Trip Report: Yosemite Ski Tour, Jan. 19-27-2022

[wsp_scott]

That looks like an awesome trip with great winter weather. Thanks for sharing the inspiration.

[Silky Smooth]

Traditions are important, especially in the winter. I look forward to your trip every year. Thanks for you sharing with us. Over coffee in the morning, I read your trip to Blackout & Banjo and show them the photos. We get excited at familiar sites and appreciate your love of nature. Its soo evident in the way you write and the photos you take Come on, not everyone gets excited about wind sculpted snow waves and sastrugi! We gotta link up one of these days. Also I second Rob P. sentiments embrace the AT set up, locking in must feel a thousands time better than telemarking with a pack on. I have a similar set up on my 2 skis and I really enjoy it, even with winter weight. Only issue, with one of my dynafit set ups, the plastic ones i think, when breaking trail for a while, you get some build up between the bindings and the ski that you have to knock out.

thanks again for your sharing with the rest of us, stay safe!

[Gogd]

Envy - deep as the snow!

It is impossible to convey to 3-season campers the joy and wonder of ski trekking. I still use the Voile basic 75MM free heal binding (no cable), albeit I upgraded to plastic boots, and the current tele ski geometry. This set up gives me enough control to do whatever I want on skis, at my age, in a remote location, while shouldering a pack or dragging a pulk.

I like your cowboy camping on snow. My friends think it is crazy I do likewise. I also tarp camp in the snow, but bring a shovel and snow saw, preferring to shelter in the snow, should the weather turn. I have done a score of solo Tuolumne Meadow ski treks in the early season, preferring its alpine setting and abundance of relatively low risk snow terrain. Cannot do so this year - Covid closed our business, leaving me "economically insecure" for the time being. Priorities suck!

So several questions:

1. You schlep up a pulk to Tuolumne, but carry your heavy pack once on top. What is the thought behind that?
2. The images do not indicate using the pulk, while touring around Tuolumne. Any reason?
3. You described the Snow Creek Cabin as "closed". So do you mean the park isn't issuing permits, or you just happened to find it locked upon your arrival?

Ed

[Harlen]

Hello again Gogd, you wrote:

Envy - deep as the snow!

You know that one of the Rings of Hell is filled with the envious-- careful.
As for the answers:
1. I am still perfecting my homemade pulks, and this one I was using is unstable on slopes, especially icy slopes. I used it from the top of the Snow Cr. Trail to the Meadows, and again on the return. When I lightened my pack for the Rafferty Cr. trip, I chose to just carry the backpack in case I decided to cross some of the passes. Also, it is much easier to ski the downhills without the pulk.

2. The much-abused pulk was indeed behind me from Tuolumne Meadows on down, till it disintegrated going down icy Snow Cr. slopes. You can see it in the foreground of the S.C.Cabin photo.

3. Closed along with the Ostrander, Glacier Point, and T.Meadows due to a general National Park Covid safety policy.

[Gogd]

You know that one of the Rings of Hell is filled with the envious-- careful.

Well I was actually hoping for mercy, and that I get left at the Ring where Dante observed everyone standing around up to their shins in excrement, smoking cigarettes. So I negotiated a deal with the devil to secure this arrangement, as I am sure a much worse fate would otherwise await me for the unsavory life I have lead as a mortal. The very next day, however, a spirit of unknown origin informed me the description Dante provided of the activities at that level in Hell, was the condemned souls on a coffee break, and that the actual punishment at that ring level was doing head stands for hours between the breaks.
------------
I assume other huts in the Sierra were also impacted by the Covid closure policy. Bummer.

I did notice your pulk in the SC cabin image, but the ordinal sequence of that image and its caption lead me to assume that pic was shot on the way in to TM.

No doubt pulks in the Sierra can be a challenge. When I ski TM I usually come up Hwy120 from Lee Vining, a route where a pulk is ideal, assuming there is skiable snow, and that the road grade is not completely buried under snow banks. I'll usually set a series of base camps, and run day trips from these bases over the more demanding local terrain, leaving my kit back at the base camp. There are a couple of other venues on the Eastside where pulks are compatible, but most pulk friendly trips are on the Westside. I'd like to use a pulk on a long trip - JMT sections, HSR, The Haute Route, or the sections of the Sierra Crest Traverse, but the climbs into upper valleys and over steep passes really limit pulk use to a two day reach at best in most places.

I digress, but I miss the days when the Tioga Pass Lodge provided a great base, or pit stop, going in or out of the park. It was a place where you could run into some of the legends who pioneered wilderness ski technique and equipment, making the Sierra a mecca for modern day wilderness skiing and trekking. That was the golden age of ski touring. Alas the old guard is fading from the sport, Father Time leaves all behind. Nowadays folks are more interested in quick assaults on a peak or two, versus camping and traveling through a region as snow borne tourists. I am gratified to have witnessed that era and followed in their footsteps - err I mean ski tracks.

Ed

[jimmyjamhikes]

Wow! This extravagant tale makes me want to learn to ski! I’m so happy for you and thanks for sharing.