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Continued...
Our plan was to hike up to the Conness Glacier and
check out the myriad chutes and bowls extending
downward from the east ridge of Mount Conness – maybe
even tagging the summit if conditions and our own
fortitude allowed us. We hiked above Greenstone Lake,
passing a gorgeous waterfall pouring over a granite
dome, and donned skis at the lowest of the three
glacial Conness Lakes. A long skin upwards over
continuous (and quite copious) snowcover ultimately
brought us to the base of the Y-couloir: a
three-pronged 45 degree trident of snow reaching 600
feet above the glacier to the summit plateau. I
estimate we were just a few days too late to ski this
line cleanly, as the warm temperatures had uncovered
several large rocks placed strategically in the middle
of the chute. Just around the bend, however, the
shorter but no less steep east couloir looked prime.
When we skied this line
a few years back,
it was guarded by a man-eating bergschrund. But today
the chute was an unbroken buttery canvas from the
summit ridge down to the glacier just waiting to be
painted by our skis.
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Oops! Matt adjusting his rental
Fritschis after discovering a mere 20mm of slop in the
heel. D'oh! |
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Back in
Business.
Binding fixed and we're off skinning along the lower
Conness Lake. |
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North Peak. A sweet view of the south
side of this peak. The entrances to the three
couloirs that split the northeast face are the three
prominent U-shaped notches on the ridge seen here. |
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Climbing
the Dirty Snowfield.
Matt slogs his way up the skintrack with the frozen
Conness Lakes spread out below. In the
background are Dunderberg Peak, Black Mountain,
Hollywood Ridge, South Peak, Mount Olsen and "BSBS"
(Backside of
B*tch Squeal) above Lundy Canyon. |
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"Sorry
About the Weather".
Any early morning clouds had completely bugged out by
11am and we were left with nothing but saturated blue
skies.
(photo: M.
Howard)
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Ascending the Glacier.
Matt makes his way up the steep upper glacier.
The impressive granite pinnacles of the east ridge of
Conness at upper right. |
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Climbing
the Couloir.
Here's Matt on his first ever "legit" snow climb.
The angle in the couloir was pretty steep, but
conditions for kicking steps (and skiing down) were
perfect. The sheer wall of rock in the
background is the end of the North Ridge of Conness, a
classic rock climb of the High Sierra. The peaks
in the background are Whorl, Matterhorn, Virginia and
Twin Peaks.
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Getting Steep! Ascending in the middle
part of the couloir.
(photo: M.
Howard) |
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