Eastern Sierra BC 21/22

[Spliit]

Has anyone skied the north facing couloirs of Dana plateau or the north peak main couloir recently?

I'm wondering if the snow softens up enough.

Thinking of skiing on Tuesday, looks like the temps don't quite teach 40 at 11+k.

Thank you

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Did you end up getting up there? Will probably head there this weekend and hope the forecasted wind mellows out

[LegoSkier]

Will be in the area next week on a backcountry ski road trip Tuesday through Friday anywhere rom Sonora pass down to Bishop.
Would be good to make some turns with mags. Look for a blue Nissan pickup with WA plates and BBI stickers on the back.

[munkyman]

The Snowbrains.com guys just reported some brutal snow around Mt Dana, hopefully it softens up soon (!) Coverage looks better than I thought it would...

[rod9301]

Did you end up getting up there? Will probably head there this weekend and hope the forecasted wind mellows out

Did not, heard it was icy.

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[enlosandes]

Has anyone skied the north facing couloirs of Dana plateau or the north peak main couloir recently?

I'm wondering if the snow softens up enough.

Thinking of skiing on Tuesday, looks like the temps don't quite teach 40 at 11+k.

Thank you

Sent from my moto g 5G using Tapatalk

Just a heads up that Saddlebag Road has not been touched yet so add a few miles to the North Peak approach.

[WhetherMan]

The Snowbrains.com guys just reported some brutal snow around Mt Dana, hopefully it softens up soon (!) Coverage looks better than I thought it would...

I didn't think it was quite as bad as Miles did, perhaps due to lowered standards from skiing on the east side all winter, but it definitely has not transitioned in solstice or Dana. Things with some South in their aspect are better. Coverage is definitely better than last year.

[enlosandes]

Skied perfect corn at noon on an east slope around 11,000'. SW winds were picking up.

[munkyman]

Thx for the info guys, looking forward to skiing there next week, will be searching around for the goods.

[LegoSkier]

With the forecast next week even directly east facing might be tough to soften next week. Just my luck to drive 800 miles to escape the PNW to find some sunny corn and the cold follows me down.

[Spliit]

forecasted winds are 90+mph gusts on Dana at 11k this weekend. ooph. might be a climbing weekend

[davjr96]

Took a little drive up 120 this evening to check coverage. Very windy.

[Blaster]

Bumping with some weekend coverage picks and photo stoke. Pretty good overnight refreezes both days but a quick transition to mush with the warm temps.

Baldwin Cirque. The SE chute on baldwin does connect but is pretty lumpy. Surfaces on the baldwin cirque chutes were fairly smooth.

Ellery Bowl hanging in there

Getting in and out of Dana looked pretty shitty

False White had corn turns for days

Gas price inflation finally hitting Bridgeport. Interestingly a month back they were one of the few places around that had not jumped up in prices and were equivalent to Tahoe. Not sure if that was generosity on the part of the station owners there or something different with their supply chain.

[byates1]

damn^.

Thx for the sierra stoke!

[sfskier]

Hit up Matterhorn and general upper Horse Creek area Sat 5/14-Mon 5/16. Coverage is pretty decent above 9,000' with snowline at the usual spot at about 8,600'. Snow conditions were quite transitional, with the new snow from last week having not gone through enough freeze-thaw by the weekend, plus temps were quite warm. Roller balls and soft mank on a lot of aspects, though definitely skiable. Despite the sub-optimal conditions, I did manage to finally tick off the East Couloir, which does indeed go through, with a couple sidesteps near the top choke over a couple rocks. Thanks to the non-skiing climbers putting in a bootpack the day prior so I wasn't wallowing in the mank, thought they did make an ugly mess of the snow in the couloir. Here's a few pics.

[bodywhomper]

Woot woot on the stoke!

Did anybody ski during the lunar eclipse?

Those lines on Whorl always look awesome! The text that I’ve read about the approach has previously dissuaded me from making an attempt (especially in ski boots) The lines in upper horse creek are super fun!

[rod9301]

Anyone know when the saddlebag road will open?

Or if it's clear enough to ride a bike to the lake?

Trying to ski north peak soon.

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[~mikey b]

it’s open

[rod9301]

it’s open

Mike, you're a treasure. First found my ice axe, got it yesterday, and now this info on saddlebag lake.
Thank you

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[~mikey b]

no worries

[powdork]

open. lake still mostly frozen altough they're just letting it flow so it's very small.
From the creek


From the lake next to resort


Looking at Dana


Ellery from the old mining road. As of yesterday there was a sliver of continuous snow to the lake. There was a group that spent hours self arresting on the low slopes. Guessing a guide school


Didn't get a pic but False White looks fat

[powdork]

Went up to Dunderberg today for a spin. Corn was quite nice. Ran into snow on the road around 9550’. Took the bike up from there til continuous snow.

https://youtu.be/6jFUhGuO3Qc

[rod9301]

North peak. The main couloir seems narrower than normal, and i didn't like the double fall line and the runnel.
Probably the toughest skiing in a long while, for me.

Snow was great.

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[~mikey b]

nice work

[Dark Energy]

With weather dashing my plans for a Shasta ski from Brewers Creek, headed south to Tioga Pass to avoid the rain. Can report that it was very windy and my bivy sac actually work to repel the rain which started about 4:00 a.m. My flexible plan was to go slow to allow the rain to clear out. It worked, except only after I returned to my car after wandering around for 8 hours in lots of wind and driving rain, limited visibility, 3K vertical of sun cups and only one knee deep creek crossing. Only John Muir, I and a few of the kindred souls on this forum would declare it was great fun. Here's a pic starting the descent off the north side of White Mountain towards Fingers Lake.

[~mikey b]

well the weather was shitty but at least the visibility sucked

and the suncups are only going to grow