March 12

Paul had never done either of the Emerson coolies and I really wanted a repeat on zebra which I've only done solo in all time epic conditions so my expectations were low as far as snow conditions :D

Here's a random photo I found on internet of it:


Almost full moon the night before:


There is less snow down low than I've ever seen this time of year. You can drive really high on all dirt roads right now. There is ample coverage up high so it's pretty nice. However, if we don't get more snow it's gonna be a pretty sad spring for the southern areas :(.

Beautiful weather the next day after weather called for 30% chance of snow from some storm passing far to south:


Added to hit list:


Not sure name of this drainage, but it's beatiful place to do some skinning. Emerson looming:


Ran into what looked like a fresh 3 or 4 party splitboard track going into same area. You could tell it was from night before cuz the pole plants were frozen.
Hmmm. We made a plan just to hit w/e of the two chutes didn't have people in it. It's kinda hard to hit these lines fresh w/ the road so melted out, but I was actually surprised there weren't any out tracks from previous in week.





At this point we could see 2 people just going into north cooly, so we assumed there were 3 people total and all were doing same line:


Paul was up ahead on apron (shocker) and when he pulled into the zebra he turned around and said "there's already some guy in it". I laughed cuz I thought he was joking. Then I looked down and saw a booter coming from other direction you couldn't see before. So, I grumbled a few expletives and thought **** him, we have verts. He doesn't stand a chance :)


The apron of chute was superfirm, windhammered snow. Once about 1/3 of way up main chute conditions got a tad softer w/ pockets of sortapow, breakable crust, windboard, etc. Typical Sierra wind affected conditions, but overall it seemed like it wasn't too heinous and still looked worthy to ride. Actually the best conditions for multiple riders since tracks wouldn't be too deep

Paul reeling in unknown splitter:


Paul passes him and starts a conversation and I hear the guy introduce himself as "Ryland" and hear the name "Seth Lightcap" and I realize this must be the "Deeper" crew! How f'ing cool 8)
He was a really cordial dude and didn't give us any sort of attitude (which I might give if someone just passed me in my line :wink: )

Ryland about 15 feet from top:


The top got pretty steep and ends at rock. I made it too the very top and found a spot to stomp out a platform (another reason verts are awesome) w/ a natural little cubby hole to stash boards and packs against the rock wall. Ryland joined me on the same platform and I learned the cameraman (Chris Edmunds?) was shooting both coolies from across the valley and JJ and Seth were in the North cooly. I was giddy at this point knowing that JJ was in the next chute over.
He never asked but I assured him we wouldn't poach first tracks since that would be uber gay (and I'm planning on buying the dvd so i dont want to see him shred over my gaper tracks :lol:)
He was stoked and very appreciative of this. He also said he was glad we were up there w/ him cuz he was fucking gripped.

Cameraman radio'd Ryland shortly and said that the sun wasn't gonna hit the line so he told Ryland to go ahead and drop in. I squeezed against the wall so he could strap in on our precarious perch. What a perch it was! Ready to go, Ryland radios back "dropping in 10" and proceeds to rip the holy piss out of it in very marginal conditions :shock: . I was fucking blown away. He was gripped??? :lol:

Ryland w/ Paul below him on his perch. It's at least a solid 50 degrees for first 50 feet:












I quickly understood why this guy was partnering up w/ J. Jones. Amazing to witness a world class rider drop in to something like that first hand in nonhero conditions.

Paul:




Me on firm lower section:




Paul on apron:


Never did get to meet Jeremy Jones, but I was stoked just knowing they were out there in the backcountry and to witness their crew in action. I hope that shot makes the vid!

Awesome! Looks like a sweet couloir.

noicely b!!! heading down there after the next refresh but prolly jus gunning for the n cooly. how far up b-milk rd did u drive??? was planning on just rolling from aspendell but now not sure w/ your beta.

We got to ski that one you added to your hit list a few years ago, its a great ride and incredible zone at the top --- just watch out below, had a buddy take a fall and punched through to nothing but air.

You can drive all the way up to where you walk over the logs over the creek. Past the lower creek vehicle crossing up the moraine. Basically all the way

Left my car this morning at 6:45Am, and mentally prepared myself for an hour of walking before the snow.

Just before leaving, I read the approach description in Nate Greenberg's book, and sure enough I was parked about 1 mile past the recommended start.

I considered for about a second to drive back to get to the right drainage, but that would've taken at least 5 minutes, so I decided: nah, what do they know.

As I was hiking the (wrong) ridge, I kept looking to my left and kept thinking "their route looks better".

But at that point it meant going lower to meet the route, and again, it probably would have taken and extra 5 minutes, so I pushed ahead, sure that any moment I would top out and see snow.

It turned into a 3 hour bushwalk up the creek drainage (eventually behind Mt. Locke), then another 3 hours skinning (initially on off).

Then I started up Zebra couloir. Nice semi-wet snow, covered by breakable crust, with some pockets of fresh snow on top. A quick test showed the fresh snow not bonding well, so I avoided it.

THen the clouds came, and the wet snow started to refreeze. I kept going up for a while to see if the refreeze was serious. It meant business, so I turned around about half way. It skied well, edgeable, but I sure wouldn't want to ski it any later.
Some good skiing in the sun, then lots of bushwacking, trying to find a faster way down. Nope.

Observation: I carried my skis diagonally, and the tails kept hitting the side hill, both up and down (how is that possible???)

Also the tips kept hitting the snow while climbing the couloir.

I might have to reconsider the diagonal carry.

Anyway, 9 hours car to car. Sure glad I had my verts though. Never pulled them out, but they added some needed weight, otherwise I might have hiked faster, god forbid.

Met some guys who skied Wahoo, parked right at the base and skinned from the car????

Wednesday Gilbert, supposedly SOuth lake is open, and you can skin from the car. SOunds too easy though.

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