RED MOUNTAIN

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Mike Calla

Red Mountain

Red mountain is a great liitle mountain right off the road a mile from my house in Crowley Lake. It is 3200 vert and mostly north facing. We had gotten a little snow the past few days, and it was cold, for California that is. I had always driven by it, and it looked great. It reminded me a little of Taylor mountain on Teton Pass. My partner called in sick, so I decided to head up Red solo. I ran into 2 people heading up, so I joined them. The lower flanks looked pretty tracked, so I was a little hesitant. I hate tracks. As we climbed higher I realized that people were mostley skiing the lower pitch, and the upper bowls were untouched. SWEET!

The upper bowls of Red Mountain

We skinned up the main drainage and got onto a ridge seperating the bowls, and saw some great powder to be had.

The middle bowl Red Mountain

Lookers right bowl Red Mountain

We arrived at the top and were greeted to some amazing views.

The White Mountains

East Face of Mt. Morrison in the distance upper right

Mt Morgan North summit chutes

Mt Morgan North with Nevahabe ridge extending to the right

We decided to ski the right bowl, and dam was it good. It was smokey dry Teton smoke, about a foot of it. I couldn’t believe it. I was on my brand new skis too, Voile asylums, they performed well.

My tracks down the bowl

I skied Red Mountain two days in a row, and it was great. Nice to have such a great shot a mile down the road, with very little people. Man I love the high sierra.

Posted in Red Mountain, Skiing | 7 Comments

PINNER COULOIR LAUREL MOUNTAIN

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Mike Calla

Pinner Couloir from top of Old Mans Bowl

The Pinner Couloir is another Sierra classic. 34oo vert of steep, big wall couloir skiing. I had skied it about six weeks ago in great early season condition, with Dan and his wife Denise. We had nice smooth windblown powder, trip report to come later from that. This was Jon’s last ski day here, on Super Bowl Sunday. The day started cloudy and snowing with about 20 in. new from the last few days.

Entering the John Muir Wilderness near Convict Lake

We followed the trail around the lake and arrived at the base of the couloir with some menacing looking rock walls guarding the entrance. Lord of the Rings type stuff.

Laurel Mountain cliffs

The entrance to the Pinner

Jon climbs to the Pinner

Jon enters the Pinner

We climbed the lower part, and it seemed pretty solid, about 6 inches bonded fairly well.  As we climbed higher, the snow started to get a little deeper and a little slabby. We arrived at the bottom of the large upper bowl of the chute, and decided against going any higher. There was alot of new snow hanging above us.

Jon climbs higher in the Pinner

This one is for Jons E Harmony page

We stopped here, notice the little fracture above me.

We started about 3/4 of the way up the couloir due to conditions. Jon skied first and did a little ski cut, it went. It was a small fracture, prob only a foot deep and 20 feet wide, but then it propagated down the right wall. It slid out most of the couloir, all 3000 vert of our descent.

Jon makes his first turn in the Pinner

Jon digs in after a successful ski cut, notice the fracturing on the right wall.

After that we knew we were making the right decision by skiing from there. 

Jon gets some debris pow in the Pinner

Jon skis the confines of the Pinner

Huge walls in the Pinner

The Pinner chokes a bit

Jon finds some nice pow

...and some more

Jon nearing the exit

What big walls you have

Almost out

Great snow at the bottom of the Pinner

Make a turn...there!

Jon skis down to Convict lake

The skiing was pretty good in the couloir, even though it had slid out, good soft debris skiing. This was a little humbling, my first avalanche activity since I’ve been skiing in the Sierra. I believe we made some pretty good decisions along the way, constantly evauluating what we were seeing and feeling. Now it was time for my 4th annual Super Bowl bonanza. These partys are known to draw quite the VIP crowds, with  tons of new people to meet. I usually have a guest list with assigned seating. This year was no different at the Mono Sierra Lodge #5.

Gentlemens Superbowl Party

No chips and dip at this party.

Posted in Pinner Couloir Laurel Mountain, Skiing | 13 Comments

MT MARY AUSTIN

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Mike Calla

Mt Mary Austin on the right

          This was a Dan plan, a Powder Dan Molnar plan. It started with a 4:30 am wake up for Jon and I, and we were at Shat’s bakery in Bishop by 6 a.m. This was my first time south of Bishop, and Jon’s first trip to the area. We were amazed by the views the whole way to the trail head.

Moonrise over the southern sierra

Morning glow on the southern sierra

This was a southern sierra desert approach. We drove up a dirt road for a few miles , through the sagebrush, and arrived at the snowline. The east face of the east summit of Mary Austin was looking pretty good, but we were unsure what the conditions would be. We headed up the baxter pass summer trail to the north of Mary Austin for some more options. It looked as though the head of the canyon was ringed with 13, ooo ft peaks, so on we went.

