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Evolution Valley Ski; May 3-9 2009

Seems as if it has been one of those years for ski trips; make plans, change them, have people drop out, more come in, adapt and then have the weather change it all. So it was with this trip. Started out as a Monarch ski, but as numbers dropped the logistics and expenses of flying back increased. There are getting to be fewer and fewer charter companies around these days. So the trip morphed into a loop from Paiute to Echo Col with Dennis Sargent and Craig Sherman. Craig has done lots of trips over the years - decades actually- and at 65 is a great example of what we [...]

By |2009-05-18T16:50:00-07:00May 18th, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

Sometimes its more about the across: Yosemite High Route

On April 10th, Nick, Sung, and Tom joined me for a great five day adventure along the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park.  Normally, this tour follows the Crest from Mammoth Mountain to Tioga Pass, but a breakable crust made for challenging ski conditions and we decided to exit to June Lake instead.  Still, it was five full days of beautiful scenes. To see all of the photos from this trip, you can see my Picasa album HERE, or Sung's Picasa album HERE. [...]

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00May 14th, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

Ice Climbing 4.4.09

Eric just finished up an ice climbing trip in Lee Vining Canyon. The ice is actually still in great shape despite pendulum swings in temperature. The sun is high, the ice is plastic, the climbing pretty pleasant in the sun but the trail is a melting out creating some big holes so you need to take care to avoid falling into them. Get it while you can.

By |2009-04-08T13:47:15-07:00April 8th, 2009|Ice Climbing|

Minarets Circumnavigation 4.09

We have done lots of trips intot he Minarets over the years and all of them havebeen good. This area has a huge range of trips at all levels of difficulty from beginner to advanced. One variation is the trip over South Glacier Notch, Amphitheater Col and "The Gap" before heading down to Lake Ediza. This is an old Alpine Expeditions Route from the 1980s and we starting doing it a long time ago. Having had ankle surgery in December this seemed a good trip to see how the ankle held up and one to do quickly in three days. I also wanted some photos and video. (for video go [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00April 3rd, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

Split Mountain in winter. Eric Owen & Michael Barrientos 3.09

Well, the approach may be better than getting there via the Red Cone Rd. Luckily I had SPs four wheel drive to do it in.The trail starts at a beautiful spring that later becomes a necessary refreshment before leaving. While there is a trail up to base camp, it is south facing and melted out. It starts steep, switch backing quickly for a few hundred feet before evening out and traversing the hillside, keeping a good distance away from the stream. After a long traverse to a fork in the stream(a good refill spot). The trail then turn sharply to head up a mahogany covered hillside. Until another long traverse [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00April 3rd, 2009|Alpine Climbing|

Hut trip with Sung and Dan 3.28.09

This was our last hut trip and we made it a two day starting on Saturday morning, spending one night and out on Sunday. The road to North Lake is melting quickly and I made the error of taking a sled. So we had to manhaul that over a few patches of black top. But Scott and Amundsen had it worse! The hut is  great comfortable place with bunks woodstove and everything for a comfy stay. The skiing was mixed and the lower part of Paiute Canyon was melted out. But on Sunday we went up to above Lower Lamarck Lake and had some fun skiing on south facing slopes [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00April 3rd, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

Stacey Stapleton’s intro to Backcountry Skiing

Stacey found an old phone number for SMC , back when Sp ran SMG, in the depths of the web. She was thinking about snow-shoeing, but since she already knew how to ski we persuaded her that a set of randonnee skis might be a better way to go. Stacey was not entirely convinced, mainly because she had never heard of this type of skiing. But after just a few hours she was convinced and had a great day touring up into Glass Creek Meadow. This area became wilderness just a few days ago as Obama just signed the legislation that has taken years to get through congress. So we [...]

By |2009-04-03T01:03:37-07:00April 3rd, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

20090218-19 Lee Vining Ice Climbing

After climbing the Dana Couloir in late summer conditions, John H. was keen to try out water ice climbing.  After a couple of false starts due to warm temperatures in December, we finally were able to make schedules and the weather meet to climb in Lee Vining Canyon.  We met at John's hotel in the village of Lee Vining at 7:00am on the 18th. At the Power Station the trail looked to be in good shape, but almost immediately after the second creek crossing our progress was halted - blown snow had filled in the trail and wiped out any sign of it.  Tricked by conditions below, I hadn't brought [...]

