April 29-May 1, 2012, Marble Mountains

Looking for some good weather, I planned a trip south, to the Marble Mountains, a sub-range of the Klamath Mountains in Northern California.  They are a popular summer backpacking wilderness, but I couldn't find any reference to anyone skiing them, although someone must do it.

I parked at the lover's camp trailhead (~4,000 feet) and backpacked in from there with my loyal canine companion.  The first four miles or so were mixed with patchy snow but pretty easy going.  A few stream crossing required getting my feet wet but were not difficult - the final creek crossing, which is just steps above a plunging waterfall could be nerve-ringing at higher flows, but was only ankle deep.  From the waterfall crossing, the snow was more or less continuous, as I headed upslope the last mile towards the Marbles.  Snow-free camp spots were pretty marginal, but I found one that passed muster atop a ledge just below the marble gap, next to an open running mini-waterfall for water.

Sunday was warm and sunny, so by the time I set up the tent around early afternoon, the snow was pretty soft.  I waited until after dinner, when it started to cool down, and then skinned up to the Marble Rim for a sunset ski.  From the top, snowy mountains of the Marble Mtn Wilderness stretched to the west and south, the Trinity Alps were visible a bit further south, and Black Marble Mtn loomed to the north.  The slopes are not steep to achieve the south rim, and the runs are fairly short (~1,000 feet), but steeper sustained shots are available from the north marble rim and Black Marble Mtn, and visible on other nearby peaks of the range.

Monday dawned cold and windy with popcorn drizzle falling onto my rain fly.  I hung around camp a bit waiting for it to turn, and then toured down through the trees towards the lower Sky High Valley.  The weather did start to improve in the afternoon, so I headed back up Little Marble Valley for a ski off a different part of the rim.  Along the way, I came across a deep opening in the marble rock, which appeared to be an entrance to one of the caves that the region is famous for, where explorers have found skeletons of timber wolves and bighorn sheep, long extirpated from the area.  Higher up, I also encountered a lone bear track, which crossed the open snowy slopes in the general direction of my tent (!)

After a hard freeze Monday night, Tuesday set up just right for some good skiing - sunny and warm but not too hot.  I skinned up to ski off the saddle of Black Marble Mtn into its bowl, followed by a near-perfect run off of the north rim on prime California corn down its shoulder and face.  On the north rim, I again saw the bear tracks, this time meandering up the ridgeline and out of the basin, begging the question, how do bears know to avoid walking on cornices?  I finished with a fun run off the south rim, and then skied back to camp for some food, and to pack up camp.  The Marbles don't contain large mountaineering peaks like the Cascades or Sierra Nevada and take some effort to get into, but they do offer some real wilderness skiing and solitude, as well as a possible escape from the gray spring skies of the Northwest.