High Sierra Topix

BlueWater and I took a short trip up out of South lake to Bishop pass Thurs/Friday in excellent spring time conditions. While the skies where crisp & cool, a gale force wind storm hit that forced us to retreat before clearing the pass into Dusy basin. Our original plan was to try and make it to Palisades basin over Thunderbolt pass - if possible - and then return. However, it still turned out to be a fun trip and provided an excellent chance to check out epic conditions after this record year.

The winter route bypasses the regular trail and follows along the edge of (frozen solid) South lake. That is, rather than climbing from the TH, you actually descend down to the lake bed since the regular route is buried in snow along the steep hillside. You have a choice of three drainages to ascend up to the pass; we chose to follow the Long lake drainage up, and then return via the Mule lake drainage. Here's a shot from the south end of South lake:



The route up the Long lake drainage would normally be a narrow, rough gully, but since it was covered in 5-6' of snow, it was a pretty straightforward climb up. I was using a spare pair of Andy's snowshoes with built in crampons (MSR Lightning ascent) and they worked really well going straight up the 30-45 degree stream bed. After a few miles, we topped at Long lake and took a direct route across the lake. You can see Bishop pass just to the left of BW under the tiny cloud:



Our original plan was to camp at Bishop lake, but because the forecast was calling for 50+ mph winds, we needed to stay a bit lower within some stunted trees. So, we called the first day short by pulling in at the north end of Saddlerock which seemed to offer the best protection. Here's a shot from the bluff above Saddlerock looking back down at Long lake:

Overnight temperatures where supposed to be in the high 20s, but with expected gusts up to 50+ mph, the combined wind chill effect was going to be around 10F. We both had the appropriate winter gear and alpine equipment, but the wind was going to be problematic. Here's Andy bundled up before we called it a night. This shot provides an excellent view of Bishop pass, which is completely unmarred by any boot or ski tracks:



We had spent a bit of time carving, flattening and preparing our respective tent spots around 20' fee apart. Since we were at 11,150, we found some shelter among the last stunted 4-5' trees at tree line. The wind was already building that afternoon, so I made sure to bury all my snow stakes well under the snow and tamp down & compress more snow over the top to make sure they wouldn't pull out in the ensuing wind storm. It's a good thing we both did a good job, because that night the wind took on a personality of its own. You could hear/sense it building, then a gust would hit like a train. I had covered the edges of my fly with a mound of snow as well to prevent any wind coming underneath, but snow drift still managed to periodically blow into my tent.

I have a 10 degree WM bag that was perfect, and since I was using a combination of a Neo X-lite (3.2 r-vale) and a Z-lite (2.2 r-value), I had more than enough bottom insulation to comfortably camp on ice. So, I was nice and warm inside, but outside was a different story - I peaked out at the full moon around 2am - between wind blasts - to marvel at the antarctic appearance of the mountains. It was around this time that I started formulating my excuses as to why I wasn't going to be able to make it to Dusy basin, much less Palisades basin.

What I began to imagine was to keep our current camp spot as a base camp, hike up to the top of Bishop pass to take some photos, then come back down. However, as Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Metaphorically, the punch began as the periodic gusts began to achieve a certain consistency, creating not only very cold climbing conditions, but also potentially dangerous just from the threat of getting blown off track.

Around 5am I had resolved to bail on Bishop pass and began to concoct a good story of why I couldn't continue with him. Andy has a Spot and I have a DeLorme; Since my DL can send/receive messages, Andy had programmed his device to able to send me a message saying he was OK if we got separated. We had prepared for this contingency before we left on the trip, so I was ok waiting down below if he wanted to continue.

Finally, at 7am I yelled over to see what BW wanted to do. First, I should preface this by noting that Andy is not a morning person - I wasn't even sure if he was awake. Second, the dude is a regular polar bear - when he is cold, you can be sure it's freakin' COLD. So, you can imagine the music to my ears when I hear this reply shouted back at me: "Let's get the fvck out of here!" Yipee, free at last with no guilt or shame of defeat.

Problem is, while we were both comfortable in our tents, outside it was really, really cold. So, we both got fully dressed and loaded both our packs inside before we had to go outside and break down our tents. Easier said than done; recall that I had buried my stakes in the snow/ice so that they would hold overnight. Mission accomplished - well, now I had to pay the piper. With the wind shrieking around me, I was furiously digging away at each stake with my ice axe, chipping away at the now frozen solid ice until I could dig each one out. This went surprisingly well, even though I had to be careful that nothing flew away. Andy actually lost a pair of snow booties that went sailing away into the the yonder blue skies.

At that, we were ready to head out. We managed to take a few quick photos, but because it was so cold, it was difficult taking our hands out of our gloves long enough to take a shot. Here's yours truly completely bundled up with every stitch of clothing/gear I had brought along. You can see how close Bishop pass was - in dry conditions, maybe 20 minutes, in snow, maybe an hour, but still, it was right there:



Returning back down the drainage was quick and easy. The snow was firm because of the low temperatures, so we made good time returning via the Mule creek drainage. Here's one last shot looking down the Bishop creek drainage at perfect x-country skiing country:

not seeing the pictures!?

not seeing the pictures!?

I don't either. Are we the only two, out of 36, who are not seeing them?

maverick wrote:

not seeing the pictures!?

I don't either. Are we the only two, out of 36, who are not seeing them?

You aren't the only two not seeing the pics. Looks like the traditional google pictures content problem.

And Hobbes, there is no shame in a safe retreat from that kind of situation.

Would love to see the pictures, but, alas, neither Microsoft Edge nor Google Chrome browsers are letting me see them.

How weird - I can see them. I wonder if it has to do with me looking at my own account? I'll email them to Peter and maybe he can post them up.

It's permissions. The work-around is the put the pics in an album, and then set the album to public/open/whatever it is. Getting a solid 403 (forbbiden) on the pic access at this point.

Does this work?

https://goo.gl/photos/1s7Dx4GwFoB1ADNV9

Can see 6 pics on the link. Not in the report (url's are probably different). Darn dude, that looks really cold! It's been years since I've done a winter trip. Kudos..