April 21, 2005,Little Morrison, Sierras

We spent the night near the Tioga Pass road and validated that the road is still closed. Drove south on 395 past Mammoth and met our CA friends at their Tub Hot Springs campsite.  Larry had raw shins and needed a healing day.  Jill and I looked west and were drawn to Mount Morrison at 12,268 feet. We crossed highway 395 and drove 2 miles down Convict Lake road. The lake is partly frozen but should be open when the annual trout opener occurs in about a week.  We traveled to the road end along the lake and within 10 feet of the snow pack.  The steep couloirs of Little Morrison, sometimes called Black Mountain which is next to Mount Morrison, were right in front of us.  It was another sunny day and the ascent route was again perfect corn.  We found a moderately angled gully that rose to Tobacco Flats.  Then we continued up along a ridge that opens to an enormous bowl of untracked corn.  The view up the couloirs of Little Morrison and then the entrance to Old Mans Bowl, which is the route to its summit, were clearly visible. For the hardy, the summit of Mount Morrison provides access to a narrow gully to the west of the north face called Death Couloir by Yvon Chouinard.  We decided to skip that and harvest the corn. Yahoo!  Our descent was all giggles & grins and ended with a run down the steep face that ends just before the chilly waters of Convict Lake.  Then just a 10 foot walk back to the camper.  We are spoiled.  We drove back across 395 to our campsite near Tub Hot Springs. We had a brief soak while Larry and Cathy barbequed bratwurst, chicken drumsticks and veggies over a dried cow patty campfire.  Tasted great.   Zap