dry sections.



The bootpacking was excellent.



Pumpkin pie in the sun on the summit after a long cold climb in the shadow was splendid.



Dropping back into the shadow.



My partner Forrest stylin' it out.



Yours truly, stoked.



Still stoked.



Forrest workin the sides.



Quite the departure from early season Colorado touring. Happy in my new home.

[gimpy]

Can’t get pics to load

[spanghew]

Can’t get pics to load

x2

[1000-oaks]

My partner Forrest stylin' it out.

Attachment 394243

Only this one worked.

[thefrush]

Well, off to about as good of a start as the season... I deleted and reuploaded the photos, hopefully working now?

[1000-oaks]

Did the defunct "EasternSierraForum.com" ever reboot on another domain? Used to enjoy that forum.

[TahoeBC]

Nice one, eyeballed that up over thanksgiving but waiting for the local resorts to open to test my knee out on some buff groomers.

Meanwhile ice up high has been good but the inversion that seems to be solidly in place is not helping with that, a few pics from over thanksgiving.

Ellery




Tioga


Virginia lakes






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[1000-oaks]

Well, off to about as good of a start as the season... I deleted and reuploaded the photos, hopefully working now?

Thanks for sharing, I keep looking at these pix.

[thefrush]

Well it's slim pickins out there but still some stuff to ski and with the road to Tioga Pass open to the Eastern Gate we headed up to have a go at the Kidney Chute from Tioga Lake. Worked out great, ended up being able to skin/ski ~95% of the approach and exit. The satellite imagery showed the chute being discontinuous, which was true, but we were able to ski the top ~1100' which was worth the excursion. A zero wind bluebird day in the Eastern Sierra, quite pleasant.

Objective:



Approach.



Dana.



Corn.



Exit.



Glacier Canyon.



The ice skating also looks really good right now, saw some folks out on Ellery Lake and have seen pictures and videos from numerous other lakes.

[splitter]

What’s your take on saddlebag road/false white?


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[thefrush]

What’s your take on saddlebag road/false white?


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Ran into a buddy walking back up the road after skiing around False White, sounded grim. Lots of bushwhacking & talus, very little skiing.

[splitter]

Ran into a buddy walking back up the road after skiing around False White, sounded grim. Lots of bushwhacking & talus, very little skiing.

Thanks. The face looked promising in the photos above but I was skeptical.

[thefrush]

Thanks. The face looked promising in the photos above but I was skeptical.

Agreed, it looked good from far, but sounds like it was far from good.

[gimpy]

Fukya frush!…….kidney looked worthy fosho
Esac posted a vid obz from false white a couple days ago and dude said the east face wasn’t softening……I think you gotta have some south in your east ala kidney

[~mikey b]

skied some decent snow on Sonora Pass a couple weeks ago



still looks about like this

[~mikey b]

passes closing today due to storms

[powdork]

be careful out there this week. we all know there's gonna be some avie danger out there. we're not unused to that with these huge sierra storms and huge winds
But I, and many others from these parts are not nearly as familiar with the continental levels of cold we could be seeing this week. Obviously plenty of tours will happen without incident but there isn't as much room for error. A mistake or gear failure that would in other conditions result in an epic you joke about later could easily end otherwise at -10 in ridiculously deep snow. For instance, a lost ski

and 1 in 2 odds of being below -10F at
colder mountain towns such as Truckee and Bridgeport. Bridgeport
and Bodie could even get to near -25F.

</mom>

[mb7a5b]

Cool))))

[1000-oaks]

https://www.facebook.com/easternsier...0341697023064/

https://www.esavalanche.org/public-o...nche-incident/

[hutash]

Some tricky avi conditions this season, and likely to persist a bit, so becareful out there.

[thefrush]

Definitely will be taking it easy until things fully settle out. Not a good time to be poking the dragon.

[byates1]

Should be a good spring. Great to see the sierra nuking proper.

[thefrush]

Snow below treeline that isn't wind affected is as good as it gets right now. LOTS of transport today especially at upper elevations. If it isn't stripped in the alpine right now, it's either wind hammered or wind slab.

[LightRanger]

A, I like your patched Marmot pants. And your thread. Keep up the good work.