December 30, 2007
Claustrophobia on the Mammoth Crest
Joe, Toby, Dan and Buddy
Our route up Hamil Bowl on the left, and our skinny little ski down indicated on the right.
Toby and I had pretty well worn out the couple of worthy South Shore stashes. So we made a 14 hour door to door road trip to Mammoth to hook up with Dan for a day on their slim snow pack on the Mammoth Crest.
The approach was at least a couple of miles of flat road. But it was groomed!
Where we left for the road less traveled:
Streams were still open in the forest. Good pow lurked there too:
Dan knew the way, for he's probably ridden every imaginable, and many unimaginable, lines up here.
The Mammoth Crest:
Conditions were very variable above tree line. Onward:
Topping out before the last pitch:
Dan led the way up the final steep pitch of Hamil Bowl. So nice to be back amongst the large scale Sierra stones:
Toby was glad he left his whippet at home:
Cool views from the Crest.
South:
West:
We didn't linger long since Dan knew of this skinny little number around the corner. He had been here before, but with more snow:
We felt obligated to take a closer look:
Thoughts that came to mind; Heart of Darkness, Claustrophobic Corridor, Satan's Waitin', Mo' Snow!
Dan feels comfy in these spots:
Buddy didn't feel quite so comfy. It took some serious coaxing (fortunately not a full dog toss) to get him to join us. This shot is cool with the spindrift pouring in.
I went first. It's tough to tell from the above pictures, but there were several wind ridges of snow bridging bare rock in the upper choke section. We had to carefully navigate over these pillow-like features while not scraping our tips and tails on the rock walls. Fortunately the snow was soft and supportable. The bottom of the choke required a couple of hop turns over exposed rocks. It was fairly steep, so it took some precision. We all felt that fun adrenaline pump for a few minutes will hacking through.
So here's my shots from below looking back up at the choke section.
Go Buddy!
Toby:
Check out the face expression!
After a little breather Toby and Buddy dropped into the very fine (and more spacious) lower chute:
I like how my steep foreground is in focus here. Kind of like my attention:
BCD's turn:
Dan gets down:
Unfortunately the snow below the Claustrophobic Corridor was not of the same quality.
Toby:
A look back from Hamil Lake:
We skied a gully to the left of TJ bowl on our way out. Needs more snow.
A look back at the Crest after crossing Lake Mary:
The out was fast and fun on the XC groomer. Not quite a Hannenkam, but fun with loose boots and free heels.
A few of Dan's pictures from this day and many others are on his amazing photography site.
Visit www.danmingoriphotography.com
Dare I mention a big monster storm is only days away? Hopefully 2008 is a more plentiful snow year than 2007.
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