current snow conditions onion valley-bishop

[John Dittli]

Onion Valley Road still closed.

By "closed" do you mean the sawhorse with the road cosed sign or have they installed something new in the last month? Inquiring minds????

[KathyW]

I was in the Eastern Sierra the last two weekends. March 16-17 took Glacier Lodge Road to its end, no snow at all on the asphalt. The area around Big Pine Creek was mostly bare, with occasional patches here and there. Snow level ~8500' on south facing slopes and ~7500' on north facing slopes. Climbing the north side of Kid Mountain we observed the trail up N. Fork Big Pine Creek to be mostly clear until disappearing further up canyon. Mt. Alice mostly bare, except for some deep gullies and the top. Buck Mountain behind it solidly covered. Further on, Palisade Glacier looks like it has a healthy cover.

Onion Valley Road still closed. The helpful folks at the Inyo Co. Road Dept (760-872-2707) told me the section of Rock Creek Rd under their authority is open - though they couldn't say if the same was true of the Mono Co. section. I'm assuming it is.

Unrelated to the inquiry of this post, but thinking it'd be useful to throw out there: switchbacks on Horseshoe Meadows Rd are completely clear of snow as far as it can be observed from the east.

Isn't the road to Horseshoe Meadows gated at Carroll Creek this time of year?

[John Dittli]

[/quote]Isn't the road to Horseshoe Meadows gated at Carroll Creek this time of year?[/quote]

Yes, or at least, usually.

[BrianF]

John, Please post any info you find going over Kearsarge when you get back. I am really curious to find out about conditions there for a possible trip late april to go up Mt Gould. Thanks

[Bluewater]

I was out last week thurs - mon from the North Lake TH. The road was gated just past Aspendell. Only intermittent snow on the road past the hiker parking jct to North Lake. After that snowshoes were a must from 9,000 ft +. Piute Pass is easily passable although there is a cornice at the top. The south facing slope up to Lamarck Col is only partially covered. The north side of the ridge above upper Lamarck Lake was difficult to navigate due to heavy snow at the top. I hope this helps give some info of the area conditions in general. Any info re Bishop Pass conditions would be welcome, especially after the snow this week.

[orbitor]

Onion Valley Road still closed.

By "closed" do you mean the sawhorse with the road cosed sign or have they installed something new in the last month? Inquiring minds????

I recommend calling the Roads Dept 760-872-2707, they will tell you exactly where the roads are closed. By the way, I wasn't kidding when I said they are helpful - the girl I spoke with the first time didn't have the most recent information, but she tracked down the foreman who plowed/checked closures and she actually called me back with updates for every single one of the roads I inquired about.

[jimmeans]

I just got home from Bishop, last night I was part of a group that camped at Hurd Lake. We parked on the road to South Lake at about 9200 ft about 0.2 miles down hill from Parcher's where there has a good area off of the side of the road. The Grand Cherokee we were in started having problems there, but we did see a vehicle at Parcher's.

P1010982LR.jpg

P1010987LR.JPG

There are a few sections of slick icy road on the steeper uphill sections of the road.

P1010990LR.jpg

P1010996LR.JPG

We finally put our snow shoes on at about 10000 ft as we climbed from the trailhead.

P1020021LR.JPG

[KathyW]

Thanks for the updates - I'm hoping to head up Taboose Pass Trail on April 12th if the weather looks good - I'm one of those folks who is scared to head into a storm, but I probably miss a lot of great opportunities because of it. Anyway, I don't think I'll need to worry about snow on the road to Taboose Pass Trail.

[DAVELA]

thx jim...looks like a lot more snow than i was expecting