April 21, 2007
The Back in Black (Mountain) Tour.....and other Virginia Lakes goodies
Joe, Toby, Buddy
This particular little chute on the ridge between Black and Excelsior, near Summit Pass, was evil good.
After spying good looking lines spilling down into Lundy Canyon from our previous Excelsior trip, we headed down South again to go see about some Scowden. It seemed to be a rare treat to ski these long North facing lines with the road melted out all the way to their bases....I guess drought years have some advantages. The plan was working perfectly for us, until we drove up to the locked gate on the Lundy road. It was just a little tempting to hike the road for a few miles anyway, but we opted against that plan with the last big winter storm marching toward us for an afternoon arrival. Besides, snow filled Virginia Lakes was just one canyon and a few thousand vertical feet North and less than 20 minutes away. it turned out we were the only two skiers (and dog) to venture about Virginia Lakes on this nice "powdery" Saturday in April. Who said backcountry skiing is crowded? And this is California too!
We ended up skinning and scree scrambling our way up the front side of Black, and then dropping the long and fun gullies off the back of Black. I was not feeling it on this day, but Toby urged me onward into the teeth of the approaching storm to go see about that cool little chute near Summit Pass on the ridge between Black and Excelsior. At first I was just going to accompany him to the end of the canyon, then I agreed to go to the base of the chute....and ultimately I found myself booting up the and steep fluff filled chute to the top where I was battered by nuclear winds carrying ice crystals form the other side of Lundy Canyon. But the skiing was worth all that suffering. We finished the day with our same exit off the shoulder of Black to Red Lake. And the storm never did reach us until we drove over Luther Pass on our way back into Tahoe. Sometimes we get lucky.
The view of a parched Lundy Lake at the approximate spot the gate was locked. Scowden on the left, Excelsior on the right in the back:
So we went here instead. Skiing from the car is always a nice start (and finish):
Views from the top of Black.
North:
Excelsior. Most of our line beyond Summit Pass is visible here:
A long run from Conness or North Peak into Lundy Canyon would be fun in these conditions:
Behold some splendid and long lines amongst the Dore Cliffs:
South Peak, Mono Lake, White Mountains....and Buddy too
The top of our line. It's in there somewhere:
And the skiing. Good shallow pow over a variable base, making for variable turns:
+
It looks better than it skied....just believe me.
Nice line though:
Once you've had black, you never go back:
gggrrrrrrrr.
Toby thought the snow looked really good in this other finger:
We slayed it! Black and Blue:
Onward up the valley to the little chute:
Storm approaching fellas....
Toby and Buddy start the deep bootpack towards a vanishing sucker hole and an interesting rock formation:
The choke was steep, but not very long:
Waiting for the Sun:
Zee line from zee top:
Toby and Buddy - getting 6" of powder puff in a nice little chute. In late April. In a drought year. Yep.
Buddy used the e-brake through the choke:
It was a good line. So Toby and Buddy mowed the apron twice:
Feeling small under a little unnamed Sierra rock outcropping:
Stay puffed marshmallow man was out and about. Someone spilled mustard on his nice white coat:
Scenic:
Snow got a little interesting down low:
Looking back. I guess that storm changed it's mind:
One last skin up the shoulder of Black, and then more good skiing:
And another lucky frozen lake crossing to get us back to the truck. Our last line is behind Toby:
Another good Virginia Lakes day.
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