We left really early in the morning on Saturday - Dad picked me up at 4:00. With only a single gas stop, we were skiing up to the cabin before 10:00.
After digging out the cabin and having lunch, we headed up to the meadows below Emerald, then up to Emerald Lake itself. The sun was bright, and the day was quite warm, so the dense packed snow was easy to ski on, and we did quite a lot of skiing for our first day in altitude without getting sick.
Dad's friend Joe had come up from Bishop with us for the first day, and we saw him out in the late afternoon. Since we were down the hill, anyway, we took the opportunity to call home before taking a short trip around the lake in the evening. Daylight saving's time late nights were quite nice, and very different from what one expects in a wintry landscape.
Sunday we went to Skelton Lake. This was an exciting expedition, as it was a fairly long backcountry ski that we hadn't done before. It did end up being fairly difficult. The snow never thawed all day, and in places we were traversing very steep hills with very little purchase because our skis weren't sinking in. None the less, we made it!
Looking up Skelton Lake toward Duck Pass.Of course, we still had to go back down the icy slopes to get back to the cabin. We explored new routes to get down, and finally made it in one piece, if a little sore from the bruising the icy crust offered.
Monday was our day to go home, and we weren't in a big hurry to start skiing first thing. It was warmer, though, and much less windy, so the snow softened a bit. We packed everything up and cleaned up the cabin before heading out for a tour of the lakes. We traversed Lake Mary first, where we found a mound of ice and snow was being pushed up by the sunken island near the outlet. We also found some Clark's Nutcrackers eating a dead fish near the outlet!
We headed over to Lake Mamie next, where we found a pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers drumming on a snag on the shore. These are unusual birds for the eastern Sierra, and the first I've seen in the basin. While we were watching them, a beautiful adult Bald Eagle glided overhead on its way west over the pass.
We decided on Horseshoe Lake as our final destination, where the incredibly low level of the ice made for a nice bowl to ski into. After fooling around for a bit, we skiied for home, stopping to listen to a Great Horned Owl that was calling from near the outlet of Maime in the middle of the day!
All in all, it was a good trip. The conditions were less than ideal, but we still enjoyed the skiing and Skelton was beautiful. Next winter, we'll head for Barney!
Pictures on Flickr.
Monday was our day to go home, and we weren't in a big hurry to start skiing first thing. It was warmer, though, and much less windy, so the snow softened a bit. We packed everything up and cleaned up the cabin before heading out for a tour of the lakes. We traversed Lake Mary first, where we found a mound of ice and snow was being pushed up by the sunken island near the outlet. We also found some Clark's Nutcrackers eating a dead fish near the outlet!
We headed over to Lake Mamie next, where we found a pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers drumming on a snag on the shore. These are unusual birds for the eastern Sierra, and the first I've seen in the basin. While we were watching them, a beautiful adult Bald Eagle glided overhead on its way west over the pass.
We decided on Horseshoe Lake as our final destination, where the incredibly low level of the ice made for a nice bowl to ski into. After fooling around for a bit, we skiied for home, stopping to listen to a Great Horned Owl that was calling from near the outlet of Maime in the middle of the day!
All in all, it was a good trip. The conditions were less than ideal, but we still enjoyed the skiing and Skelton was beautiful. Next winter, we'll head for Barney!
Pictures on Flickr.
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