A buddy of mine attempted Tyndall over Xmas, and sent out this trip report. The people trying have summited serious peaks, and are highly experienced in winter alpine conditions:
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The plan is to attempt Mt Tyndall via Shepherd pass. The trailhead is located near the town of Independence, CA. This past weekend, our small party of two spent 3 days (Dec 25,26,27) attempting that very same peak. Well, we fell short of our goal for several reasons:
A) we had to park 5 miles from the trailhead. It took over 4 hours of effort just to reach the trailhead.
B) the snow was so deep (2 to 3 feet of fresh powder), progress was difficult and exhausting.
C) the temperatures were so cold (in the low teens). We were in no rush to leave the comfort of the sleeping bags in the morning and wasted valuable time.
Wow, the snow level is that low and that deep? That's great! If they parked 5 miles from the trail head, that means they didn't quite make the turn off on Onion Valley road. That's 4.8 miles from the trail head.
It would be great to see some pictures. I was thinking it wasn't going to be worth the drive - especially after seeing Richard's Christmas eve pictures of the portal, but this sounds awesome for some good ski touring.
