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Backcountry Skiing -Southern California
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I'll be up in Mammoth this weekend and I'm looking for a partner to go touring. Avy1, WFA, love the uphill as much as the down. |
Ethan Ayerwrote: i can friday if you're up there then? |
 Did Sugarloaf up in Big Bear yesterday. Surprisingly good snow higher up with firmer turns in the tree sections and soft spring snow on the open faces, but very little coverage down low. Had to walk for about 1.5 miles from the car before I started skinning. Looking to get out this Sunday if anyone is interested. Up for anywhere local but have to be done by 1pm so no all day missions. |
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Anyone been out to Baldy, Waterman, or Kratka recently? Still any good snow left? |
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Just hit Kratka for the first time today. The fire road climb didn’t even have enough coverage to skin on it and by like 11am everything turned to soup. |
    Road my bike from Islip to Dawson Saddle with skis and boots. Lots of snow still on the road, pushed my bike at least 2 miles through wet heavy snow. Hiked to the top of Throop and skied the north facing chute. Snow was wet heavy cement top to bottom, need some cold nights. The good news is that there is still a lot of snow. |
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Is there some fun low angle stuff over by San G / Jepson? Sounds like that’s where the snow holds the best and I just wanta do some fun simple laps tomorrow. Any other suggestions? |
Tyler Frascawrote: Not really anything low angle - snow isn’t holding well or so I’ve heard… we are supposed to get a storm Monday, I’ll let you guys know if it comes to fruition. |
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Did the storm come to fruition? Anyone have any suggestions for someone relatively new to splitboarding in the area? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have all of the gear, have taken avy 1 but have not been out in southern california. Thanks! |
Tyler Frascawrote: Charlton was good (and higher)- anything below that not so much, melted super quickly. Robertson did sugarloaf and it was decent but just lower and run isn’t super long compared to san g stuff |
 I did the north chute on Jepson yesterday. Descent snow in the chute variable 4-8 inches on top of of hard crust/ice. Who know how much snow actually fell since the wind affected it in unprotected areas and the top out is wind hammered. Crampons needed to get up. Lots of good looking lines back there still in the chutes but don’t know how long that will last. Found good snow on the shoulder of Charelton in the trees on the ride back from Jepson to Xmas tree hill in protected areas. Still good coverage but in exposed areas to wind and sun it was crusty. Best bet is to get corn now. |
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I did indeed do Sugarloaf yesterday. I typically start from the trailhead off 38 and take the summertime trail up. There is a ridge you can use to access the mountain to looker's right but I've found the snow coverage inconsistent. My typical route is to take the summertime trail up until the old service road to the mine branches off to the right (visible on Caltopo as "4WD"); this takes you on a gentle grade to access the main face. Consistent snow coverage right now starts at 1.80 miles from the car. A skin up the above road and a gentle hill takes you to the bottom of the face pictured in my post above from this week. In better snow conditions this face is much more covered but yesterday had spotty coverage at best with a few lurking sharks. Higher up above this is a secondary ridge that had better coverage of good corn snow. The main runs worth doing right now are the gullies (not really steep enough to call them couloirs) off the main face; there are 3 total with the longest being just under 0.75 miles according to my GPS. These all still have decent snow coverage (past waist deep in a few spots) that showed good stability throughout the day yesterday. Here is a link to the Strava with GPS for any interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/6908901517 and note that I did only 1.75 of the gullies (skipped the furthest right and stopped part of the way on the middle one) due to time constraints.  |
 I‘ve been getting up to the Jepson chutes and bowls the last two weekends but the approach is pretty burned out where its more trouble than its worth. I’m hoping to finish out my CA season with some touring in the Eastern Sierras this weekend (16th-17th) or the following one (23rd and 24th) driving from Los Angeles. Does anyone else have similar objectives and want to partner up? |
Ethan Ayerwrote: I am up here with my bf and a few other local people that also follow this thread thru Monday. I’ll dm you my #! |
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Thanks Kim, I have some people in Mammoth to reach out to for touring, but I prefer driving up with someone from socal cause then they are fully committed. |
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Howdy everyone! I'm a semi-recent transplant to Venice (moving from CO) and would love to link up with any other Socal/bishop/mammoth folks to do some ski touring in the Sierras. Got all the gear and trainings. Now just need some new ski partners! |
Gavin Dawsonwrote: pm'd |
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Going to be at the climbing festival next weekend(11/11-11/12) in Bishop and plan to drive up to Mammoth Lakes on Sunday morning to ski. I'm considering bc skiing if the conditions are right. Otherwise, I'll be going to the ski resort. Would be nice to find some partners and meet up if anyone is going to be in that area next weekend. I'm also usually available on weekends and every other Friday for more local (Southern CA) ski objectives. |
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I'm very new to splitboarding, I got some gear and a lotta spirit but I have absolutely zero experience. I would like to do a couple low risk backcountry runs before taking the AIARE 1 course to familiarize myself with the gear, would San Jacinto make for a good beginner peak? From what I've seen as long as I avoid the east face of San J and somewhat follow the tramway trail back down the slope is mellow. I've hiked it from the tram before during the summer and the hike is well within my ability. |
