Tom Grundy's Spring 2014 in Bishop Trip Page

Back in Bishop in spring 2014 it was finally time to get out and enjoy some of the local scenery (and start training for more bigger adventures).

early morning view from Bishop

Julie on a nice bike ride

Jean boulders at the Happy Boulders

Black Mountain Hike

April 7 I went up Black Mountain with Julie. This particular Black Mountain resides at the southern end of the White Mountains and looms over the Valley from this position. I can see it from my yard if I make an effort to see past the nearby buildings and trees. We started from the entrance to Black Canyon at about 4300 feet and cut across the desert for a bit to the toe of the NW ridge. Then we went up and up and up and up. None of it was particularly hard, but you had to watch your footing and dodge hostile brush and cacti and a few patches of snow on the upper N flank. On the way up we passed one mining claim. The deed was so riddled with typos that someone had provided a partial key and deemed the claimant a "mental midget". As Julie pointed out, spelling post is easy - it is just like toast with a p. Not surprisingly the views across the valley to the Sierra were spectacular despite a bit of haze. We spent a bit of time at the summit eating and taking some pics and then headed down. I saw a horned lizard on the way up and a collared lizard on the way down.

Julie looks at the claim

claim

Julie scrambles up a steep section

horned lizard

Julie points

gratuitous handstand - Julie took the pic

It was pretty scenic. This is a panoramic from south through west to north

Skiing SE of Mt Humphreys

April 12 I joined Laura and Michael to investigate the skiing potential in the drainage between Mt Humphreys and Mt Locke. Of course this required that I dig out all my ski stuff that has been hibernating for far too long. We met up early at the Moose Lodge and after eating some caterpillar we headed on up the Buttermilk road. Luckily Michael has a 4wd pathfinder. We didn't quite make it to the end of the road, but we came close. We loaded up and hoofed it up to the end of the road and a little beyond where we switched to ski boots and started skinning up the thin but pretty continuous snow. Unfortunately it was pretty soft, like mashed potatoes. We were all able to post hole a bit even on the skis. Breaking trail was particularly tiring. We took turns leading up to the top of the morraine. Unfortunately there we were met with a few hundred feet of dry scrub and scree to descend back to the snow. oops.

driving up the Buttermilk Rd - we went above the road on the left

I thought we were going skiing

postholing on skis (I stole this pic from Laura)

Back on the snow we continued on up up up through some occasionally abysmal snow and past a marten hopping across the snow to a nice spot for lunch at the top of a long slope. There we enjoyed the sun and views. We considered going up higher, but the next slope looked a bit iffy and in fact looking back when we were done we saw a slide on it. When we looked back over our shoulders there was some pretty fierce weather around the corner and out over the valley. We were in the bubble and only got a few flakes from a nearly blue sky. The descent wasn't as fun as it could have been. The snow was soft and squishy so at least falling wasn't terrifying or particularly dangerous, but it was exhausting to ski because at any moment you could sink in a foot or so. If this happened when you were leaning the least bit forward the ski would dive and you would come to an abrupt halt with disastrous results. At one point I was hanging from my leash by the foot while the ski was buried as a deadman. If you didn't completely stop you faced a massive quad and back workout to keep from flipping forward. I managed a few nice turns, but mostly I just managed. In any case it was a good workout both going up and coming down and the views were spectacular in all directions.

Scarpa seems to be the boot of choice

hang on Moosie, it is going to be a bumpy ride

Laura mashes the potatoes a bit more

Michael shows that Austrians were born on skis

As we drove away the storm closed in behind us and soon we couldn't see Mt Tom or Basin Mountain. Back at the Moose Lodge we gorged on slow cooked sausage sandwiches followed by Strawberry Mousse. mmmm.

the weather closed in behind us

panoramic from where we stopped. Mt Locke on the left, then Checkered Demon?, Mt Humphreys, and Basin Mtn

pic of where we went with high contrast so you can see the avalanche

distant view of approximately where we went. green is where we skied, yellow is up where it was different, and the avalanche is circled in red.
This is a moonlit night shot from the white mtns.

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