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00March 5th, 2009|Ice Climbing|

Ice Climbing in June Lake

After living, breathing, and thinking skiing for the last two months, I jumped at Connie's call.  She was wondering if I was interested in coming down for the weekend and take Megan, Lohit, and Kartnik ice climbing in June Lake.  Of course I was!  But just in case, I packed my skis. We spent two days at Horsetail Falls climbing the three different lines on the right side of the flow.  Everyone had prior experience belaying from climbing in the gym or outside, so we were able to focus on the specifics of climbing ice, including efficient tool use and crampon technique.  On Sunday I introduced mixed climbing as well, [...]

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00January 13th, 2009|Ice Climbing|

Rock Skills for Rock Beekers: Buttermilks to Crystal Crag

From 11-14 October I worked with a geology team representing Occidental University, Central Washington University, and Penn State.  They're going to be heading down to Antarctica this winter to collect samples from the Transantarctic Range, and wanted to develop some 3rd-class and fixed rope rock skills.  I had glorious plans of climbing some of the most classic 3rd class routes on the peaks accessible in a day from the highway, when one of our first storms of the fall blanketed the mountains in snow and made the days cold.  So some quick thinking turned up days in the Buttermilks, North Bluffs of June Lake, Crystal Crag, and Iris Slab. This [...]

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00October 17th, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Mt. Whitney in July – a late story

Back in July Braden and I had the pleasure of climbing the Mountaineers Route in just two days with a remarkable bunch of people, the Groff's and Dorsey's.  Monty Groff has a great trip report on his blog, with photos and videos.  I just want to add this link to get people thinking of next time.  Check it out!

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00October 17th, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

NE Face of Middle Palisade, 14,021 feet / 4271 meters

The NE Face of Middle Palisade is possibly the best 3rd class route in the Sierra Nevada.  Ben had an ambitious goal to climb the peak in one day, a little different from SMC's typical itinerary of 2 or 3 days.  We met way-early in the morning, did a quick gear check, and took off. The long hike up the lower South Fork of Big Pine Creek existed only in the radius of the light from our headlamps.  We entered the Willow Lakes basin as the sun came up, and took our first break at Brainerd Lake.  In a short time we were above Finger Lake and at [...]

By |2019-06-06T07:24:48-07:00October 5th, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Journal of a Rock Climb: NE Ridge of Bear Creek Spire

On 3 September, I woke up at 3:00am and started to hike into Dade Lake to meet Marcyn, my client for an ascent of the North East Ridge of Bear Creek Spire.  She wrote a journal piece about her trip.  All photos are courtesy of Marcyn. And a quick note about maps.  Sierra Mountain Center provides maps of many of our routes through our website.  These maps are for informational purposes only. No one should rely on them for navigational tools.  The routes shown are optimal and do not reflect seasonal variations.  Sierra Mountain Center strongly recommends purchasing actual maps or mapping software, and having strong navigational skills when traveling [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00September 18th, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Banner Peak, Minaret Range, Mammoth Lakes, CA

On 12-14 July I climbed Banner Peak with Matt and John Wylie.  Here's Matt's report of the trip with my photos.  Cheers!  Chris This summer me and my dad decided to climb up Mt Ritter and Banner Peak. Several summers ago we climbed Mt Langley with one of the guides from SMC, Chris Simmons and had a great trip. We met our guide in Bishop. He was the same person we went up Mt. Langley with, so we were happy. We hiked in the 6 miles to Ediza Lake on Day 1. Most of the trip was uphill and steep, so we were tired. But our spirit’s were [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00July 31st, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Chris’ Update for June

The lack of entries in the blog should be an indicator for the reader about how busy Sierra Mountain Center has been this past month. All of us have been moving from one trip to the next with barely enough time to wash clothes, buy food, and give our families a kiss. I’m not complaining – its summer time after all! My adventures started on 21 May, when Paul and I attempted the North Ridge of Lone Pine Peak. This III 5.4 climb is a fantastic early summer route, when lingering snow on the ridge provides us with water and allows us to bivouac 2/3rd of the way up on [...]

