Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Leg Stretch Snowshoe Above Aspendell, 3-8-09

I was too worked from ice climbing Saturday to follow through with my original plan of trying out some AT gear Sunday morning, so instead settled for a big breakfast at the Petite Pantry (and ended up getting recruited for a local coed softball team, I'm their new first baseman!), and then cruised up the hill towards Aspendell. I had thought about my usual jaunt up towards Loch Leven and Piute Pass, but pulled over just short of Intake 2 and ended up on the pipeline roads into the ridge above the town. It had been on my list to cruise up there and see if they connected up to the Piute Crags, so, snowshoes strapped onto the pack, I walked up the roads. It was a simple enough task, a fairly gentle grade up the ridges, and just enough snow to cover the sage. The views up to Humphreys, Emerson , and over to Tom were spectactular, and I wasn't "alone" all day: I had no fewer than 5 golden eagle sightings, and was watched by mule deer all over the ridge. This is going to make a great weeknight workout jaunt, I think, even after the snow melts.

At 10K, I stopped to dig a small pit and get a gauge on conditions, since the bowl and higher ridgelines had me drooling to ski. The pit location was on the upslope from a saddle, NE facing, and somewhat windswept; didn't get a slope angle, but not more than 25 degrees I'd bet. In snowshoes I was postholing up to mid-shin, above my knee when I took the shoe off. Dug the pit: 15-18 inches of powder on top of, well, airpockets and sugar. I was able to easily scoop out the bottom layer and get to the ground here. I removed the snow basket from my pole, and used it to feel any layering, gently sliding it down the wall. Not much resistance through the powder at any particular point. A bit disconcerting, and it definitely cancelled my plans to descend the bowl or the gulley below to beeline for the TOF. I ended up doing a fair amount of ugly bushwhacking down in an attempt to straight-line below the snowline, but it was good practice for the foot on uneven terrain, at least.

A really gorgeous day, soaring eagles, a little spin flipping off the peaks, and the quiet of the local hills. Nope, still no complaints...

A few pics from the day:







Richard and Steve Larson: I want to SKI THIS!!!



Rest of the pics are here .

From the luckiest girl in the world: Climb Hard, Be Safe.

-L

MT-
I have various questions. Was the gate to South Lake Open? Was the gate to North Lake Open? Do you know if it is possible to drive to the South Lake trail head? Do you know if it is possible to drive to the trail heads in Onion Valley? Where does the deep snow start on the Italy Pass Trail?
Thanks,
Martinovsky

OK, one by one:

1) There is no gate blocking the road to South Lake (SL). They do not plow the road past the Bishop Creek Lodge, which is about 5 miles from SL. I think Kurt may have mentioned something about current road conditions recently in another post, but I don't know where. There is a sign in the road, which you could perhaps drive around if the road is clear. However, remember that you are taking it upon yourself to remove your vehicle if you get stuck up there. It ain't cheap.

2) In the last picture of my post above, you are looking at a view of Aspendell and into the Sabrina Basin. You can clearly see where the road is not plowed, and there IS a gate at Aspendell preventing car traffic from going further. There is also a gate for North Lake (NL) but I haven't been in there for a while (six weeks?) and it was shut. But since there's a gate in Aspendell it doesn't really matter, does it?

3) See Answer #1. Don't know how far you can safely get up the road. Past the Tyee Lakes TH the road gets steep and is north facing, and last time I was on it, was covered in ice. Not a pleasant trip, I'd assume.

4) Haven't been up the OV Road lately, so I dunno.

5) The last time I was up the Italy Pass trail (Pine Creek) was just after Thanksgiving (cheez, seems like AGES ago). At that point, the deep snow started around Honeymoon Lake, where I camped. Obviously, things have changes quite a bit since then, so I have no idea of the conditions up there. I would caution about the Pine Creek trail, however. It follows north facing walls and steep inclines, and the avy danger right now could be considerable in that canyon, since it receives very little sun and there hasn't been (until the last day or two) very much temperature variance to allow for freeze-thaw and consolidation to occur. Could be a long, scary slog up in there.

Hope this helps.
-Laura

Laura,

Worked from ice climbing? I'm shocked.

That ski run looks like a blast. I'm busy the next three weekends, but after that it could be time for some awesome spring skiing!