Home > Trip Reports > May 4-8, Sierra Nevada, Mammoth to Rock Creek

May 4-8, Sierra Nevada, Mammoth to Rock Creek

5/15/11
US elsewhere
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Posted by iluka on 5/10/11 12:59pm
With May rolling around and no spring in sight up here in the PNW, it was time to head down to the Sierra for the annual spring tour. Tyler, Reese, Terry and I joined up with my friend Mark from the Bay area and set out to do another of the great crest tours down there -- the route from Mammoth to Rock Creek, a 36 mile tour crossing 6 passes along the way. We  followed the route described in Moynier's Backcountry Skiing California's High Sierra but opted to do it from north to south rather than the other way around as we thought this would make it easier to deal with the steep slopes on a few of the passes we'd have to cross along the way.

We did our usual first day plan, flying into Reno then taking a leisurely drive down 395 to the east side of the Sierra with a stop at Cafe Girasole in Minden for lunch and a quick day tour at Virginia Lakes to get in some turns and acclimatization (Despite its budge problems, California remains dedicated to get all the roads to major fishing spots open by May 1 so we were able to drive all the way to the lake). After a standard calorie loading operation at the Whoa Nellie Deli and a bit of work on the car shuttle, we were ready to go the next morning.

Day 1: Mammoth to Duck Lake. We started from the Lake Mary TH at the Tamarack cross-country ski area (which you can drive all the way to) and followed the groomed trails for about 3 miles to the summer TH at Cold Water Creek before heading into the backcountry. A mellow tour took us past Arrowhead, Skelton and Barney Lakes where we then made the final moderate ascent to Duck Pass (10,800 ft) and then descended to our camp at Duck Lake, a total of 5 hours after leaving the car. Some afternoon turns in corn snow on the slopes on the southwest side of the lake was a nice end to the day.

Day 2: Duck Lake to Franklin Lake. We opted for a leisurely 9:45 start to allow time for the sun to hit the north side of Pika Pass (11,545 ft) , the main objective of the day. A short, steep climb out of the Duck Lake basin got us up to the basin on the northwest side of the pass which was easy to descend despite being somewhat firm. From the pass, we took a steep, narrow, snow filled gully down into the Ram Lake basin, finding some nice turns once out of the narrow chute. From Ram Lake, we then skied through mellow terrain up to our second night's camp at Franklin Lake. With time left to spare in the day, we opted to head up to the top of the next day's pass -- Pretty Pass (11,940 ft) which was right above the lake -- figuring we'd benefit from kicking in some steps on the steep section that we could use the following morning when the snow would still firm on the north side. Steps kicked in, we enjoyed more corn harvesting on the way back to camp.

Day 3: Franklin Lake to Big McGee Lake. Two passes to cover this day. We got off at about 9:30 and made the climb to up to Pretty Pass in about 1 hour, with the going much easier given the steps we put in the previous day. A steep descent off Pretty Pass, brought us down to Bighorn Lake where we started heading southeast out of Convict Canyon towards our second pass of the day, Corridor Pass (11,800 ft). The beautiful terrain in here included great views of Red Slate Mountain and the Red Slate couloir. Crossing the pass presented little difficulty as this was the easiest pass on the route. From the pass, we headed down through the Upper McGee Creek basin eventually finding camp in the valley below Big McGee Lake with beautiful views of the surrounding peaks in the basin.

Day 4: McGee Creek Basin to Golden Lake. This would be the last difficult pass of the trip. From our camp at 10,400 feet, we dropped down to 10,000 feet, then started following the drainage up to Golden Lake (a different one than our ultimate destination for the day). At about 10,200 feet, we started contouring around to the northeast toward Steelhead Lake eventually turning southward into the basin above the lake and following it up towards Steelhead Pass (11,560 ft, called Stanford Pass in Secor's Peaks, Passes and Trails of the High Sierra). The north side of the pass was steep and we opted to boot up the last 400 feet or so to the top where we took in great views of Pioneer Basin and the Mono Recesses to the south. An alternative route into the Mono Creek drainage is to go over Hopkins Pass from Big McGee Lake but we opted against this as it is steeper than Steelhead at the top and leaves you much further down Mono Creek with a longer climb to Golden Lake. Following a quick detour for some turns without our packs, we headed down through the basin's mellow slopes to Mono Creek, turning east at about 10,000 feet and ascending to Golden Lake (10,994 ft). All day long the wind had been blowing and clouds had been moving through and not too long after arriving at the lake in beautiful light, the winds picked up even more and the clouds settled in.

Day 5: Golden Lake to Mosquito Flats. When we left, the forecast had called for a low pressure system to move in on Day 5. Unfortunately it came a bit early and we had high winds and snow through the night and into the morning, waking up to find minimal visibility and 6 inches of low density powder all around. With one pass left to go and not sure what type of conditions we would find higher up, we opted to get out of camp quickly that morning and make our way over Mono Pass (12,050 ft). Navigation turned out to be less of a problem than expected as we were able to follow the  natural draw of the basin and didn't need the GPS. After a few hours of feeling our way, we arrived at the pass. The lack of what is normally a great view of Mt. Mills, Mt. Abbot an Mt. Dade was more than made up for by the 2,000 feet of powder skiing we got to do down to Ruby Lake  and then into the Little Lakes Valley which we then followed out to our car, 1.5 miles down from the summer trail head, skis on our feet the entire way.

After a bit of time spent gathering up our cars (we left a car at Convict Lake as well in case we had to bail off the route early) and sorting gear, it was on to the Whoa Nellie Deli for some serious calorie intake before heading north back to Reno.

Once again, the Sierras did not disappoint.

Some Photos Below:
1) Skiing below Red Slate Mountain and the Red Slate Couloir
2) Tyler skiing down from Corridor Pass into the McGee Creek basin
3) Tyler and Reese taking a break in Pioneer Basin with the Mono Recesses in the background.

More Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/iluka1968/MammothToRockCreek545811#

Gear:
- Axes
- Crampons
- Several in the group used ski crampons in sections

USGS Topos:
- Bloody Mountain
- Convict Lake
- Mt. Abbot
Awesome! May head down to the East side soon.

Excellent! I was just looking at possible trips out of Mammoth along the high route south. I've hiked it in the summer and always wanted to get down there for the corn season. I wasn't sure about the opening of the road to Lake Mary TH.

Great trip....Thanks for sharing....

I have to set aside some time to go back to the Sierras....

Looks like you had good weather!

Great adventure.  Love your day by day reporting format.  Some mondo packs in play, there..

great TR Andy, glad you guys had a good time.  Am looking forward to getting some turns in when I get back from Peru.

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may-4-8-sierra-nevada-mammoth-to-rock-creek
iluka
2011-05-10 19:59:18