April 22, 2005, Mount McGee, Sierras

The sun was warming the inside of the camper at 7am at our campsite near Tub Hot Springs.  Pulled back the curtain and looked west and the eastern slopes of Mount McGee at 10,871 feet were glistening in the morning sun.  I think we'll ski "that one today".  We had a casual breakfast and drove a couple miles across the road to the base of McGee.  Stopped at the stone monument at the base of the original rope tow that was Mammoth Montain back in 1938.  We looked up at the "395 Gullies" and decided that if we started here we would have to walk 50 feet to the snow.  We drove north a bit and parked within 20 feet of the snowpack. OK, we're spoiled.

The ascent was again on perfect corn. A beautiful avy chute with a protected ridge was our roadway upward.  The sun was still shining but within an hour wispy clouds started appearing.  When we finally reached our high point, the cloud cover was dominant.  The descent was ideal.  We barked our way down on a consistent 34 degree face that eased as we approached the camper.  The only down side was that our tracks weren't glistening in the sun.  Back to the hot springs and soak time.  It started snowing briefly this evening. Later, the moonlight created shadows on the surrounding sagebrush.  Mammoth is supposed to receive 6" this weekend before spring returns next week.  It could be a powder day at the resort ths weekend.  Zap