Sierra climbs with ski approaches

Has anyone here skied into Charlotte Dome in winter? Thoughts on crampons/axes for the descent? Or have ideas for other sunny/quick to dry climbs that would also make fun ski tours - Clyde Minaret? 

? Charlotte Dome approaching from West side or East side?
. . . (I think the East side road is gated closed pretty low in winter, and often blocked by rockfall even if ungated and snow-free).

? Minarets ? the access road is closed way east and below from the pass, can't get anywhere close to the Reds Meadow parking (except with a snowmobile?)

? "fun ski tours" ? You mean camping out on the snow, or single-day?
. . . (I'm thinking that camping implies hauling the full weight of rope and rack, skis, winter camping gear . . .
. . . . . Does not fit my conception of "fun ski tours", but sounds like your "fun type number" is different from mine).

Ski approaches this year might be more of a hassle, because long-term forecast (and reality so far) are low-snow -- so might need to take skis (and heavy pack) on and off multiple times to get past bare patches.

Is it important to you that that the rock be snow-free?

Sometimes ridge routes are nice because the crest of the ridge might not catch as much snow, and the wind might blow away much that initially falls there. But usually there's some sections that call for crampons.

some ideas:

* Bear Creek Spire : because the road is kept open fairly high to East Fork (SnoPark permit required), tho it's a long (long) gentle slog S toward BCS. Once saw a report that the low 5th class route up NE ridge was had little snow in Feb. For something harder maybe the East ridge? Be surprised if did not need crampons for the 4th class normal descent. True winter-climbing animals could do BCS car-to-car in a long day with headlamps for the start+finish slog? But if camp for multiple days there's lots of interesting skiing options (e.g. Hourglass couloir to summit of Mt Dade).

* other Rock Creek routes closer to the East Fork parking: (a) traverse of the NNW + NE ridges of Little Lakes Peak and SW ridge of Mt Morgan South? -- also a report that the W face of L L Pk has been skied, and perhaps something on W face of Mt Morgan could be skied. (b) Mt Starr by one of the S rock ridges, then S->N summit ridge traverse, carry skis over and descend one of the E-facing couloirs which are N of the summit. (c) section of Ruby - Mills ridge traverse? Petit Griffon? - Not a short approach. 

* Crystal Crag : beause road up toward the Mammoth Lakes is kept open to pretty high altitude -- tho it's still a long slog to reach the peak. S ridge and summit traverse are rather fun granite. Additional fun scrambling on W face. Sport routes on the lower E face. Note that the "North arete" route is mis-named and does not have such fun rock, I'll guess mostly a snow-ice gully in winter. Crystal Crag could be done in a day by a strong party. Camping out multiple days yields lots of fun ski descents off the Mammoth Crest (which I usually would not bother with because of the long-slog approach).

* Palisades: The road is normally kept open to near the summer trailhead, and both S + N forks have good ski approaches (could make a loop ski tour linking both), and both have lots of good skiing if camp multiple days. Would not want to guess which rock routes are less snow-covered. People have done winter/spring traverses of sections of the Palisades Crest . . . (? Guess a winter ascent of Dark Star would get our MP audience's attention ?)

* Mt Whitney East Face : because can often drive to within a mile of Whitney Portal summer trailhead, and with enough snow can just ski up along (or on top of) North Fork Lone Pine Creek without the scrambling of the Escherbacher ledges or the giant switchback distance at the bottom. Very very spectacalar, like a visit to Chamonix. If stay for multiple days, some of the ridges on Mt Carillon are fun granite, and connect to the (over-hyped) E ridge of Mt Russell. Or try rock routes on the Impala or Steinbok peaklets. Or could make ski descents of SE side of Russell-Carillon Col or the Mountaineers gully (? or even the NNW face from the summit of Mt Whitney ?). Last year one party even carried skis+snowboards up the East Face rock route - (perhaps that fits your "fun type number"?)

* Mt Muir ? see the route descriptions under Ski Mountaineering for Mt Whitney area for ideas about different approach on skis. So far haven't heard anyone say they enjoyed the climbing on the E face (but it's so difficult to get a permit in summer that few climbers bother trying it). At least it's something different to do which fits with other fun skiing in a spectacular area with permits easily-obtained (or unnecessary?) in winter or early spring. Perhaps carry skis over and then descend E face of Trail Crest.

Ken

Annie Hines wrote:

Has anyone here skied into Charlotte Dome in winter? Thoughts on crampons/axes for the descent? Or have ideas for other sunny/quick to dry climbs that would also make fun ski tours - Clyde Minaret? 

If you are in Davis do the West side approach. In a low snow year like this one you can walk right to the base of Charlotte Dome. Going over Kearsage pass etc needs FULL kit for back country touring...not worth it unless the ski thing is as much fun as the climb. 

That said, the ski thing is super fun and the sky is the limit as to what shenanigans you can get up to in the back country, if you can hump the loads.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/107600659/petit-griffon

petit griffon is a good one.  Windy and cold in the notch but you can rap so don't need to take "walk off" boots.

I'd think you'd need a lot of snow to make charlotte a sane option because of the south facing manzanita slope approach from the east.

Other possibilities - third pillar, north peak, mt. conness, lots in Tuolumne meadows if you catch it in a big snow year after the road opens.

Matterhorn Peak, north arête. Even if ya skip the climb the skiing is superb. I just skied down from Horse Creek Pass since I'm a noob but even that was phenomenal!

Awesome beta, thanks all for the input and ideas! I was thinking multi day (more type 2 hauling camping gear but nice to spend the time out there) but some great day trip options too. How much snow-free rock matters depends on the climbing... I always like ridge climbs! 

If you like ridges, the southern Eastside Sierra is full of fun low 5th class aretes - (but somehow I don't know any good 3rd class ridges). I prefer those low 5th to the higher grade ones, because then I don't have to carry the weight of a rope. Several in my list above were in that category.

One ridge that "stands out" is the Happy Cowboy edge on Mt Whitney, which has a great ski approach (see the Trail Crest tour under MP Ski Mountaineering Mt Whitney).

Possibly a special ridge for winter might be the NNW ridge of Mt Morrison -- because the rock especially in its lower section is pretty bad -- so perhaps better to do it when frozen and mostly snow-covered?
Why even mention such a thing?
Because Mt Mo is the "Eiger" of the Eastside Sierra, with great north wall and overall intimidating appearance -- and it's right by the main highway. So once you see it, you have to think about what can be done on it. Also like the Eiger of Switzerland, the rock is mostly junk (so waiting until some of it is covered with snow and/or more-stabilized frozen seems worthwhile).

Mt Morrison also some nice skiing (? like last year, not this year?), including 40 degree slope off the E side of the summit ridge (still on my list to do) which obviously links down to the N-facing gully between Little Mo + Mt Mo (which I skied last May with Gi visiting from Germany). Perhaps (?) could even traverse the entire summit ridge N->S and ski the SE shoulder face (sustained 35 degrees, which we skied last May), but the rock-connect on S end of summit ridge is not trivial (my partner checked part of it and thought it would go, but after skinning up long sustained 35 degrees, I was glad to just enjoy some ski turns).

Another scrambly ridge not far from the highway which might better be saved for winter is Nevahbe ridge on Mt Morgan North, which perhaps could connect with a ski descent of Esha canyon (but check the creek crossing at the bottom first), or perhaps find better corn snow on SE chutes down to the Hilton bench (see from highway).

Ken

some smaller objectives, more on the cragging end, could be ruby wall, patricia bowl and crystal crag (mentioned above)