By |2019-02-06T11:17:07-08:00June 30th, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Sierra High Route (Kearsarge Extension), 5-11 May 2008

The High Sierra Route is one of the classic ski tours of North America. Crossing at the widest and highest part of the range, this route runs through some of the wildest country in California. Then to top it off, Sierra Mountain Center charters a plane from Fresno or Visalia back to Independence, flying over the very mountains and passes teams spend seven days laboriously crossing. To start the trip off right, I volunteered to do something I’ve always wanted – to ski the High Route, solo, at a quick pace. You can read about my two and a half-day tour on my personal blog, Climb. Ski. Run. Sleep. Repeat. [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:42-08:00May 20th, 2008|Backcountry Skiing|

Beneath the Palisades, 16-20 April 2008

David, Danny, and Mike joined SP to ski the “Beneath the Palisades” Tour, which follows the Palisade Range along its western slopes from South Lake to Taboose Pass. Eric and I joined too in order to experience a ski tour that we hadn’t had time for yet, and now we’re both looking forward to doing again next year! The whole group met at Sierra Mountain Center’s international operations office in the heart of downtown Bishop to have breakfast at Jack’s and a gear check. Then our Operation Director Connie and her husband Mo helped us shuttle up to the end of the South Lake open road, which was still being [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00May 20th, 2008|Backcountry Skiing|

Yosemite High Tour, 11-15 April 2008

Bob, Charlie, Curt, Jon, and Phil joined SP and I for one of the classic tours of the Eastern Sierra, the Yosemite High Tour from Mammoth Mountain to Tioga Pass. After a breakfast meeting in Mammoth Lakes, we drove up to the ski area to get started on Friday, 11 April. After a long descent to Agnew Meadows, we said goodbye to the snow-covered Minaret Summit Road and continued down to our first camp near Olaine Lake. We discovered fresh bear tracks moving ahead of us, and hung our food that night. The next morning we had to pioneer a new variation along the west side of the valley. Strong [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00May 20th, 2008|Backcountry Skiing|

Winter Mountaineering – the North East Ridge of Mt. Williamson, March 12-16 2008

Mt. Williamson, standing at 14,373 feet, towers over the Owen Valley, and any climb on it is a serious undertaking of several days. So when you add the cold temperatures, snow, and unsteady weather of the winter such a climb becomes an expedition. And the North East Ridge, running 7 miles long and gaining 8000 feet of elevation from start to summit, is not taken lightly. I met David and Michael in Independence on 12 March, and we left town as soon as we had split up the food, fuel, and gear we would need for a five-day climb. Our plan was to spend three days climbing up the North [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00March 31st, 2008|Alpine Climbing|

Cardinal Pinnacle in Winter

On December 21 Sp and Jeremy Barronton climbed the regular route on Cardinal. Jermey was visiting from Georgia and had a day to spare to climb. We had talked about option earlier buit in winter the conditions on the day determine everything. The day before it snowed with strong winds,but the 21st was clear but cold with temps in the teens. We decided to go anyway and had a great climb with calm condiitons and even a little sun on top. Great climbing even though the approach was a little unpleasant with new snow on top of big talus. All in all this is perfect training climb for bigger and [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00December 28th, 2007|Rock Climbing|

Mountain Camp September 1-5

This was a custom camp that Malcolm Bordelon put together for a group of friends. Unfortunately Malcolm got sick right before the trip and was unable to climb to the summit of Mt Dade. We followed the usual Mountain Camp itinerary, climbing at Benton Crags the first day and then hiking to camp at Mills Lake and did snow skills later that day. Unfortunately snow is in pretty short supply this year and it was more ice skills, but it gave everyone the skills needed for next day's ascent of Mt Abbott. With Chris Simmons and SP guiding the climb of Abbott went just fine. Melting snowpack has exposed more [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00September 21st, 2007|Alpine Climbing|

Black Kaweah with Linda Emerson 8/13-17/07

In a range of mainly granite peaks Linda seems to be collecting the loose ones. Last year we did Devils Crag and other peaks of the Black Divide. This year it was Black Kaweah. Black has a reputation as hard to get to and hard to climb. Not because of any 5th class rating, but because of it’s looseness and difficult route finding. On the other hand it has a summit register going back to 1924. That alone is enough to make anyone want to climb it. We drove to Wolvertson and meet our packer ‘Rowdy” (who was actually pretty quiet) from Horse Corral packers on the 13th of August. [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00September 21st, 2007|Alpine Climbing|

Contact Info

200 South Main St, Bishop CA 93514

Phone: 760-873-8526