Just got back from getting the first turns of the year. Skied North Yolla Bolly Mountain - 7863' this morning with skinny. Found some sweet lines. A lot of north facing stuff. Watched a Golden Eagle soar above the summit and saw lots of animal tracks.
More snow would be great...


get your jib on!

The trailhead



Epic south facing lines soon to be covered in snow!


I will definetaly be coming back here when there is more snow.
More on this place in the future...

get your jib on!

get your jib on!

Good skiing and hiking with you, jib. Got some photos below:

Jibmaster making the ridge.
<img src="http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47458.jpg" border=0>

Jibmaster dropping in.
<img src="http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47459.jpg" border=0>

Skinny dragging a pole. Give me a break, first turns of the season OK?
<img src="http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47460.jpg" border=0>

Some rock scraping! Time to take the skis off and walk.
<img src="http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47461.jpg" border=0>

We only got to ski a little (in red) of what should be a really fun line.
<img src="http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47457.jpg" border=0>

Look for more from the land of coastal mank soon. Now I really should get back to work on stuff I'm supposed to be doing.

!SWEET!
Thanx for the pics, skinny. Had a blast jibbin' the Yolla Bollys with you.
Welcome to the Coastal Crest Snow Patrol!
Your free gift is in the mail.


get your jib on!

Looks pretty slim pickins there.
You should move up here. I've gotten 6 powder days in Nov.
Each day has been better than the last. Yesterday I skinned for 4000 vert of fresh track on 10 inches of powder on top of a good base and that is just 12 miles from my house. Today we got another 6 inches on top of that but I didn't ski today. Unfortunately the ski area is opening this weekend so everything is going to get tracked and I'm really going to have to go to the backcountry to get the fresh now.
Well after last year when you stole all our snow, I guess this is just getting even alittle.

nesterg

Winter has finally arrived down here nesterg. Glad to hear you been gettin' some. I guess if it's going to be a bad year for us, we had it coming!
Actually, a low snow year would be great for a change. I could use the lack of low elevation snow to access more terrain with the Jeep. It doesn't look like jibC will be hooking me up with a ride on the snowmachine much this winter. I swear I'm going to steal that thing! :twisted:

_________________
Coastal Crest Snow Patrol
http://www.zazzle.com/jibmaster
http://www.earnyourturns.com/3878/ccsp-guide-2-mendocino/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jibmaster/

Headed up to the Yolla Bolly's with snowblasta.
jibC drove us up to Red Bluff, then west on the 36
to just past Wildwood.
Road 30 is just passed Hayfork Creek.
Tuesday evening we arrive and jibC proceeds
to shuttle us up.

snowblasta preparing to get his jib on.




I have only been to North Yolla Bolly three times.
Once in the summer, once in the fall - drove to the TH
and skied off the summit of North Yolla Bolly with skinny.
And one other time where I tried to 4wheel in.
:roll:

So with a fading memory and thoughts of internet directions,
we set off.
Road 30 takes you up aways, then you turn left onto road 35.
There are signs - you can't miss it.

The light was fading with our late start. By the time we get
to road 35, it's dark.
The kayak stuffed with gear was a pain. It kept rolling over.
I can't believe I brought my playboat for this task.
Shoulda brought my wavesport X.

jibC dropped us off just a bit up road 35.

He wouldn't be back for 5 days.

We set up the tent -thanx powderwhore!
sorta...

snowblasta with sleep on his mind


----------------------------------------
Day 1 - Wed.

Wake up and pack up camp to continue
on up towards North Yolla Bolly.
We came prepared. Very prepared.
Our packs weighed 60 pounds.
Enough food for 10 days.
I weigh 135...

snowblasta





Around mid-afternoon we had had enough.
We set up camp for the night.

My amazing ninja powers will keep us safe from the bears.


snoblasta gettin' down with the down


You thought I looked scary?
Don't look him in the eye!


I soon realized I had left my maps in jibC's truck.
Luckily snowblasta brought his copy, but it is only
for closer to the mountain. My road map is not here!
Not real sure how far up the road we were, we crashed
out for the night.

----------------------------------------------
Day2 - Thur.

We leave in the morning and start heading up the road.
snowblasta enjoying the morning


bear tracks


My supersized McHale pack.


Some other large mammal.




We kept going.
North Yolla Bolly - L/Black Rock Mountain - R


The first sign.


We now have a clue where on the road we are.
Still not on our map yet though.
Stuart Gap is about 1 mile before the TH.
We're not making 7 miles this afternoon with this weight.
So we carry on for about another mile.

Looking east out over the Sacramento Valley to Lassen.
I'll zoom it in for you.




Called it around 2pm and camped for the night.
Found a spot with a view.



Looks like Bigfoot has been here
and created a snow sculpture!






WATER!




Trinity Mountains -left and Lassen glowing on the right.











The sunset went on forever.

http://www.vimeo.com/18623797



To the left are the Trinity Mountains








The lights of Redding glowing out the tent door


-------------------------------------------
Day 3 - Fri.


Woke up to a sea of fog in the Sacramento Valley.





Knowing now that the we are around 6 miles from Stuart Gap,
and the TH is another mile or so.
Then another 3-4 miles to the summit/3000' elevation gain.
We didn't know how fast we could retreat on an up and down
cross-country road by Sunday with our heavy packs...
So we toured up the road for several miles with day packs.

Lots of bear tracks and large mammal tracks.

snowblasta


Views of Shasta







After about 2-3 hours of skinning, we take off
of the road to top out on this large knoll with a great
view of North Yolla Bolly (L) and Black Rock Mountain (R).


http://www.vimeo.com/18613841

North Yolla Bolly's north face


Black Rock Mountain


We headed back to camp
http://www.vimeo.com/18613642

http://www.vimeo.com/18622040

http://www.vimeo.com/18624451

And made it back to camp
http://www.vimeo.com/18628028

Kicked back in the tent playing checkers.


-------------------------------------------------
Day 4 - Sat.

Not sure how long it would take to get back to
where jibC left us off, we headed back.
The snow was just right to coast/glide across and down
the road and even up some of the hills, we didn't slip back.

We soon got to our first camp where jibC dropped us off.
This is where the snowmachine track started.
We had been skiing down our skin track all day to
get some glide.

I was surprised how fast we retreated. We had planned on
camping out where we got left off and get the snow-mo ride out.
When we got down to the bottom of road 35, we turned right onto
road 30.
As soon as I saw that packed groomer of a snowmachine track
heading downhill, I just kept going.

The packs where about 10 pounds lighter now.
Down and down we went.
Scary straight sections and tight, fast turns following
the track down the road.
It flattened out after a while and the slogging started.
Crossed Hayfork Creek on the flats and saw a sign that stated
3 miles to highway 36.
Not stopping now.
Continued skating, poling and jibbing on until we got to the highway.
5 hours later.

Retreated a ways and set up camp for the night.

----------------------------------------
Day 5 - Sun.

Woke up to frost in the tent 'cause we were too tired to
put up the fly on the tent the night before.
Soaked and tired, we headed back to the highway to meet jibC.

snowblasta nappin' - waiting for our pick up.




Way too much weight and not being dropped off
deep enough halted our progress on this trip.
But I got valuable information about this approach.
It's not as long as I had thought.

Taking the bivy sack next time!

Thanx for the satellite phone jibC!

It was such a blast to be camping in the wilderness for five days.
The Yolla Bolly's are trippy.

Definitely coming back!

_________________
Coastal Crest Snow Patrol
http://www.zazzle.com/jibmaster
http://www.earnyourturns.com/3878/ccsp-guide-2-mendocino/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jibmaster/