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Mic
climber
Davis, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 14, 2011 - 01:59pm PT
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Inspired by Galen Rowell's ski traverses of the Ruby and White Mountains, I wanted to do some skiing in the high desert ranges of the Great Basin. So, last weekend, three friends and I headed to the Sweetw#ter Mountains north of Bridgeport. For lack of snow, we abandoned plans for traversing the range north to south, but we still had a great time in this compact, remote feeling group of mountains. And looking east from the crest, there are countless more like it, lined up across Nevada.
The full story is on the blog:
http://inspiredstone.wordpress.com/
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Jan 14, 2011 - 02:06pm PT
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Nice! or maybe "sweet"! Some good photos, nice stories in the rest of the blog too!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 14, 2011 - 02:08pm PT
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Sweet, but looks like tough sledding let alone skiing.
Given all the snow the Sierras have gotten I take it they are in a 'rain shadow'.
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BurnRockBurn
climber
South of Black Rock City (CC,NV)
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Jan 14, 2011 - 05:32pm PT
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Definately a sweet area.....Nice exploring!!!!!
Shawn
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Jan 14, 2011 - 05:37pm PT
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Thats awesome, way to get out there.
Several years ago a friend and I set out to ski traverse the White Mountains but for lack of snow we ended up heading to the Saline Valley to soak in the springs and talk about skiing. After we had soaked for a few days we decided to head over to Telescope Peak. We drove into the Charcoal Kilns up Wild Rose Cyn just about the time a storm moved in. We hunkered down inside one of the kilns until the next morning and then began the skinning our way up to Mahogony Flats and up to the summit of Telescope. The new storm had dropped about 10 inches of light fluff that made for an epic descent back to the car.
Desert peaks and ranges have some great stashes, you just need to be patient.
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Mic
climber
Davis, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 14, 2011 - 07:45pm PT
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We went up Sweetw#ter Canyon, spent a couple nights and eventually made it up to the broad ridge near South Sister. Our plan to traverse starting at the north end was foiled by the lack of snow on the two northern most, lowest elevation peaks, East and Middle Sisters. In Sweetw#ter Canyon, there was enough snow to make a continuous descent from about 11,000 to 7000(although we were camped at about 9000).
With the amount of snow in the Sierra, I figured there would be enough, but it is in "shadow" and now I know better what to expect. There is also some serious wind at the ridge and the snow shows it. In the photo below, you can see a big cornice on a leeward slope, while we stand on bare rock. And most of the weekend, plumes of snow were blowing off the top. So regardless of the snow fall, a proper traverse of the ridge could be problematic. I assume the Whites are similar.
And what the hell is with the 'a' becoming '#' in Sweetw#ter?
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| Messages 1 - 6 of total 6 in this topic |
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