2.18.08, Palisades Cirque, High Sierra, CA

Kicking it in Bishop ,CA where I was doing a little "work," for a few days. It was sunny and warm around 60F. We took advantage of some good California corn.  Heading up out of Big Pine our initial objective was 13,800ft Birch Mtn. Not making it up the dirt and washed out road we back tracked up to Big Pine Creek. A nice tour led us up in to the Palisades Cirque with Mt Temple, Mt Sill as our neighbors. Although, hotter than stink skinning up and suffering some altitude slowness being from sea level, we found an excellent 40 degree couloir with corn inside and sastrugi lower down that softened up to make an excellent descent. The High Sierra is where its at. We only saw one other party as they went past us in to another drainage we had these high peaks and snow all to ourselves. What a beautiful place. SM

more pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/smitrov/SierraEastside