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Sonora Pass. After
a nice dinner at the Tioga Gas Mart, I drove down to
the foot of Sonora Pass. Waking at 6:00am, I
drove up to the pass itself. An early start was
mandatory today -- not a cloud was in the sky, and it
was a scorcher already. |
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"Mini Round Top".
From the roadway, I spied a nice line that I have been
meaning to ski everytime I drive over this pass
(usually heading somewhere else). This little
peak above the pass doesn't have an official name on
the USGS map, but I call it "Mini Round Top" because
it looks a lot like a smaller and more benign version
of
Round Top on the south side of Carson Pass.
I wanted to ski the nice line right down the chute in
the middle of the peak. |
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On the climb. Once
again, the angle was too steep for skinning, so I
busted out crampons and axe for the climb up the
chute.
Stanislaus Peak is right behind my head.
By the way, I
have long ass arms, which is how I was able to take
this photo without a tripod. |
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Up the Central Chute.
Nice look up the steep slopes into the couloir.
Click here for a shot looking down the couloir
towards the pass. |
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On the Summit.
The chute tops out just right of the summit. A
quick jaunt up the summit pinnacle and I'm there. |
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Summit view SE.
The view from the summit of Mini Round Top takes in
all of northern Yosemite. In this shot, you can
see from the Sawtooth Ridge area all the way down to
the peaks above Tioga Pass. |
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Summit view SSE.
Another view into Yosemite and beyond. In this
shot, you can even see Banner Peak (in the center, the
pointy peak way in background). Also visible are
Mount Lyell and Tower Peak. |
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Backside skiing.
The couloir was still pretty firm on the way up, so I
decided to ski a few runs down the sunny pitch off the
backside of the peak. On the way back up, I saw
a few telemarkers, a snowboarder and a few dogs on the
ridge just south of Mini Round Top. |
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Nice!
One of these dudes popped off the crest and dropped
down the bowl, cutting up the corn just as I just
done. This was about 9:30 in the morning, and
already the snow was getting postively cooked. A
scorching day was on tap. |
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Back up top.
Being Mothers Day, I needed to get back home in time
to unpack and catch dinner with my wife's mom and
grandma. I thus topped back out on the peak,
peeled my skins, and dropped the central couloir back
to the car. On the way down, I saw a *ton* of
skiers getting a late start coming up the lower slopes
of the peak. Early bird gets first tracks... |
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