I've long been wanting to ski in and out of Evolution Valley, which I had heard was really lovely in winter. My first choice was to try the Echo Col-- Piute Pass route, but because of my tree-loving Vermont friend, I decided we'd ski in over Bishop Pass, and down, down into the deep forest of LeConte Canyon on the way. We left on Saturday April 13th, and made it from Parcher's Camp to upper Bishop Lakes- a gain of 2,000 feet. Our plan was to cross passes in the early mornings to get out in front of wet snow avie risk. We had climbing skins, crampons, 1 axe and 1 Whippet, and 100' of 7mm rope and gear enough to hopefully handle any sketchy bits. Thanks to Paul, I now had a model of his set-up- 180cm Atomic Rainier hybrid touring skis, with lightweight 3-pin touring bindings. Drew used 169cm Fischer touring skis, with a built in climbing skin clamp deal in front. Very light, but the Fischer skins have a lesser grip than the Black Diamond "kicker-skins," and Drew's climbing suffered a bit for it. My "Paul set-up" has custom cut, edge to edge full-skins. We were up and over Bishop Pass early, and the ski down through Dusy Basin has to be one of the best descents in the range! We enjoyed the first two-mile easy downhill run, and then pulled up, and booted our way down two sets of steep bits, for fear of falling and to better wend our careful way through wet-snow avie country. Deep, soft snow in the bottom of Leconte (which was just 8,800' where we hit it) made for rough travel, and we only made Big Pete Meadow the second day.
The slog up to Muir Pass from there is a climb of 2,755', and due to a very late start- enjoying a rare fire-camp, it took all day. That third day the weather turned from perfect to cloudy, then cloudy and windy, and by the time we reached the climb up to Helen Lake we were being blasted by wind-driven snow. Visibility was off and on, we set a compass bearing now and again in case of white-out, but never really needed it. Being exposed like that made us pause to think, and we decided that if it got much worse, we would simply dig out a 3 x 7 foot grave site- no, "sleeping trench," over which we would tie down our skis, and then partially bury the tarp over the trench for cover. This would be a challenge in that level of wind, when packs and skis needed to be anchored. Anyhow, none of this drama proved necessary, though my friend thought we should do it, I knew that Muir Hut had to be really close.
We found the Muir Hut in a great snow hole. It was cold and empty, but it got us out of the wind- it was a palace to us! This little storm stayed awhile, and then the weather turned perfect for our final couple of days. The trip was 6 days and 5 nights, and this is a sketch of our route: South Lake to Bishop Pass; LeConte Canyon to Muir Pass; Evo. Valley to Darwin Bench; over Alpine Col, down to Piute Pass, and on down past North Lake to the town of Aspendell. It was just over 40 miles, and the change from Echo Col to Bishop Pass added just 5 or 6 miles and 1000.' A Bishop friend helped us with the car shuttle, dropping us at Parcher's Camp a mile below South Lake to start out. The rest is better told with the photos.
South Fork Bishop Creek. We were alone up here for the first 5 days, seeing only 1 coyote and 1 marmot. On the last day we ran into 2 people and 1 coyote.
Bishop Pass is the low point on the skyline.
The best route for us was to reach the pass from the left- Northeast.
Easy skiing from the top of Bishop Pass, with the Black Divide in the distance.
The Palisades from the west: Agassiz- Winchell- Thunderbolt- and North Palisade, with Isosceles Peak at the far right.
Above is a touring paradise, but here you need some more skill- we were soon booting down.
Avie risk increased on the lower slopes. We were careful to avoid open, convex slopes like the one seen beyond the trees here, and especially slopes with snow perched on slabs. We noted quite a few recent D1 and D2 avalanches.
Here's one such, generated on the low angle, but slabby rock formation above.
We avoided most of this risk by moving down through the trees.
I was stunned by the mountain walls that hang over Leconte Canyon-- Breathtaking!!
We did find some nice forest, with juniper, hemlock, red fir, and a few of these western white pine. We also heard a lot of grouse booming in the canyon.
Below is a view south down LeConte Canyon in fine weather.
Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.
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