TR: Ski Tour from Virginia Lakes to Return Creek, and Return.
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 1:59 am
Gazelle and I skied in and out of the Eastern Sierra via Virginia Lakes. Skied in on Friday-1/3, and back out Sunday- 1/5. A beautiful and popular area, but we didn't see another soul till the last mile on the day out, when we met two nice skiers with their dogs. That's half the beauty of extending our backpacking season into the winter-- you have it all to yourselves! It was very nice of Kristine/Gazelle to agree to this mini HST meetup, and also kind of her to wait for me at the base of the steep slopes that she skis down happily, while I just try to survive upright. The weather was better than we expected, though the snow surface was a challenging mix of wind-board and sastrugi on the sunny and windswept sides, and soft crust above a dense old powdery mix in some of the gullies and northern slopes. We suffered a bit of cold and windy weather in the nights and mornings, but most of the howling nighttime winds were coursing ~500 feet above us. This changed our prospective itinerary of rambling up the series of peaks that rise above Summit Lake, to a more sedate ski tour across the Summit Lake Pass, and up the brilliant Return Creek Valley. This was more of me and Bearzy's sort of trip than Kristine's usual mountaineering MO, but I hope we all enjoyed the trip. I tried to sell Gazelle on my passion for gazing up at mountains, instead of off the tops of them, but I think she missed the summits. We both felt that the greatest challenge was the cold, fireless camping. We retreated to our respective tents around 5 PM, which was about dark, and then spent 14 long hours before dawn! I had books and Bearzy under my quilt-bag to occupy the time, and Kristine had her maps, books, and an amazing, hanging stove setup, for in-the-tent cooking-- what is it called Kristine?
Our original plan to climb peaks above Virginia Lakes Basin would have kept us all legal on Forest Service land, but the tour to Return Creek / Virginia Canyon did take us briefly into the dog-forbidden YNP land (in and back out, ~3miles each way). I knew there would be no disturbance to other people, and no direct disturbance to wildlife, so I reluctantly went briefly into the Park with Bearzy. I have thus opened myself to some critique (sorry Russ) and abuse, and I'll just have to take it. I do try to balance my crimes with occasional good works.
Here's a look at the route to the real pass-- the crossing of the 11,000' ridge between V. Lakes and Summit Lake, which separates the waters of Virginia Creek and Green Cr. This crossing involves the only route challenges, as the true east-west divide at Summit Lake Pass is level to the east, and gentle forest on the west side. The circle on the right shows where a very shallow wind-slab broke away. Our route in red avoided avalanche slopes, which were not currently active anyway; the harder part is the descent to the west.
Final climb to the ridge, with the crags of Peak 11,524 in the near distance.
View west from the top of the ridge, with the 12,000' peaks-- Virginia Peak near, and Whorl Mountain one valley over.
Bearzy on the ridgetop, with Virginia Lakes, and the north end of Mono Basin beyond.
Kristine made a ski descent from here on the ridgetop, while me and Bearzy used the rocky slope and pieces of the summer trail, seen in the photo below. In this photo, K. is skiing back up the ridge, using her ski crampons and full skins, while I have chosen to boot up the trail. My half-skins were a mistake this time with the icy conditions.
Traveling northwest from the ridge. Along with the descent of the ridge, the red lines show the only other significant steep slopes, which only one of us looked forward to. Down the 2nd slope, Gazelle choose to ski the steeper, icier face below the blue line, while I wallowed down the gully-- red line. Our camp is shown in the green circle, 1/4 mi. east of frozen Summit Lake.
Peak 11,568.
Sunset on Dunderberg and Peak 11,568 from our campsite.
Summit Lake Pass, with a snow depth of only 30." West are trails to Matterhorn Canyon-- about 13 mi. away; and to Tuolumne Meadows-- 19.7 mi. (I skied and snowshoed that route to the ski hut a few years ago.)
Bearzy on the pass, with Stanton Peak, Stanton Pass, and Virginia Peak in the distance.
The steepest slope between the ridge and Summit Lake. No avie risk on this day, but we might have taken an unpleasant, icy slide.
Our original plan to climb peaks above Virginia Lakes Basin would have kept us all legal on Forest Service land, but the tour to Return Creek / Virginia Canyon did take us briefly into the dog-forbidden YNP land (in and back out, ~3miles each way). I knew there would be no disturbance to other people, and no direct disturbance to wildlife, so I reluctantly went briefly into the Park with Bearzy. I have thus opened myself to some critique (sorry Russ) and abuse, and I'll just have to take it. I do try to balance my crimes with occasional good works.
Here's a look at the route to the real pass-- the crossing of the 11,000' ridge between V. Lakes and Summit Lake, which separates the waters of Virginia Creek and Green Cr. This crossing involves the only route challenges, as the true east-west divide at Summit Lake Pass is level to the east, and gentle forest on the west side. The circle on the right shows where a very shallow wind-slab broke away. Our route in red avoided avalanche slopes, which were not currently active anyway; the harder part is the descent to the west.
Final climb to the ridge, with the crags of Peak 11,524 in the near distance.
View west from the top of the ridge, with the 12,000' peaks-- Virginia Peak near, and Whorl Mountain one valley over.
Bearzy on the ridgetop, with Virginia Lakes, and the north end of Mono Basin beyond.
Kristine made a ski descent from here on the ridgetop, while me and Bearzy used the rocky slope and pieces of the summer trail, seen in the photo below. In this photo, K. is skiing back up the ridge, using her ski crampons and full skins, while I have chosen to boot up the trail. My half-skins were a mistake this time with the icy conditions.
Traveling northwest from the ridge. Along with the descent of the ridge, the red lines show the only other significant steep slopes, which only one of us looked forward to. Down the 2nd slope, Gazelle choose to ski the steeper, icier face below the blue line, while I wallowed down the gully-- red line. Our camp is shown in the green circle, 1/4 mi. east of frozen Summit Lake.
Peak 11,568.
Sunset on Dunderberg and Peak 11,568 from our campsite.
Summit Lake Pass, with a snow depth of only 30." West are trails to Matterhorn Canyon-- about 13 mi. away; and to Tuolumne Meadows-- 19.7 mi. (I skied and snowshoed that route to the ski hut a few years ago.)
Bearzy on the pass, with Stanton Peak, Stanton Pass, and Virginia Peak in the distance.
The steepest slope between the ridge and Summit Lake. No avie risk on this day, but we might have taken an unpleasant, icy slide.
