Kick Turns and the Crystal Crag

Base camp below the Crystal Crag

What do you think of when you hear about two 40 year old guys heading off for 4 days to live it up? A couple of balding guys in a big red Cadillac convertible heading to Vegas to enjoy wine, women and song perhaps? Well how about we trade out the Cadillac convertible for a 4x4 pickup, we make the destination Mammoth instead of Vegas and we lose the wine, women and song and trade that out for backcountry skiing, mountaineering and snoring and farting in a tent. And by the way, only one of us has male pattern balding and it’s not me!

Once again my friend Jason and I are off to enjoy the snow. We have done Baldy and Mt. Shasta together in the past with me enviously looking at his split board as I have had to walk back down the mountains and he snowboarded the whole way back to the car. Well this Christmas season I decided it was time to do something about it. I researched exactly the gear I wanted, sold a kidney (you don’t really need two, right?) and proceeded to spend my riches on what I thought would be the perfect backcountry ski setup. My wife appreciated that she had to do no shopping for me at all. Boxes would arrive at the house and I just told her to give it to me for Christmas. If only shopping for her was this easy!

I am a pretty good resort skier so the backcountry ski concept seemed like a great way for me to enjoy my love of hiking, mountaineering and skiing all at the same time. I read up on the unique attributes of backcountry skiing of which there are apparently many. Skinning, or skiing uphill, kick turns to facilitate such an endeavor, use of ski crampons and setting a skin track were all new concepts to this downhill skier. My family must think I am nuts for putting on my ski gear and skis in the front room of the house to practice all these new skills I will need. After wiping out the manger scene my wife had set in front of the Christmas tree with my ski tails multiple times I had figured out how to do a kick turn. Now if doing these maneuvers on the snow is as easy as it is on the carpet, I am a master! As I was still a little rusty on my rope handling skills I had learned while taking a snow travel course 6 months prior, I also brushed up on those including butterfly coiling my new rope and making a kiwi coil for travelling in a roped up scenario. Easy to do in the comfort of my home in front of the fireplace, I just hope it translates well to the cold environment on the snow covered slopes.

With just a couple days until our departure the weather at our destination, the Mammoth Lakes area, turned for the worst. Heavy snow and winds gusting up to 75MPH were in the forecast. As I had learned on Mt. Shasta, it pays to be flexible when planning trips in snowy environments. We opted to delay a couple days. The new days had some partly sunny days and light snow in the forecast with minimal wind for the first two days and no wind report for the final two. The temps would be cold with our first night at -5F and the high on the last day of 20F with the rest somewhere in between.

We departed home at 3AM and got up to Mammoth at a reasonable time. We had noticed that my fuel bottle for my 25 year old stove was leaking so we headed into our favorite gear shop in town, Mammoth Mountaineering, and got a new and improved fuel pump for the old reliable MSR XGK and headed over to get our permit. All went well at the Forest Service office and they reminded us of the high avalanche danger (this sounds like the Shasta trip all over again) and off we went to our trailhead.

There's a first time for everything!

As we arrived at the trailhead where they stop plowing the Lake Mary road we looked for a parking spot. The roads were plowed but still snow covered. I saw a spot that looked like I could park in and headed in. Unfortunately as I pulled forward into the snow bank my right front tire dropped off the road and sank about a foot. I tried reverse but my 4x4 with well worn tires better designed for dirt, sand and mud wasn’t going to get me out of this one. Out came the shovel and Jason and I started digging. We tried multiple times but no luck. I always carry a tow strap and after asking a couple people I found a guy willing to give me a tug to get out. I reparked in a much better spot that had become available. This was the first time I had ever had my truck stuck so it was a humbling experience. Already worn out from digging and sweating in the 15 degree temps, it was time to get our gear ready to head out.

We finished packing up our monster size backpacks which consisted of two packs for each of us. Our main pack to haul all our gear to our base camp plus a second, lighter and smaller pack for our ski mountaineering day trips. To use a phrase my Dad has accused the family of on many a vacation in the past, we looked like “Hannibal crossing the Alps!” Unfortunately for us, we had no elephants to carry the load, just us!

