June 24, 2006
Conness - Gimme a Y, Gimme an S, Gimme...Sun Cups!
Joe, Toby and Buddy
Toby ponders what that gaping hole at the bottom of his line might be. On Mount Conness - 6/24/06.
The original plan was for Toby and I to do a rushed 24 hour round tripper to Shasta on Friday afternoon to Saturday. But work problems, family commitments, a record heat wave, sub par conditions on the South side all contributed to a joint decision for us to keep it closer to home. If we would have had time for the Hotlum Wintun route we would have made the journey. So we decided to sleep in our own beds, wake up early and drive the 2 hours to the top of Tioga to sample some of the Conness / North Peak sweetness. Jodi mandated a 4:00 PM return time.....and the 1 hour standard buffer was not applicable on this one. So at 3:30 AM Toby picked me up and we found ourselves hiking on a dry and closed road towards Saddlebag Lake at 6:00 AM.
SE side of Conness from Sawmill Campground. We crested out on the snow finger that reaches the ridge top on the right shoulder:
We veered off the road at the Sawmill Campground and head towards the SE slopes of Conness cross country. Eager to get our skins on the skis, and skis on the feet, we were disappointed by the sight of fields of deep sun cups at the base of the big slope. But we were encouraged by views of other peaks sporting smooth Summer snow on the steeper aspects:
False White:
White Mountain:
Oh well, booting through 18" deep runnels wasn't too bad. Fortunately above Alpine Lake we were able to relieve our shoulders by skinning up the somewhat smoother snow to just below the summit plateau. From there we booted up and over the steep ridge crest. We had a little trouble finding our first objective, the Y couloir. Instead we found ourselves above two long, wide and steep couloirs adjacent to the summit blocks. We had a suspicion that there may be enormous bergschrunds below the lines, but it looked manageable from the top. Toby dropped into the skier's left side one while I snapped a few pictures.
Halfway down he stopped to see if that gaping that little shadowy looking in the transition at the bottom of the couloir was just a rollover, or an actually gaping crack. He felt lucky, and continued.
Turns out he was unlucky and soon found himself perched on the edge of a giant bergschrund between his couloir and the glacier below. Fortunately there was a section that was only 15' high for him to huck over. It was a different story for Buddy. Buddy followed Toby down but refused to go anywhere near the big crack.
I never gained a good vantage to take a picture of the crack Toby hucked. But, here it is in a picture taken by Chris 2 weeks earlier. It would have only grown larger in size since then. It is the gaping hole closest to the bottom of the picture:
Here is a picture of our lines taken 3 weeks later from North Peak:
Toby yelled at me to call Buddy back up. After several yo-yo trips up and down the couloir, Buddy finally came to me on the ridge. Toby told me the crack below my couloir was even worse than his and that I should go find a different line. So with Buddy in tow I went a looking. Toby then lined me up on this wild one. Which offered 5 really steep, no mistake turns, but finished crack free.....I was down with it, but Buddy wanted no part.
So Buddy and I continued back up the ridge, eventually finding our original objective, the Y couloir. Despite all of my calling, Buddy refused to go anywhere near the edge of the couloir. It took several minutes of seducing, bribing and eventual dog tossing to finally get Buddy over the steep edge and down the couloir. Of course Buddy flashed the couloir in great style and made it all the way down to Toby in just a few fast minutes. I then was afforded many fun turns down the nice wide Y couloir to Toby and Buddy waiting on the glacier below. Amongst the dog hair and collar burns I forgot to take any pictures of this line.
Our original plan was to blaze over to North Peak next and ski the very sweet and steep Northeast Couloir. But time was ticking, and we knew our out was going to be rough, so we reluctantly decided to pass on it. So here's a few pictures of North Peak from 2004 for your dreaming pleasures:......(or you could click here to see our successful return trip 3 weeks later).
As an alternate to North Peak, we found ourselves dropping into the steep and winding aesthetic line of the S couloir. Here's a couple of shots of Toby getting some much needed couloir redemption:
After the S, it was a LONG haul out over the most miserable sun cups either of us has ever experienced. These two pictures depict Mohammed Gimpy El Sharif suffering the plight of the 2 1/2 hour adventure back to the car in record heat (thank god no mosquitoes):
Notice one skin is missing.....yep, we got to backtrack 10 minutes through these cups to recover it.
O.K. Maybe it's time to ride bikes now.
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