May 25-31 Potpourri of Palisades Passes

A brief trip report from a recent trip to the Sierra Nevada where there is still oodles of snow above 10,000 feet in elevation.

The original plan was to set out from South Lake outside of Bishop and cross over Bishop Pass, Thunderbolt Pass, Potluck Pass, Scimitar Pass, Glacier Notch and then Agassiz Col and exit via South Lake. In case we weren't able to link things up, we opted to leave a car down at the Big Pine Creek Trailhead so we had a bail option if the route didn't go.

Four of us set out from South Lake on a beautiful day. You could drive all the way to the lake and we had the skis off our packs and on our feet within a half-mile of hitting the trail. A few hours of skiing the summer trail route on nice firm snow under sunny skies put us on a nice bench between Long lake and Bishop Lake where we  set up camp for the night at about 10,800 feet. Didn't want to push too high that first day to avoid any problems with the altitude. We managed to find a dry camp, which, given the cloudless night and relatively warm temps meant a night sleeping without a tent. The temps managed to get low enough that night that the snow firmed up nicely overrnight giving us hope for some fields or corn the next day.

Waking to a clear morning on Day 2, we set off for Bishop Pass (12,000 feet). The snow was firm and made for easy travel in the morning. We followed what amounted to the summer trail most of the way to the pass. Where the summer trail heads up steeply in a series of switchbacks to the pass, we stayed left and headed up a pretty easy slope to the left of  the switchbacks that brought us up to a patch where it was easy to ski over (and actually down!) to the pass. After a brief lunch, we took off for Thunderbolt Pass about 1.5-2 miles along the west side of the Palisade Crest. By this point the snow was starting to soften up quite a bit making the going a bit slow. We opted to do a high traverse over to the pass rather than dropping into Palisade Basin. There were a good number of day or 2 old slough avalanches but no evidence of slabs, and given that it was still relatively early, we thought it was safe to stay high. Thunderbolt is quite an easy pass to cross on skis (as opposed to summer when it takes a major talus slog to reach). A little food on top of the pass and we were off for the last pass of the day -- Potluck Pass. As with the route to Thunderbolt Pass, we opted to do a high traverse again. By this point, the snow was becoming really really soft making the going a bit tough. Nothing like skiing through six inches of mush. We reached Potluck with minimal problems aside from the mush (you can do the traverse without losing or gaining much elevation from Thunderbolt). The snow seemed stable but shortly after arriving at the pass, we looked back and saw a new, relatively large slough come down off Mount Winchell and cut right across out prior tracks. That was enough to convince us to cut the day short at that point. Only issue was getting over Potluck Pass. Unlike the north side of the pass, the south side is a bit on the steep side for about 200-250 feet. Skiable if you're solid on the skis. Better traversed if you ski like me. The slope looked okay at first but when John went over, he kicked off a pretty good sized slough of snow. Seeing that, we opted to spend the next 30 minutes trying to clear the route. Shovels in hand, and skis on the feet, we kicked off the remnants of the cornice on the pass, breaking off enough snow to get the remainder of the slope to slough off and make it skiable and safe. We all got off the pass in one piece and skied just a bit more up towards Scimitar Pass and the basin leading to Mt. Sill where we opted to set up camp for the day. Another cloudless night at 12,000 feet and another opportunity to bed down without the tent.

The original plan had called for scrambling up Mt. Sill in the morning before going over Scimitar Pass but the soft conditions late in the afternoon the day before convinced us, it was in our best interest to hit Scimitar early so we bailed on the Sill idea. Temperatures got below freezing overnight so we were able to head off on firm snow towards Scimitar Pass. The ski to the base was easy and took 10 minutes. On the firm snow and with a steep chute to get up towards the pass, we opted for crampons. Worked great initially but as John and I headed up the chute on the left/north side of the route up, we were both breaking through the crust in a big way. John opted to head for the rocky slopes the right, while Mark and Lucy, trailing behind stayed on the snow slope. Mark and Lucy managed to find a stretch of snow on the left of the chute firm enough to support one without punching through and were able to use that to gain the more gentle slopes above. After getting biffed on my rock route, I opted to join them. John, who is normally way ahead on all these trips, managed to fall behind after finding himself in a morass of Class 3-4 scrambling on icy rock with skis on his back. He eventually made it up in one piece, a bit pissed at himself for getting off the snow route so early. After this steep shot, the slope eases quite a bit and the ski up to the pass is easy from that point. The slope heads up just to the south of Mt. Jepson which is an easy Class 2 scramble from there. Problem is, the gentle snow slope leads one up to quite the false pass... a big cornice laden drop off onto the east side of the Palisade Crest. This would be easy to ski off in whiteout conditions. The actual pass is up about 200 feet on the ridge to the south of this flat area of snow. When you stare up at the ridge, there is a large rectangular-appearing block jutting up on the ridge line. The pass lies just to the left/east of this block and is marked by a cairn you can't see except up at the pass. Class 2 scrambling brought us up to the right crossing point.