The great news is the couple mile trek from the trailhead to Lake George, our intended base camp area, is accessed via a groomed road. Unfortunately, it is all uphill! With the sun shining upon us and our monster top heavy packs on we put the skins on our skis and headed on up the groomed road. If either of us tipped over along the way we would have looked like a turtle flipped upside down, and been just about as coordinated as well!

We arrived at Lake George and set up base camp. Jason instructed me on the fine points of setting up camp in the snow such as stomping out a tent platform to compact the snow and then getting off it for at least a half hour to let it firm up. We positioned the tent to avoid wind blowing in the door and set up a kitchen area complete with snow couch with a great view of the Crystal Crag, a prominent rock feature on the far side of the frozen lake. We enjoyed the sun while we had it as it dropped behind the ridge at 3:30PM. We started with some prosciutto and mozzarella on parmesan crisps complete with Grey Poupon (but of course) that led into an early dinner and hot beverages while we worked on making camp improvements like walkways as the snow was so deep you would sink up to at least your knee if you stepped off the beaten down paths we were making.

It was an early night to bed as we had been up very early that morning. Since the forecast for the night was -5F we needed to do some extra prep before bed. We both had 2 sleeping pads to insulate us better from the snow. We put our water bottles in insulated containers and kept them close us all night to keep them from freezing. It turns out that the homemade cozy for my alcohol stove fits a 1 liter Nalgene bottle perfectly and was put to great alternate use on this trip. Prior to the trip I contemplated my situation as my lowest rated sleeping bag is good to 10 degrees F. I have a silk liner that might add 5 to 10 degrees of comfort but that is still cutting it close and I hate to be cold all night. The solution came to me a couple days before our departure. I also have a 45 degree summer bag that weighs just over a pound and packs down super small. I would bring both bags and put my cold weather bag inside the summer bag and combine the warmth of both down bags. Combined with my new down booties which I wore to bed it worked out perfectly and I not only survived my coldest night in the outdoors, I enjoyed it.

We awoke to a lovely sunshine morning. We fired up the stoves and found Jason’s to be running at no more than a simmer. Apparently it was in need of some maintenance. Why did we both bring stoves you ask? Well if one fails you always have a backup and it was looking like that was a really good idea. We melted snow to fill up our water bottles for the day, Jason cooked up some sausage patties and we worked on more camp improvements and packed our gear for the day. It was forecast to be about 11 degrees that day and with the sun shining it felt good. When we finally set off to ski up a nearby ridge bordering the lake I was down to a long sleeve t-shirt on top as I knew we would be heating up during the climb.

Awesome fresh powder and the Crystal Crag

Me at the top of the ridge above Lake George.

               The uphill ski touring was strenuous but not overly technical. The snow was soft as the powder snow was at least 10 feet thick. We made our way through the trees following the path laid down that morning by a couple on snowshoes. We had selected the route that morning based on the relative slope and safety of the ridge from avalanche danger. We reached the top of the ridge and sat down in the sun for a snack. The views were incredible and even our base camp was in sight as you could see the orange tent although it appeared as merely a small speck in this grand view from high atop the ridge. We removed the skins and converted our gear into downhill mode and I prepared for my first real powder run.

Jason having a rest at the ridge top.

Me taking in the views before our first ski down.

Back down to the lake after our first run.

Heading down the ridge in the deep powder was a learning experience for sure. As this was the first time since I have had good ski skills to encounter such an environment and I found it challenging. My legs got so tired on the trip down I had to stop several times. This was primarily due to the fact that I was going too slow given the conditions and I was having to work very hard to make the turns through the trees. I did not realize how slow deep powder can be and took a very cautious approach for this first run. We made it all the way down to the frozen lake. We had stayed off of the lakes the day prior and that morning as were not sure if they were safe to travel on. While up high on the ridge we had seen several people cross a few of the lakes in the area and figured if we stayed near the edge we should be fine. We made our way back to camp to enjoy another early dinner in the sunshine.

