April 29, Lundy Canyon Chutes, Sierra

Andrew and I spent most the day driving in and out of the canyons along US395, trying to figure out how to get a half day of skiing in after driving all morning. Bridgeport was a frigid wind tunnel, even in the sun. The canyons had blustery, snowy conditions that tuned into white outs with reported 100+ MPH winds on the crest. We wanted somewhere that was high enough to have gotten a bit of the new snow from the storm we were currently in (which was more wind than powder at that point, and started with a really high snow level), but not so high as to become a trial by fire. We needed a route with a bit of cover, close to the car and just high enough to have a little new snow.

As we drove up Lundy Canyon, the chutes on the S side of Lundy Lake immediately caught our attention. We got out of the car €“ not too much wind, snowing lightly, a few inches of powder on a solid crust. Snow was still ringing the lake shore, giving extremely easy access to the chutes. This could work.

We put our skis on, grabbed ski crampons and other tack and headed across the flats to the middle chute. After skinning up the side of the apron we switched to booting near the bottom of the chute. After that, we hammered away for about 1000k, kicking steps into a firm crust under a few inches of powder that grew deeper as we climbed higher.

We climbed maybe 1400ft before turning around in the upper bowl, well below the ridge top. The ski back down the chute was a blast, starting in maybe 10 inches of unconsolidated fluff that skied fantastically and ending on the apron in a few inches of powder on a carveable nearly-corn base.

It was a short ski, but a perfect way to break up a gray afternoon. Pretty good for a road side attraction and a good warm up for all the powder we found the next day. We€™ll have to go back and try the rest of the chutes in Lundy some time.