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Lee Vining Creek.
I started by skiing up the broad valley of Lee Vining
Creek from the Junction campground on the Tioga Road.
The Saddlebag dam is in the gap at the far right of
this photo. The Saddlebag road was reported to
have several patches of bare asphalt, so I opted for
the more scenic kick and glide up the valley.
This, however, required a dicey creek crossing and a
bushwack to get back up to the dam. The east
ridge of Mount Conness is at left in the clouds. |
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Mount Dana.
Higher up in the Lee Vining drainage, I turned around
to capture this view of the storm clouds clearing from
the summit of Mount Dana. The Dana Couloir is
the thin line of snow visible to the left of the
long summit buttress. |
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False White Mountain. Another beautiful
ski descent from Tioga Pass is the east face of False
White Mountain (12,002'). As I wound my way up
to the dam, I looked up at False White for
telemarktips
regulars Walter Sobchack and MattR, who were skiing the peak on Saturday
(link
#1) (link#2).
Click here to see a panorama from the East Ridge
of Mount Conness to False White. |
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Excelsior Mountain.
At Saddlebag Lake, the views open up towards the
Lundy/Virginia
Lakes area to the north. The broad
hulk of Excelsior Mountain dominates the view to the
north. |
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North Peak.
Skinning up from the shore of Saddlebag Lake, I got this view of my
goal for the day, North Peak (12,242'). The
north couloirs of the peak, which are to the right of
the massive cliff in the center of the photo, offer
excellent ice climbing (see
link). I was hoping to ski the SE face, to
the left of the cliffs.
(photo note:
gratuitous self timer with tripod) |
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Shepherd Crest.
Halfway along the Sierra Crest between Excelsior
Mountain and North Peak is the Shepherd Crest, a
knife-edged summit sticking out into Yosemite National
Park. |
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East Ridge Chute.
Climbing up towards the Conness Lakes from Saddlebag,
the bowls and chutes of the east ridge of Conness
become visible. Crossing Greenstone Lake, I saw
a lone skier's tracks descending this very steep chute
from the east ridge (the chute is
located here). Mr. Lone Skier guy, if you
are reading this, nice turns. |
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