Here are some shots from University Peak-May 11- Road open to Onion Valley, but snow is crap until Matlock Lake-annoying on way home- not getting freezes below about 10K. North Chute is in good shape- steep at top and crappy conditions at times- Still cold at 13K, need cloudless day- which I didn't get- Crampons and axe pretty necessary, I only had whippet and was slipping at top- My dog is a pretty amazing icy-snow climber and she was a little gripped- Then again, so was I
Top part is threatening in bad conditions. But someone else had skied it in slightly better conditions as their skies/boots were actually penetrating top layer somewhat- 11 a.m.-noonish descent from top
- lower half 80 percent is very good and mellow. Great views from top- kinda a slog though on way out

Route is on high right skyline- can see top headwall



hiking up north chute- all but top right is very fun and corning up (northfacing, 11.5-13k- 11 am-ish)



side view of headwall from top of peak


Brewer in center and north/south gaurd in background-nice chutein foreground



dog ready for me to put board on



Dog leading way-little exciting in here-rest of run folds out below



Finally a rest spot-below more mellow terrain- can see lakes in right corner



Fun lower shots on way home down to lower lakes-then grovel in bottomless wet crap

Upon further reviwe- that'd me Milestone, Table and Thunder mt. in the background- with the prominent chute on west spur in the center- my bad

Very nice! Thanks for sharing the pics. I'll soon be posting a few from a mission to the north couloir of Dragon Peak this past weekend. We missed you by a couple of days.

I know what you mean about groveling through the lower parts just above Onion Valley. Imagine how much worse it was for us this morning (Sunday 5/14/06) as we exited. Although we did manage to keep the skis on most of the time, with only a couple of dismounts. But I'm afraid to look at the bases...

In the pic where you corrected the peak names (thanks for that), are those the Center Basin Crags in the foreground? That stuff looks good, was one of the places I was planning a trip to this spring, but had to choose between that and others.

- Eric