April 23, 2005
Mt Walt Sub Peak
Joe, Gary and Bob
Mt. Walt (left) and the sub peak we skied (right) tower over Upper Twin Lake. Ascent in blue, descent in red.
I met Gary and Bob at our usual car pool drop off spot at the bottom of Monitor Pass and Hwy 395. We were headed to Twin Lakes in route to Little Slide Canyon where I had grand hopes of skiing the long and aesthetic couloir on looker's left of the classic High Sierra monolith, the Incredible Hulk. I spied the line in a couple of pictures from trip reports posted on TheBackCountry.net web site. The line fit my appetite well; steep, narrow, tucked against a dramatic Sierra landmark, an unknown and a bitch of an approach on ground previously unexplored by this ski dreaming soul with a high probability for failure and/or substantial misery. Unfortunately a combination of factors kept us from skiing (or even seeing) the grand couloir. One factor was a change in the weather from sunny Spring skies to low clouds and obscuring snow showers. But the main factor was our poor route finding and preparation. Instead of remaining in the easy and flat meadow down below, we opted to gain elevation on the ridge just past Blacksmith Canyon. Eventually we were too high and far removed from the base entry to Little Slide Canyon. So we ascended the ridge to the top of a sub peak just Northeast of Mount Walt. Fortunately our navigation mistakes were nullified when we found ourselves atop a fine ridge with a steep and exciting East facing chute below our feet, depositing us down into Blacksmith Canyon. Live and Learn, Hike and Ski, Moose Drool beers are not for queers.
The pictures of the Incredible Hulk couloir (on the left), which continue to inspire me to this day:
(Picture by Tucker):
(picture by Mike Schwartz):
Started under sunny skies skinning through the meadow along Robinson Creek. Views were beautiful, with more lofty ski lines calling to us like distant sirens:
Once we knew we had blown our intended route by leaving the meadow, we just continued to ascend the ridge and the weather closed in:
At one point on the ascent ridge I was shocked to catch a glimpse of the rare Eastern Sierra petrified pig. You can just make out his head camouflaged in this tree trunk. Thank god I'm quick with the camera!
From the top of the ridge we soaked up more eye candy of the surrounding peaks through the draping gray clouds.
We were pleasantly surprised to find this long and steep East facing chute leading down from our perch into Blacksmith Canyon. We were not 100% positive that it didn't cliff out, but all indications from above led us to believe it went. Lucky for us it did. In the soft and warming snow, it was mandatory to practice some heavy duty slough management. But the line was sweet, and so was the apron. The rest of Blacksmith Canyon was also fabulous for that matter.
Gary rolled into the top first (sorry for the blob on the lense):
Bob:
Gary at the crux:
Then Bob's turn:
The bottom:
A long and winding ski down the thickening snow of Blacksmith Canyon eventually dumped us down at Robinson Creek once again. We swaggered through the treasure of trailers in Mono Village to a couple of cold, dripping Moose Drool Beers awaiting at the truck. It was a good day.
An unfortunate deadly avalanche took place on February 1st, 2006 resulting in two survivors and one death. The slide ran through the apron below the East facing chute we skied as described above. The avalanche started at the blue X and ran through the apron below the chute. Our route is in red (descent). For more information on this tragedy and other Eastern Sierra avalanche discussions, please visit the great site of the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center (ESAC). Backcountry skiing is a passion with a high level of risk and reward. I'm sorry to hear of such a loss. Be careful out there.
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