EISPIRATEN

Every year is different. Some years people are skiing and glissading down the bowl in April and other years the mountain is bone dry in April. It's way too early to know what conditions will be like in April 2013.

Call it what you will, but I'm not lamenting man-made structures being torn down at 10,000 feet, and I've used it for shelter overnight on more than one occasion. ::shrug:: I agree - it's not vandalism - it's just a different point of view. It might be that some people view the shelters as vandalis...

If anyone climbs baldy this week, will you please report back on conditions in the bowl.

great job! I can't think of a better way to spend a week off.

Great job Aaron!

Start your hikes at dawn or earlier - that's the only way to avoid the heat this time of year.

I hate the heat too.

Truck to truck for me too, and not so fast at that - 4 hours and 50 minutes. Yesterday, was the first time I tracked from register to register too - that was 4 hours and 7 minutes. It took me 24 minutes to get from the truck to the register on the way up and about 19 minutes on the way down - that s...

Yesterday afternoon as I was on the Ski Hut Trail I wondered for the first time where people start counting their hiking time for that trail - is it at the parking lot down at Manker or where you leave the road and start up the trail near the register?

I'm just curious.

Wonderful report and photos - that couloir has been on my list for a while and I still haven't tried it. Maybe in a couple of weeks on my next trip to the Sierra I'll go look at it.

Nice report and photos. Good job on getting the 8 peaks. Those big snow drifts are no fun.

Wysup Peak - such a pretty area over there by Coon Creek. That was a nice choice.

Congrats - great climb. Such beautiful pics too.

Beautiful...so many places to explore..so little time. Thanks for sharing. Do you use a GPS or no? I do use a gps - route finding was easy for this trip; so a gps is more of a nerdy toy than a big help. I like to track my hikes with the gps and upload the track when I get home. The gps does a poor ...

The "Hilton" is in pretty poor shape inside, but it has the best roof if you're up there in rainy conditions. Could you be more specific? I thought it seemed to be in pretty good shape the last time I was up there. http://dav.me/gallery/v/hiking/Inyo/201 ... 3.jpg.html The outside of the ...

The hike to Panamint City and back could be done as a day hike pretty easily. It's only about 6 miles/3600' elevation gain one-way; so a 12 mile hike round trip. I had an overnight pack and left the parking area at about 10:20 am, I took my time and took lots of photos along the way, and then I arri...

Sentinel Peak in the Panamints has been on my list for a while; so I decided to do an overnighter up Surprise Canyon to Panamint City on Friday and then day hike up to Sentinel Peak yesterday. Surprise Canyon is a really special place. I drive down my share of backcountry roads and don't completely ...

Talking about Couloirs - Bloody Couloir up by Convict Lake is way up on my to do list right now - 40 or 45 degrees I think; so about like Dade's hourglass, but an easier day overall. - I hope to find a nice weekend in June to give it a go - the snow will be there late this year; so no hurry. I know...

Jepson;s chutes appear to be steeper than any of the chutes on San G, but anything over 30 degrees is steep to me. :) Talking about Couloirs - Bloody Couloir up by Convict Lake is way up on my to do list right now - 40 or 45 degrees I think; so about like Dade's hourglass, but an easier day overall....

It's nice to see you guys survived the infamous "chute of death". :) Kathy, I'm not sure we did your chute of death, I think the one you refer to is the long East-facing chute that the sky-high trail crosses right after it passes by the gully that runs up into the bowl we climbed out of. ...

It's nice to see you guys survived the infamous "chute of death".

Sounds like a nice late June trip for a strong climber - snow and slush galore, but the glacier on Darwin will probably be in great shape. I'd certainly need more days than 3 to do a trip like that, but I'm a slow-poke. You might want to check you elevation gain on Day 1 - I would think it's a good ...

I think any of the chutes work. Here's a view from the Onyx summit area yesterday afternoon: https://eispiraten.com/images-archived/kathywing.smugmug.com/Trail-Running/Butler-Peak-Trail-Run-SBNF/i-N4XFhGR/2/XL/IMG0417-XL.jpg Not the same view, but I took some other pictures of the SGW from Butler Pe...

This map shows what I always think of "The Chute of Death", but there are lots of chutes you can take to get up San G. A friend called it the Chute of Death after going up it in the summer - it's hell to go up in the summer, but heaven to come down if you like scree skiing. http://kathywin...

Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too. A friend and I have been eyeballing that chute, Kathy. Ever done it? I have gone down that way a number of times, but without snow. Anymore, that's my usual way down when I do San G via the South Fork Trail i...

That looks like it was a lot of fun. Jepson looks like it's the best option for fun in the snow at this point. Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.

Kathy - If you end up making that trek, take good notes on getting around on the three mini-peaks that make up McAdie. You thinking a snow climb or waiting for some warmth? For McAdie, I want to do a nice summer backpacking trip into Miter Basin where I'll camp and head up to Crabtree Pass and McAd...

Thanks for the report, and nice to hear that the snow was pretty consolidated. Spring in the Sierra - a wonderful time of the year. Great job and I'm glad the excursion to Irvine worked out for you. I keep thinking that I'm going to try McAdie from Crabtree Pass instead of Arc Pass, but I haven't do...

There might be snow up there through mid-June this year, but it's hard to tell how much at this point. We went up in Mid-May on a low snow year (2008) and we hit snow by 9000' - nice consolidated snow. Last time I looked at the snow depth charts, it looks like there's just a little less snow in the ...

Great job! - it sure looks beautiful out there. It's also nice to hear that the bushwacking isn't too bad in George Creek.

It's so nice when April rolls around and the snow starts to consolidates in the Sierra.

From the photo it looks like you were over near the Ten Thousand Foot Ridge or Lake Peak with how San G and Big Horn are in the background, but it's hard to tell for sure. Did you hike in on the road to the Fish Creek Trailhead from where it's gated or take an alternate route? That is a long haul if...