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I drove rughty and bs down to one of my all time favorite eastsliding areas to show them some classics. We weren’t sure what to expect with the 4-6″ we just received, but I decided high, north facing would be the primary objective since it was supposed to get warm. It seemed to be the right call as everything else became sticky, loose mank as the sun warmed things up that day. The new snow put all the corn on hold for the time being so you gotta make due.
camp:
We soon arrive at our objective (right).
Ken and Ben are stoked. There was a bit of apprehension as in the back of our minds we thought there might only be a few inches of dust on crust in the chute as the skin in showed no evidence of new snow. Apparently all the new snow had already froze so it was hard to tell how much came down as you were skinning on top of it the whole way in.
Once we got on the apron the snow started getting deep! One side of the couloir was deeper than the other and it varied from 3-18″ of pow on top of the crust. Muuuch better than we expected even being at the bottom. The top 100′ though was pretty variable, with a swath of frozen boot tracks/chickenheads and ski tracks with very little pow on a firm surface. I decided it looked scary to climb and unpleasant to ride so I just strapped in where the good snow ended. Ken joined me and bs continued to the top. Props to him for topping out and dealing with a steep, sketchy entrance.
Ben charging:
I lugged my slr up for the first time this season but didn’t really set up for super good shots as it was hard to find a place on the side that was soft enough to take my pack off. I’m still not adept at knowing how to quickly set up for good shots. It takes practice. Plus, it’s so hard not to just want to say eff it and just shred! 😆 Guys like bcd and Zach make that shit look easy! Still pleased with the results:
Shralped!
On to the kindergarten. Ken and Ben went up and checked out the entrance to checkered demon and said it looked pretty phat. I need to hit that one some day but really want to climb it first as dropping that thing from the top is super intimidating to me. I think Ben will post a pic of the entrance for those that are interested.
Ben/Ken riding down from the C.D.
Our next run :drool:
Ben. Top was a tad firm, but it became nice and soft not too far down:
gettin’ to the good stuff:
Shredding!
Ken:
Such an awesome day with awesome snow! I straight ran outta the shade at the bottom of the run into the mank where I instantly went over the bars due to the sticky snow and broke the gopro off my head. I found it but it’s still not working properly :nononno:
(it’s worth watching the end of pov :lol:)That night after some Mexican food we camped out with some cool skies treating us to a show :doobie:
We went up to Mt Johnson the second day but I didn’t take any pictures. Ken or Ben will have some.
Driving home we get the view that first made me fall in love with the Sierra when I was about 17 y.o.
Sick zone!:
[vimeo:3bioimos]http://www.vimeo.com/23713518[/vimeo:3bioimos]
Sick Goodness BG…
Such a sweet photo!!
And such a killer song from such a great album… Opiate bitches :thatrocks:
Here are a few pics I took of our “weekend” 😆
skinning toward our goal of Mt. Emerson’s Zebra or North Couloirs
Zebra and North Couloirs
no climbing shots as it was all I could do to try and keep up with these guys.
climbing the other side of the drainage toward Kindergarten
looking back toward Emerson
looking down Checkered Demon
looking down to the entrance of Kindergarten
Ben in victorious celebration
Brooks after celebrating in a little different fashion. 😆
Day 2 brings us to South Lake and across this
puzzled by this sketchy approach with easier and safer routes near by. :scratch:
Ben on the “summit” of Johnson
the apron
summit of Johnson behind me
our line
since this line was already tracked out, didn’t bother with any more pics. Pretty epic trip and looking forward to getting in some more days like these!
good times in the eastern sierra! thanks for the ride brooks…
early morning at our first camp, in the shadow of mt locke.
no eastern sierra spring trip would be complete without some hiking…
or some bushwhacking!
names have been changed to protect the identity of those who called in sick to work!
wait a minute, this doesn’t seem like “corn snow”!
brooks and ken in the emerson north couloir.
all of a sudden, clawing my way up those last 100 feet seemed kind of silly…
but if you climb it, you gotta ride it!
the icy, rocky, sketchy part ended after the first hundred feet.
and below that…..
nothing but powder!
after a run that good, the only thought on our minds was “more”! so we decided to exit via the kindergarten chute. brooks starts the climb…
for someone too sick to go to work, ken sure climbed pretty quick.
looking back at our tracks… next time–zebra!
kindergarten did not disappoint. despite its demeaning name, we found a decently steep line full of even deeper powder.
brooks enjoys the fruits of our second climb.
DAY 2. we attempted to drive to south lake, but found the road closed almost 2 miles from the parking lot due to construction on the dam. fortunately, just as we were about to start hiking, a construction truck stopped and gave us a ride, along with a skier and his exuberant dog.
we arrived at mt johnson to find our intended line looking a little dry. after much deliberation, we decided to ride something else.
ken near the summit of johnson.
yeah, so there were a few tracks already… oh well, that’s what happens when you are riding the line from the cover of the guidebook!
it was still steep…
…and full of good snow!
finished!
the hike out was looking to be a bit of a slog… until another friendly contractor let us fill up his flatbed with our gear.
two days of big mountain powder in may…. i love these mountains way too much to call this anything close to a “farewell tour”. so despite that my next trip reports will be coming from the cascades, i guarantee that i’ll be back to the east side!!!
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