January 18, 2013, ONP The Pipeline

This is a line I've been staring at for years, and despite being relatively close to the road I've never seen a track in it. Last Friday conditions lined up for Jack, Solveig and myself to go check it out.

We accessed the line from around the back side, skinning up the west side of Mt. Angeles and wallowing up a rotten, sunbaked gully to a col. From here we used a ski anchor belay to punch in a traverse across an exposed entry ramp. The aspect of the line is east-northeast, and being etched into an alpine face it stays shaded for much of the day.

This put us a short bootpack to the top where there's plenty of room for a casual transition.

Ski conditions were variable but better than expected with chalky snow and pockets of microfilm crust. The crux came at the end where the angle rolls over considerably and a wind feature has created an unskiable wave (less apparent in the photos). We downclimbed this section which shouldn't be necessary later in the season as more of an apron develops.

With time to spare we skinned up to Klahhane Ridge and climbed the SE ridge of Mt. Angeles, dropping 2,000' down the south face in the late afternoon glow.

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