This is winter?


Oh, yeah, this is winter.






The snow started shortly after this, at around 8200' on Echo Creek.






Only got down to 34F at 9200' on Saturday night.






We ran into the Tuolumne rangers on the road near Tenaya Lake. The road is the only skiable snow in the area at the moment. Dunno how it looks up near the Meadows but I can't imagine very good.


Just another 3 days in paradise.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2015 09:51AM by AndrewF.

Erratic sighting...

Kewl.

Dunno you ever saw this one... but this is one of my favorite of the "Bunnell Switchers"...

(faux toe numba too)



Tanks fur Sharon. I need to find that erratic now.

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Those are Kahtoolas on your boots in the first picture right?
And in the 2nd picture is that snow shoes?

This seems like the same place. Have I deduced correctly? I always have people ask me how "dangerous" something is. I tell them the more snow, generally the safer it is. I would view the 2nd picture as "safer". I would prefer an ice axe for self arrest instead of poles and the more snow the better.

I recently was on a hike that the trail did not have snow cover and it was similar to the icy picture. A couple of us were only using Kahtoolas and not crampons. It wasn't as "exposed" as the picture shows but it was steeper and ultimately it was so steep that after a few falls and short slides, the Kahtoolas users abandoned the trail and went bushwhacking through the alders instead. We just had a guy die on a slope like the first picture when he was unable to self arrest with his ice axe after falling.

My friend had microspikes, all I had were my snowshoes. Neither were ideal on water ice like we encountered but we only had to walk across 15 or 20 feet of it in total, and it was flat in those sections. There were a few spots where we had to leave the trail to circumnavigate a few ice flows to avoid having to walk across angled water ice with a bad runout. Would have been safer if it were all snow, for sure. I was on the fence as to whether I should bring real crampons... I would have used them if I had them but it worked out OK without them.

Quote
AndrewF
My friend had microspikes, all I had were my snowshoes. Neither were ideal on water ice like we encountered but we only had to walk across 15 or 20 feet of it in total, and it was flat in those sections. There were a few spots where we had to leave the trail to circumnavigate a few ice flows to avoid having to walk across angled water ice with a bad runout. Would have been safer if it were all snow, for sure. I was on the fence as to whether I should bring real crampons... I would have used them if I had them but it worked out OK without them.

The picture looks sketchy. Is it angled toward or away from the rocks? At first glance I thought away and thought any fall would take you over that ledge and right down the icy slope.

I was almost thinking of an alternative line that would take you to the rocks and are in the almost bottom right of the picture.--where the ice chunks are also.

Za guy, this is the "Bunnell Switchback" area... which is notorious for
holding snow and ice late and can be very very interesting to get by...
If interested... more info and stuff here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,52855,52855#msg-52855

and here's what it looks like from above yonder...


Pretty much you have to stay on trail here... there aren't a lot of alternatives...

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It was a little sketchy. Not something I would recommend to other people to do, but it felt OK when I did it. I tested the traction of my snowshoes out on the ice with the other foot firmly planted on terra firma and it seemed OK. Didn't slip at all.

This ice was not so friendly...walked around this one:

A few more for fun







The ice was pretty much done after Bunnell... so on the bright side I didn't have to carry crampons the next 30 miles... my pack was 22 lbs full up at the trailhead with the snowshoes strapped to the back...

Nice pics. It really amazes me how awesome the Kahtoolas are and they are so easy to lug around. I use them a LOT on ice similar to your pictures. But in most cases instead of a big icy slope on granite like your pictures I have either a snowy slope where I can self arrest with the axe I always carry or I have a short slide into alder bushes which isn't too bad. I probably would have done the same thing you did but with trepidation without a backup plan if one was to lose footing.

Reminds me of Old Dood on ice... in 2012 Tioga didn't close until
v. late Jan ...maybe early Feb...

Waterfall next to road frozen... and outlet of Upper one big Ice luge...
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,50396,50396#msg-50396

and
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,50759,50759#msg-50759

Crazy that Tenaya Lake not frozen over now. Been ridiculous warm out there.
And now this storm that was supposed to fly thru... looks like no go..
Guess I gotta figure out where to go this weekend...

w/r to the Ice... MSR Lightning snoeshoes have 360 crampon along with the
normal crampon. You would have just bombed over that stuff with those on.
The shoes u got... with only the crampon on the foot and heel... you have to
walk a little more gingerly. Z wifie has a pair of those and I upgraded her
to the Lightnings and just one time using them on slopes she says sumtin
to effect 'no wonder u just bomb up this stuff... these are NICE"

Anywho... thanks for the pix and stuffs. Have fun

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Quote
chick-on
Reminds me of Old Dood on ice... in 2012 Tioga didn't close until
v. late Jan ...maybe early Feb...

Walking on water?

A windy day in January 2012:

Awesum!

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37.8141, -119.461

Enough domes out there for a lifetime... have you been up those ones SE of Columbia Finger? They looked pretty fun:



Looks easy from here...

I'm running out of domes...



There's a couple left though... and there's a whole lot more near Hooper I got my eyeballs one...
and more near Rock Isle Plateau...

If you haven't seen this one...
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,56017,56017#msg-56017

Nice trip wit Bearpoof having fun on a bunch o domes...

Me Love Domes!

(Pywiack, West Dolly, and Mt. Starr King... doz need some help with)
(o .. and Daff)

Have fun ... and I'd do them all again

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Until your map looks like this:



you still got plenty to explore...

Red! I want red, there's no substitute for red

Agree. Lots to explore. And re-explore many times over.
I won't be done until I'm done

Well that's the plan anyway

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Or maybe:

In the map I didn't show south enough. Been up all of those...
A number of photos atop all of dat is here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?17,75137,75137#msg-75137

or
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/MtFlorence

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Thanks for the erratic sighting coords. Here's a nice one of Bearpoof zipping
thru the snow with the erratic up there ...

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What's all that white stuff?

Great pictures!...well....coulda done without that first shot.

Amazing how warm and dry it is. Looks like a little weather will come through this week, but we need much, much more. In the mean time, what a great way to see the high country in January!

Looks like a great trip! The lack of snow is astonishing...

Makes me want to get out there for a quick Winter overnighter.