There are always exciting new places to go on a spring tour in the Sierra. This trip was a classic example because our proposed route would cross 8 passes and no one in our 4 person group had ever been across any of them. Bryan Johnson, Armando Menocal, Paul Brown, and I met at Onion Valley Trailhead early in the morning in mid-May 1996. We left my van in the desert below Mt. Williamson where we planned to emerge 4 days later after 40 miles of skiing. Although Onion Valley is one of the most popular entry points into the Sierra, our route bypassed the normal route over Kearsarge Pass and instead went northwest over Gould Pass (pass no. 1). In summer this route is sometimes used as a shortcut to the Rae Lakes Area. plady03/plady-3.htm

We had postponed the start of the trip by 1 day hoping to miss the worst of a spring storm which had begun earlier in the week. Even with the delay, the weather was still unsettled and we encountered high winds while ascending the pass. We were regularly knocked off our feet as we approached the pass carrying our skis with ice ax in hand. High winds continued as we descended the other side but conditions improved as we crossed pass No.2, the col between Mt. Gould and Mt. Rixford. We descended to Bullfrog Lake where we spent our first night. It was a very hard day and we had covered only 5 miles.

On day 2, we descended to Vidette Meadows, mostly on foot and then began the long ski up into Vidette Valley toward Deerhorn Saddle (pass #3). Again the going was strenuous, especially at the top, where we had to negotiate 400 vertical feet of loose sliding scree. From the top, we were just opposite Harrison Pass but we turned west and descended to Reflection Lake where we spent our second night. We covered 8 miles this day and it was clear that we would not make our original objective of 40 miles in 4 days.

The following day, we approached Longley Pass (pass no. 4), which was protected by one of the biggest cornices I have ever seen in the Sierra. We climbed past it on the far right side and then had good skiing as we followed Cunningham Creek. We were now in the Cloud Canyon drainage, on the west side of the Western Divide. Looking southwest, we could see the path of the Sierra High Route near the head of Cloud Canyon and Death Canyon.

Our objective now was to turn south staying as high as possible and to cross back to the east side of the Western Divide at Midway Col. To do so, we crossed two small unnamed passes (pass no. 5 and pass no. 6) and eventually turned west, high above Colby Lake. Midway Col was the obvious notch above us. It is just to the north of Milestone Peak which is an unmistakable landmark from all directions. Although we were very tired, we pushed on since the pass was steep and icy even in the afternoon in the setting sun. We certainly didn't want to attempt Midway Col in the morning when the snow would be even harder. It was 7 p.m. by the time we had finally negotiated the 4th class rocky slabs at the top of Midway Col (pass no. 7) and reached the more gentle east side. A short descent brought us to a running stream where we camped our 3rd night.

Our original plan was to ski over Tyndal Col (pass no. 8), just south of Mt. Tyndal, climb Mt. Williamson, and ski down the east face as described in Moynier's book 'Backcountry Skiing in the High Sierra'. We were a little too ambitious on this trip! Instead we took the shortest trailhead.

Day 4 was still a long day. As many people do, we too got confused at the bottom of Milestone Canyon where the route crosses the headwaters of the Kern River. We finally realized that we had to follow the Kern Canyon north for quite a distance before crossing and skiing on to Shepherd Pass. The descent from the pass was skiable although all of us were 'wimps' and kick turned the top portion before linking good turns to the bottom. The snow stopped just below the pass and we had a long walk out except for 2 short sections where we put our skis back on. Walking along the trail was certainly better than the bushwhack we would have faced had we descended Blairs Creek on the east face of Williamson.

Our day was still not finished. After finally reaching the Symmes Creek Trailhead after 15 miles and a 13 hour day, we now had no vehicle since our van was parked 7 miles further south. I volunteered to retrieve the vehicle but upon reaching it, found the rear wheels to be mysteriously locked. After trying for an hour to decipher what was wrong I gave up and went to sleep. When I didn't return, Bryan and Paul decided at 3 a.m. to walk 9 miles to Independence where they hired a ride to Onion Valley where we had left the other cars. After retrieving me, we drove to Lone Pine, hired a tow truck and pulled my van to a garage. What had happened? On the way in, my brake drums got wet after crossing a stream and when I set the emergency brake with wet drums and left the car for four days, the brake shoes 'rusted' to the drum. A strange occurrence but one which taught me not to set an emergency brake unless it is necessary.

It was a difficult trip. We skied 38 miles, and climbed more than 15,000 vertical feet, even after we took the 'easy way out'. But it was very scenic and the area west of the Western Divide is seldom visited by backcountry skiers other than those skiing the high route. And we did do 7 out of 8 new passes.

SUMMARY OF ROUTE

Onion Valley (9,200'); Trailhead Gould Pass (12,800'); Pass between Gould and Rixford (12,500'); Deerhorn Saddle (12,400'); Longley Pass Pass (11,600'); W. of Thunder Mt. (11,500'); Pass SW of Table Creek (12,880'); Midway Col (12,000'); Shepherd Pass Symmes Creek Trailhead (6,000 ')

Totals 38 mi; 15,335'.