Jon gets booted in the van

Old archway entering the canyon

Powder Dan skins out of the desert

The skinning was pretty good for the first few miles, there had been a fire, and a large mudslide down the canyon a few years ago changing the landscape a bit.

Skinning through the lower canyon

Jon climbs higher up the draw

We arrived at the base of the NW wall of Mary Austin, I didn’t feel I had much left in the tank for another 1000 vert or so of steep boot packing. It had a few thin couloirs that ran down the face, non of them ending at the summit. Kind of a bummer. Powder Dan was feeling strong, and he went a few hundred vert higher than Jon and I.

Next time...Acrodectes Peak

Jon and I skied the thin couloir, and waited for Dan below.

Skiing the NW face of Mary Austin

Jon skiing the NW face

Jon farther down the NW face

Jon feeling the long day

Where's Powder Dan? NW Face of Mary Austin

We skied the face, and down through the draw, which turned out to be really good snow.

Powder Dan finds the line

Nice turns Dan

There's the spot

Time to carve some pow

Jon enjoys the lighting

Most of the skiing, all 6 miles of it, was pretty good, with some nice powder in the north facing burned trees lower down canyon. The last mile or so was bad breakable crust, what do you expect, it’s the desert. I realize now, that we missed the premier line, the North Couloir. It looks pretty sustained 200o vert at 45 deg. Next time. It turned out to be a long day, about 9 hours car to car. We were feeling it. It was great day of exploring, and recon for future adventures to come in that area. I know we’ll be back.

Where's my beer?

Posted in North West Face Mt Mary Austin, Skiing | 1 Comment

SHERWINS

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Mike Calla

Start of the Sherwins hike

The Sherwin’s is Mammoth Lakes’ answer to Teton Pass. There are pro’s and con’s for each. One great aspect of the Sherwin’s is that no one skis them. The hike can be pretty extreme weather wise, with 80 mph winds and hardly any shelter along the way. Except for a little stone wind break near the plateau.

The Sherwins hut

The skiing is great on the Sherwins. There is a 2 mile north face that holds 2000 vertical ft runs down everything from steeped rock wall lined chutes like Rock Chute, as well as the perfect cruising gladed runs of the Main Avy Path and the Hose.  I would show up to the lot on countless powder days this year at 10 a.m and find no cars or a bootpack.  Lucky me, I get to set it. One con is the lap time compared to Teton Pass. There you can be back on the booter in no time for another lap. On the Sherwins it takes a shuttled car, or 2 public bus rides to get back to  the bootpack at Tamerack Lodge.

Sherwins bootpack

Jon and I have skied up here the last two days with very little people. Yesterday with 14 in.  new we set the booter at 10 a.m. Today we found 3 people before us at 11 am with another 10 in. new. If you show up at Teton Pass at 10 a.m, with 14 new inches, you must be new in town, enjoy fighting for parking, and skiing tracked out snow.  Although there is nothing like lapping Glory 3 or 4 times when it is free refills on every lap. That is what makes Teton Pass special. The Sherwins are my personal powder skiing playground.

Dropping into the Hose, Sherwins

Surfing the Hose

Creamy pow in the Hose

Posted in Skiing | 2 Comments

MT WOOD EAST FACE

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Mike Calla

 

      My old roommate Jon Lewis from Jackson rolled in a few days ago, and I wanted to get him a big sierra descent. Mt Wood is a giant mountain when viewed from HW 395. It is a big descent, covering almost 5500 vertical feet.

The big east face of Mt Wood

This a shortened view of the whole descent, probably only 3500 vert or so seen in the above photo.  Jon rolled into town the night before well rested, as was I, so we wanted to give this big descent a go. The day started like many do, in the dark, at a trail head, in the back of my van…does that sound bad? We were booted and fed about 6:45 a.m, and were greeted with a great sunrise.

Sunrise over Silver Lake

Nice views of the surrounding peaks started to fill the sky as we climbed higher.

Jon skins up the lower bench of Mt Wood

We had hooked up with a skin track higher up, which I was really surprised of. People don’t really seem to ski the backcountry here like they do in the Tetons, not much competition here, just how I like it. Regardless, this mountain is huge and has plenty of room for tracks of your own.

 We climbed even higher, and finally got to the south ridge, and followed it to the true summit.

Jon on the upper flanks of Mt Wood

We arrived at the summit about 6 hours later, pretty good for climbing almost 5500 vertical.

Jon and I on the summit of Mt Wood

The large east face drops right off the summit for about 3000 vert or so before benching out a bit. The snow looked pretty good, and I dropped first.