Jason shows off our quesadillas.

By the time we reached camp, the clouds had moved in and blocked the sun we were hoping for. We had plenty of time to cook and whipped up some pork loin and jalapeno muenster quesadillas for an appetizer while sitting on the snow couch enjoying the view. Since refrigeration was not a problem we were able to bring some tastier items than we normally might. We did discover that heating them from rock hard frozen can be an issue. We would rotate between cooking and doing camp improvements to keep warm and be properly fed/hydrated until about 8PM when we decided it was time for bed. The nights are very long and the days short so we had plenty of time in the tent for conversation and prepping gear for the following day. This was our exciting New Years Eve in the backcountry!

In the middle of the night the wind had picked up, Happy New Year! By early morning we could hear it snowing on the tent. When we finally got our of the tent it was breezy and snowing. Our camp improvements were almost entirely covered on snow that had blown in. The tent had a fair accumulation of snow around it as well. Out came the snow shovels and we started digging out. I had to dig down to the kitchen area and then uncover the stove. By leaving it out I let snow and ice build up in the jet and had to bang it a little to clear out the crud. With Jason’s stove relegated to simmer duties only this could be a crisis. I tried to prime the stove and the fuel just bubbled out of the jet rather than squirting like it usually would. I figured the jet had iced up and hoped that a larger amount of priming fuel would be all that it needed to warm up enough to clear. Fortunately I was right and I got the stove humming along and melting snow.

Heading up the ridge in a blizzard.

After a simple breakfast we both got our gear ready for the day. With snow falling and the breeze turning to a wind we layered up a little more than the day prior. We headed out to enjoy the same ridge again as it had proven to be safe and very fun. The track we had laid down the day prior was nearly invisible as the snow that night had filled it all in. We skinned up the ridge into what was turning into a blizzard with visibility down to 50 yards at times. When we hit the top we quickly converted to ski mode and flew back down. This time I carried more speed and the powder skiing was much easier. We made our way down to the very exposed lake and were greeted with wind gusts reaching about 40MPH! As quickly as we could we converted back to ski touring mode and made our way off the lake to seek some shelter and eat a snack. After that we did the same route all over again completing our second “lap” for the day, a first for both of us.

We skinned back to camp in a blizzard. Once again, all the work of the morning dig out was almost completely erased by the snow that had blown in. All I wanted to do was fire up the stove and make hot beverages but we realized we needed more wind protection from the 40MPH gusts driving the snow at us. Jason laid out a new plan and we started by making a snow wall near the vestibule of our tent to protect us. We were initially planning on cooking in the vestibule while we were inside the tent and in our sleeping bags. While building the snow wall Jason realized the tree adjacent to our tent was doing a great job at blocking wind and reduced the blowing snow. We decided to dig out yet another kitchen and snow couch and take advantage of both our snow block wind wall and tree. It proved to be a much better location but lacked a view. I guess you just can’t have it all. We finally fired up the stove nearly 2 hours after returning to camp to finally get a hot beverage. Due to the cold windy and snowy conditions we made this a very quick liquid and soup dinner and were in the tent for bed by 6:30PM. We both hated to go to bed this early as we knew it was going to be a VERY long night but the conditions warranted the action.

We both awoke at midnight and were wide awake. We shared in the joy that the wind had stopped but the snow was still falling. Jason had brought an ipod he could watch a movie on. I normally would be disgusted at the thought of bringing such an electronic device on a trip to the backcountry but I was the student and Jason the master. He knew how long and boring a night in the tent can be in the middle of winter so we watched a movie on the 2 inch screen and shared a pair of earphones, one ear for each of us. He went back to sleep and I paid the price for getting two great nights of sleep by laying there awake for the next four hours or so. To occupy my time I conceived every possible way I could cook the egg, sausage and cheese breakfast croissant sandwiches I had brought along with the available gear we had. In my mind I fashioned a steamer with a blend of the pots and lids we had with us. With my stomach rumbling from our shortened dinner the night before my focus on the cooking task before me was hyper focused.

