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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 20, 2015 - 02:49pm PT
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Hi gang, I'm trying to pull together a daytrip to ski the North Face of Kearsarge Peak this weekend, but I called the interagency office and they said the Onion Valley Road is closed (and they estimated that snow level is about 10k feet which should make the road pretty clear). Is there a locked gate, or just boulders to drive around? How far of a slog to get to skin-up spot? Is Grays Meadow Campground or Seven Pines Campground accessible by a very spunky Toyota Prius?
What about Northeast Gullies of Independence Peak?
Any other suggestions for something with an accessible short approach this weekend? I don't have the cardio conditioning to pull out the monster approaches, so cool big stuff will be out of my league :)
For general conditions right now, found this webcam:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/webcam/will/willi.jpg
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Srbphoto
climber
Kennewick wa
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Mar 20, 2015 - 03:10pm PT
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there's snow in Cali? Who'd thunk it!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Mar 20, 2015 - 03:16pm PT
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Take your spunky Prius up the road as far as it will go. Strap your skis on your pack and go for it.
I've had to walk a dozen miles with skis and a full pack on my back (survival situation).
Photos and TR obligatory.
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krahmes
Social climber
Stumptown
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Mar 20, 2015 - 07:44pm PT
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What High Traverse said.
On the southern east side Sardine holds snow later than any of the other canyons. It is a great easy couples bowls. You should be able to make it to the turnoff which is past the campgrounds you mentioned. From there you can carry your skis up the old mining roads. Snow at 10,000 sounds grim as it implies there is no snow at Onion Valley.
The time I hiked up Kearsarge I carried my skis up from the south of the up the old mining trails so I could save a couple of thousand in elevation and skied out of Sardine. That was five years ago. So what do I know. Anyway here's a picture of the lower bowl of Sardine from 1May10:
And a picture of University from the top of Kearsarge:
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 20, 2015 - 07:58pm PT
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Thanks for firing the stoke khrames! I've got a partner lined up to do it for next weekend, and will share some reportage.
I'm still up for a last-minute plan to go there this weekend too if another partner comes out of the woodwork.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 28, 2015 - 11:59pm PT
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My partner bailed on Friday evening, but luckily I hooked up with Em and a group of Sierra clubbers and we did a day trip out of Onion Valley today.
Gratuitous selfie:
Some current pics of conditions:
I didn't remember how to do jump turns until I was at the lower angle bottom section dodging rocks. As a consequence I jumped out of my bindings upon my first launch, fell over a few times, but got it together in time to not have any rock collisions. It's tricky jut launching off right away without any warm-up section (at least for me because I'm new to skiing).
Tonight I enjoyed the Banff Film Festival in Bishop, and tomorrow going to get some more out of Onion Valley with the same gang. I think the game plan is to go up to the left valley/bowl area due south out of the Onion Valley trailhead, pretty much the opposite side from what we explored today. I'll post more pics after getting back from that :)
To be clear: road and all of Onion valley is snow-free. South facing is snow free. North facing above about 10.5k or 11k has consistent snow coverage in the shade and much less consistent in the sun, with rocks showing through.
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kmac24
Sport climber
Orange County, CA
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Mar 30, 2015 - 03:51pm PT
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Thanks for the road conditions update! We are headed up to Dragon's Peak on Saturday, so it is super helpful to know that we can get to the Onion Valley trailhead. What did you climb on Day 2? Any other updates? Thanks!
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Mar 30, 2015 - 04:30pm PT
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That is just wrong for late March.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Mar 30, 2015 - 04:55pm PT
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^^^
Agreed. Looks more like late June than the end of March. Grim summer ahead and wondering what CA will be like with a couple more winters like this one. Yikes.
Thread drift: Nut's pic of University Peak reminded me about the Becky route on the north face. Anyone done it?
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kmac24
Sport climber
Orange County, CA
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Mar 30, 2015 - 09:38pm PT
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One more question - is there a lot of rock fall on the road?
And I agree with everyone that it's super sad and scary with how little snow there is! The last two years have destroyed the Sierras. :/
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2015 - 11:18pm PT
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Yes lots of small/medium rockfall on road, but it is passable (if you have low clearance, be careful to drive around rather than over). Drive slowly enough so that you have time to react.
Day2, we went up above and west of Robinson Lake (south of University Pk), found relatively more snow, and everyone got some skiing done. Robsinson lake is still 100% covered in ice/snow, but it looks like there are about to be melt-out spots. My high altitude was the edge of the upper enclosed bowl where University Peak forms the northern side. Keep in mind it was not a hard-core group, and we started about 10ish on both days. But it was still a real obstacle course, pushing my limits in terms of steepness with those sticky/breakable crusty snow conditions and rocks. Other members in our group said the whole bowl area we were is normally a wide-open snow slope, where you can just cruise down anywhere. It was a very different place yesterday.
The descent (after the main skiing part) was a serious adventure, though not an epic in the vein of crawling 20 miles with broken legs. Everyone on the trip said it was the most difficult descent they had ever done (I have no data to compare it with). Snow was breakable crust, sinking anywhere from ankle to mid-thigh within a the span of a few steps if just in boots. With skis on, couldn't stay above the crust for more than a few seconds at a time, and it was semi-steep with dense forest and rocks (e.g. frequent need to go between trees 2-3 feet apart, sometimes crossing between rocks 6 inches apart, sometimes ski-walking over a few branches or rocks). Skiing through willow forests was relatively not a problem, but the trees and rocks were more challenging. The most consistent efforts I made during that part of the descent, in the occasional bits of semi-open snow, involved leaning way back on my skis as if they were the steering oar of a raft, and balancing all my weight back there with the tips pointing up in the air, as I intuitively shifted my balance around trying to figure out how to turn or snowplow while holding that position and descending and trying not to smack into trees and rocks. Right now I keep looking at a line of ripped flesh on my right hand where I reached out for a small tree trunk when I lost control at one point. I fell frequently and deeply into the wet-cement snow, from whence it was a challenge to arise. No major tree or rock collisions. Our group was all strung out beyond communication range (at least I was over-eager and got myself ahead out of communication range), but we somehow all converged at the point where taking off the skis was unavoidable.
I still had a blast, and am super-excited to see what it is like in "good" conditions because this is still fun when it supposedly sucks. I do think the next time I go to a ski resort I will be laughing like an idiot with how easy it is, with all the open conditioned snow. And I will focus a lot more effort on getting good at moguls to develop precision with tight turns of variable radii.
I'll post up some pics later.
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kmac24
Sport climber
Orange County, CA
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Mar 31, 2015 - 11:19am PT
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Thank you so much! Glad you had a good time!
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