Once on the pass, we were confronted with another steep slope down the southast side of the pass down to the Norman Clyde Glacier. Unsure of the stability, we kicked off a bit of snow to test it then John -- our human avalanche control (ski patroller, avalance patroller at Squaw, and skier extraordinaire) -- headed over to test things. He made it over with minimal problems kicking off a few sloughs. I opted to boot it down given the steep nature off the top. Lucy and Mark skiied off as well. Mark had no problems but Lucy was taken down by a slough that started above her. Fortunately, she stayed above the snow and got out with minimal problems, although a bit of a scare that once again convinced us that conditions were just too soft by midday for skiing on or below any really steep slopes. Off the pass, we headed down to a flat spot to the south of this rock rib that comes down off Scimitar Pass and separates the basin below Palisade Crest and Norman Clyde Peak from the basin below Mts. Sill and Jepson. We planned to camp there for the night due to the snow conditions. Dumping our stuff, John and I set out to ski some less steep east facing slopes and managed to find some reasonable spots that were on the soft side but made for reasonable turns. Still not great Sierra corn at this point. As evening approached, we weren't happy with our campsite that was going in the shade pretty early so we opted to check out a pass that led into the basin below Sill and Jepson. Rather than dropping all the way down the morrraine towards Elinore Lake and then climbing back up into the basin, we found a spot on the rock rib at 12,000 feet that made for an easy crossing into the basin north of the rock ridge. Once on the other side, we set up a beautiful camp with great views of Mt. Gayley, Temple Cragg, Mt. Jepson, Mt. Sill and an awesome sunset created by a Sierra Wave. The megamid came out for the first time on the trip but I opted to sleep under the stars in a nice little trench which did the trick just fine.

We awoke the next morning to cold temperatures, sunny skies and a bit more wind. Unhappy with the snow conditions to that point in the trip, we decided Glacier Notch and Agassiz Col were not in the cards for this trip and opted to change our itinerary and head over to the North Fork of Big Pine Creek drainage via Contact Pass. We got going early in the morning, taking a high traverse across the basin below Mt. Jepson and Mt. Sill. By 10AM, the snow was softening up nicely and it felt as if the corn had finally arrived!. Packs off for a while, we killed a few hours skiing the slopes above Elinore Lake. Quite nice conditions at this point. East and Southeast facing slopes, all with good corn this early in the morning.

The fun done, we put the packs back on and headed off towards Contact Pass with plans to get over before conditions softened up too much. Staying high, we followed the north side of the basin down to the flat area below Contact Pass. There were some rock ledges along the way down to this point but by staying left most of the way, they were easily avoided. The south side of Contact Pass was snow covered on the left, exposed rock and scree on the right. Although, not too tall, the snow slope was a bit on the steep side and made for tough ski traversing with a full pack on. John opted to stay on his skis most of the way up the left part of the slope, while Mark, Lucy and I took the skis off and headed up the rocky slopes on the right. Loose scree in spots, Class 2 scramble in others, it didn't present too much difficulty. We all reached the pass no problem. Having hoped for a nice lunch in the sun on the pass, we had to beat a hasty descent as the winds picked up in a huge way making it a bit difficult to handle those flour tortillas and peanut butter! Down the north side we went. John skied off as usual finding firm conditions up top but softer snow and corn after about only 200 feet. I booted it down (a common theme) while Mark and Lucy booted down the first part before skiing the latter half. It was only about 2-3 PM but by this point the west side of the chute off Contact was in the shade and firmed up quicly. The east side of the chute stayed in the sun and was quite nice, presenting some of the best corn we saw on the trip, particularly for this late in the day. The remainder of the slope -- northwest facing -- down to Third Lake was also covered with nice corn late in the afternoon although starting to get a bit suncupped.

Down at the lake, we set up our last dry camp. John headed off and skied the the slope leading up from Third Lake, north of Temple Cragg towards the Palisade Glacier, finding some nice snow on the northeast oriented slope late in the afternoon. The night again was clear as a bell and warm enough to sleep without the tent. We awoke to another clear morning and headed out. We skied down to second lake, crossed the dam and picked up the summer trail at that point. From Second Lake down, the trail was largely free of snow with only scattered patches until the Forest Service cabin and below there nary a trace of snow. 5 miles of walking down the sun-covered trail, we were finally back at the car we had dropped off as our back-up plan. This plan almost backfired as John forgot the key to back of his truck making entry a tad difficult. Nothing a good Leatherman couldn't fix, as he took off a few screws here and there and was able to climb from the front cab into the back of the truck and get the thing open by unscrewing his lock. That little glitch overcome, it was off to pick up the cars at South Lake and a big dinner at the Whoa Nellie Deli in the Mobile just outside Lee Vining (a must stop for good food... junction of 395 and Tioga Pass Road).

Overall, a great trip. The late series of storms in the Sierra this May created a pack that wasn't as consolidated as it should be at this time of year. Early in the day, good corn could be found, but by later, at least on east, south and west facing slopes, things were pretty mushy. Perhaps after some extra time with warm weather and cooler temps at night (fortunately, it was getting cold enough higher up for things to firm up) the pack will consolidate a bit and make for some good late season skiing. At least there's still tons of the white stuff to snow on!