At first light I had enough of the tent. I sprung out of it to find that I needed to get out the shovel again the dig out the minimal amount of snow that had accumulated in our walkway and kitchen. Having learned from the night before, I left my pot turned upside down over the stove so snow and ice did not accumulate in the burner. I had it fired up in no time. First a hot cup of cocoa and then the breakfast croissants! I cannot begin to tell you satisfying sound my stove makes once lit. I think it is a blend of the smell of white gas burning and the jet engine sound it makes that brings instant warmth and happiness to my soul. This was repeated every morning on this trip but none as sweet as this one, our final day on the four day adventure.

Breakfast croissants at last!

While the water boiled I dug out our tent which was covered in snow on the sides to a depth of between 12 to 18 inches. Light snow was still falling but the wind had finally abated which made the morning even better. I poured us both a cup of hot water to make our morning drinks and got to work on my boiler for cooking the much anticipated croissants. It did not work out exactly as planned but it worked well enough and within 15 minutes we were both enjoying a wonderful breakfast. Funny that at home this would be no big deal at all. Pop the silly thing in the microwave for 90 seconds and done, but not here!

We packed up camp during the light snowfall. Jason informed me it was good backcountry etiquette to fill in the major holes we had dug so we made quick work of that. We threw the monster size packs on our backs and headed out. While it was mostly downhill it still wasn’t easy. The slope was not quite steep enough to ski so it took awhile to make it back to the truck. We had been wondering how snowed in the truck would be given that it has snowed the last three days. Fortunately there was only about a foot surrounding it and it was quick work. Starting my diesel truck was my next worry as it had cold soaked for 4 days and never saw a temp over 10 degrees F. I had treated the fuel so it should be OK. It turned over ever so slowly at first. It started rather quickly but ran so rough and sounded so loud you would have thought you were standing next to a stamp mill in a gold mining town. After about a minute it smoothed out and all was well.

The trip home was most enjoyable as it snowed from Lone Pine all the way down to the 14 and 5 merge. Seeing Ridgecrest, Palmdale and Lancaster in the snow was a really new experience. Given the weather conditions, we did surprisingly well on our return.

I learned so much on this trip. I discovered that you do not need to buy a super cold rated sleeping bag if you have two semi cold rated bags. I found a new use for my cozies from my alcohol stove. The new tent I had purchased for this trip worked out perfectly and was just right for the two of us and all our winter gear. I learned that while hanging out at camp and cooking sounds fun, it is darn cold and your body wants to just get it done. Both of us hauled home at least half of the food we took. I have read plenty of stories of guys on Everest and that about all they eat is soup when they are up high on the mountain. While we were nowhere near the conditions they face, I think I have begun to understand what they are going through. My new backcountry ski gear worked flawlessly which is great as it was the first use on most of it. I discovered that the short days make for long nights in the tent, and that sucks! In the future I plan on getting a stove I can operate inside the tent which can at least make those first morning beverages a little easier as well as offer the ability to retreat from really bad weather and cook inside the tent. I discovered that my wool gloves were great around camp and actually do keep you warm even when wet. Most importantly I found they can be dried by keeping them in your sleeping bag all night! I also learned that I should have left my rope, harness, carabineers, amateur radio and ski and boot crampons behind and saved about 10 lbs. of stuff I never touched!

While learning and discovering new things on this trip, the most important one I think I figured out is that this would be more comfortable if done in the spring when the days are longer, the sun shines more often and the temps are milder. With that in mind I am planning on a springtime trip to Split Mountain to complete another California fourteener. Until then, I will keep practicing my winter skills and hope for good snow but also some warmer temps to enjoy it in!
Click here for the pictures from the whole trip.