It looked like our predictions may have been correct as we awoke to a clear calm day on the desert with snow lines protruding well down the mountain to the desert floor. All the elements for fine spring skiing were apparent. Cold night, predictable warm temperatures, abundant snow and calm winds. There was a feeling of excitement in the air. The feeling you get when the stock you bought just had a favorable news release. On Saturday Morning, 14 of us meet on the edge of the town of Rovana. We were Mark Goebel, James Eric Lane, John Anderson, AnneMarie Schober, Wally Drake, Randy Lamm, Jan St. Amand, Angel Ocana, Scott Koepke, Craig Connally, Jim DeRose, Reed Moore, Fred Reed and myself. Randy arrived first and managed to attract the attention of the resident dog. At that point we all took the short drive to the base of Elderberry Canyon.
After a short drive to the base of the canyon at 5,900 feet, we all packed
skis and trekked through the chaparral on a surprising good trail. The only
hard part was negotiating though the willows in the creek. After passing
through a narrow slot in the canyon, we reached the snow line at 7,100 feet.
At this point, it felt good to take the skis off the back and begin the
ascent on boards. This may have been premature as the snow was quite firm and
some of us with narrow skins experienced some slippage. In any case the
approach was quite gradual and long. The altitude was certainly felt as we
ascended past 10,000 feet. Some of us reached the upper bowl at 10,500 feet
at about 12:00 noon. The snow on the north facing slopes was quite hard and
wind packed. The snow on the south facing slopes was softening up to a fine
corn texture. A number of us proceeded to the ridge with a pre-arranged
turnaround time of 1:00 PM.
The ski down from the ridge was deemed fabulous
corn. As we proceeded down the canyon and collected the others on the way we
experienced various conditions from soft pre-transitioned to hard pack.
Surprising, the better skiing up high was on the north facing hard pack where
you did not sink in the heavy muck. By the time we reached 9,000 feet, we
were in wonderful "hero" corn. It was a sheer delight to effortlessly ski
past the giant walls of the canyon. We were all able to ski down to the 7,100
foot level, giving us a 3,500 feet of descent. We all reached the cars safely
at about 3:00 PM with high spirits and the satisfaction of a fine backcountry
ski day.
Our destination for the night was Upper Gray's campground on the road to
Onion Valley. Mark and I planned this destination after careful consideration
of snow conditions in early April. Some of us arrived at the campground at
around 5:00 PM and proceeded to build a fire with hot beverages and good
food. Some of the group took this opportunity to soak in the concessionaire
hot springs just south of Bishop. All and all, we had a pleasant evening of
conversation, food, fire and good weather.
On Sunday morning, we all broke camp and proceeded up the road to Onion
Valley. Mark had talked to the campground host that morning to learn that the
road was impassable a good ways before the top earlier in the week. As we
drove, we noticed that the road had been plowed. To our delight we were able
to drive all the way to Onion Valley. This was quite a contrast from the day
earlier. At this point, we were able to ski right from the cars at 9,200
feet.
Mark led the way up towards Kearsarge Pass. The group kept a good pace
as we ascended the 2,500 feet to Kearsarge Pass by 11:30 AM. The views from
Kearsarge Pass were enjoyed by all. Mt. Brewer sat ominously to the
southwest. Kearsarge Lakes were still quite frozen over. After a short lunch
we all removed the climbing skins with anticipation of a great descent.
Some of the group, led by Mark, skied to Pothole Lake, while the rest of us
enjoyed the fine south facing skiing to the east of the pass. We experienced
outstanding conditions as we weaved our way on the south part of the canyon.
The last mile to the cars was on silky corn. We were back by 12:30PM.
As we readied for departure, smiles were apparent from this second day of
fine backcountry skiing. All and all a wonderful weekend in the Sierra with
the best that this region has to offer. Special thanks to Mark for leading
this trip with me.
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