Black Mountian south face, Parker Lakes basin, Eastern Sierra, CA. 5.3-5.4.2008
two years ago this very weekend i was up in the same area and looking at the above mtn thinking how sweet it looked. it stands alone at 13,289 and is about the highest peak in this little slice of the sierra. its pretty far back there, but still looking on the map it forms part of the sierra crest.
well originally i HAD planned to go up division creek for the weekend to check things out but i changed my mind at the last minute. my new plans had nothing to do with bg going there on fri ๐ … thats the beauty of rolling solo, if you suddenly decide on something else well it doesnt take much to change the plan.
the overnight load felt heavier than usual. watching the sun slowly awaken over the inyo mtns helped to take my mind off it.
the oak creek fire did lots of damage, this place was also burned pretty badly. i remember 2 years ago when i was up here it was completely different. oh well.
there was a rather large herd of elk hanging out in the south fork oak creek drainage.
i really enjoy hanging out in alpine meadows. at least the fire spared this area. the area above the meadow is called “little onion” on the maps. there is nothing little about this area. that peak is the south side of mary austin, it looks like i will have to come back here in winter for that one.
stopping for lunch this little critter decided to join me, the only company i had on the whole trip ๐
finally the line comes into view. it did snow for a bit on sat eve but nothing to write home about. the snow in the pic at top from 2 years ago at the same time shows how big a snow year that year really was.
home sweet hole in the snow.
definitely got an early start sunday. lots of nice lines in this parker lakes basin.
that chute in the middle there is what i was climbing 2 years ago when i 1st saw black mtn. its a nice north facing line off dragon.
looking down the route on black. i climbed the main chute up the middle. the sharkfins were in full bloom ๐ luckily one side was smoother and once it softened up it was good riding.
the snow pretty much ends 300 ft off the summit so there was a nice little scramble to finish the peak. i bet in winter it goes right from the top.
insane views from up there. i just added about 60 places to my list.
north facing line on university
good luck getting back there.
ok when i posted my TR on university i mentioned rae lakes but i was misatken. maybe i should consult a map more often. i “think” this was the rae lakes area i was looking at but now im not sure.
anyway there was a long wait on top for things to soften up as it was colder on sun. i think there are about 300 more pix of the sierra i took that i will not bore you with. overall it was another great adventure and i look forward to returning to this area again mid-winter.
lol, check your email that i just wrote before i saw this ๐
nice pics of the martin or weasel or whatever that is that place looks sweet! i’m glad you didn’t take an overnight load up division creek. you really don’t need to do that to yourself ๐
What is this? I can’t figure it out for the life of me on topos
As always great TR!!! I would love to do an overnighter too! I think I need to start a list too! Altough I am sure my life is not long enough to ever come close to your list ๐
After much research, experimentation and consideration, I have decided adulthood is not for me. Thank you for the opportunity.
Nice one Dave. But I’m a little worried about you, opting out of a real schwack-fest at the last minute for something “reasonable”. ๐ I know what you mean about the growing list of lines…
Speaking of which, what is this shot? I think I may something interesting in there. ๐ก
hola dig. so stoked to hear you are going back there. that is one amazing place. hope you have an excellent trip. please post up some pics if you can, i would be very inetersted to see how the westside is holding out.
the shot storn quoted is actually brewer. im not sure about the peak jim is asking about but yeah it is in the GWD area and is probably one of the guards, but i have posted incorrectly about place names so much lately rather than being incorrect i will just leave it to someone else who has been there to identify it.
that being said i have another correction …. that the north facing chute i climbed a couple years back to get a look at black is not on dragon at all!
BGnight: The peak you can’t figure out is actually two peaks. The lighter color rock in front is Deerhorn, while the darker, taller peak behind is Ericsson.
jimw: That peak is Farquhar.
fullers2oh: Last month I climbed the same chute you climbed 2 years ago. It tops out on Pk 12720, about midway between Kearsarge and Dragon Peaks. If you go back to that valley, you should really give the east chute on Black a try. You access it from the bowl between Black and Mary Austin. The SE chute on Mary Austin is also fun.