Looking down the upper east face of Mt Wood

Dropping…

First turns off the summit of Mt Wood

I skied down a little way, and watched Jon ski off the top.

Jon carves the east face of Mt Wood

Jon finds something a little steeper

Jon finds some powder high on Mt Wood

Jon shows perfect form on Mt Wood

Jon using gravity to his advantage

I found some nice wind sculpted pow on the left side

and some more

Mono Lake backdrop

We skied the big east face down to a large bench, and the skied the apron of love for a few thousand vert.

Jon on the lower apron

Jon carves around an innocent sapling

Some apron love

And a little more

This was a great descent, really satisfying to climb that much vertical and get  good snow for most of the way. I think Jon was exited to get on a big face, away from the high avalanche conditions of the Tetons .Good to have a solid partner in town for a little while.  We cruised back to the trailhead and celebrated the day the only way we know…

Tiger Bar June Lake

Posted in Mt Wood East Face, Skiing | 5 Comments

Mt Wood… More to come

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Mike Calla

The 5000 ft east face of Mt Wood

Skiing the east face Mt wood

Posted in Skiing | 2 Comments

WHITETAIL COULOIR, BEARTOOTHS MONTANA

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Mike Calla

          I know, I know,  people want to see some High Sierra skiing, I assure you it will come soon. Just need to get all the pictures together for solid trip reports. This trip was a few years ago when Kyle Steger and I took a few weeks and skied some great lines.  Skied the Crazy Couloir, Crazy Peak MT, North Face of Gannet Peak, WY, and the Whitetail Couloir. I think the Whitetail Couloir is the most asthetic line in Montana. It is prob 50-55 deg up top, then mellows to 45 deg  for 2000 vert. Ever since I saw the first pics of it in Turiano’s Select Peaks book, I knew I wanted to ski it. 

In all it's glory

           We started the trips into the mountains like we always seem to do, with a shot and a beer at the local pub. This one was in Red Lodge MT, and suprisingly there was a cute girl tending bar, even though it was off season mid april. We started up the rock creek rd not knowing if we could make it to the trailhead, in Kyle’s vintage 1977 Beamer. We made it to a bunch of summer homes about 2 miles from the trailhead.

Kyle and his Beamer

          Since no one seemed to be occuping these homes, we decided to post up for the night underneath a nice covered back deck. Great bivy site.

Luxery bivy poach

We started up the road the next morning, to the trailhead, and eventually to a camp at the base of the couloir. It was alot of skis on skis off skinning for the first 4 miles or so, and it even started to dump for a while.

Kyle enters the trees in a short lived snow storm

Kyle on the approach

There it is

Kyle in front of an impressive north wall

Nice view of our goal

We arrived at camp a liitle later than expected, probably do to additional milage from the trailhead, and the constant skis on and off. We cooked and went to bed.

Camp at the base of the Whitetail

We started up the couloir at a descent hour, and it proved a formidable opponent. I remember Kyle being a little stronger than me on the way up, the booting was really variable, and hard to develop a hiking rythem.

Kyle skinning up the lower portion

Kyle the workhorse

After a few hours of trading back and forth on bootpacking we were at the top.

Kyle on the steep upper section

Yes it gets steeper

We arrived at the top, both of us pretty exhausted from the booter, and decided not to scramble to the summit. The skiing started where we were any way.

Kyle and I on top of the Whitetail Couloir

We choppped the cornice away a little bit, and Kyle dropped in first.

Kyle commits to all 50 deg

Kyle gets through the narrow steep upper section

Kyle gets into some pow

The skiing was pretty good, but we were pretty tired, just a few turns at a time. We still had a 9 mile out to go.

More good snow

Kyle reaps the reward

Our turns in the middle section

We arrived back at camp, packed up, and began our long out back to the cute bartender in Red Lodge. This was a great trip, we succeded on bagging this great line, and set our sites on the next adventure. Kyle, lets get after it again.

Yep!

Posted in Skiing, Whitetail Couloir Whitetail Peak | 7 Comments

Welcome to bootedandfed.com

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Mike Calla

Isn't mountaineering fun?

This picture is a self portrait that displays some pretty fierce fall Teton weather last fall. We were planning on climbing the north ridge of the middle teton, then the sw couloir, then the South Teton, then we decided to turn around. It was hours of ankle breaking walking out of the south fork of garnet canyon in a blinding fall blizzard. So much fun.This is my first blog. Just learning the ropes here, so bear with me. I assure you they will get better. Stay tuned for a trip report from skiing the Whitetail Couloir in the Beartooths of Montana a few years ago.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments