High Sierra Topix

No one cares that you tele

And I always forget chap stick skiing. Epic trip & pics man.

Thanks for the comments. My answers:

Silky smooth asks

thanks again, what's next??

Okay, the errant 20 year old in me says to load up and ski the whole bloody JMT before I can't. The reasonable guy says I should just bite off another piece of the JMT- perhaps as long as Bishop Pass south to Kearsarge. The slothful old guy reminds me that I have stashed weeks worth of food- including medicinal brandy up in the Tuolumne, and why not make forays from the warm ski hut? .... I reckon I'm headed to T.Meadows.

c9h13noo3 writes:

No one cares that you tele

I reply, "Then no one knows that I can just barely pull off a wobbly tele turn in 1 direction, and use modified parallels.

Flamingo wrote:

What an amazing tour!? Thanks @Harlen for sharing these stories and photos. Very inspirational.

Thanks a lot. You've inspired me too- actually shaved about 10 lbs. from my base thanks to you and others. [*I'd love to meet up and compare our gear- we're close.]

What an incredible ski tour. Thanks for posting the summary and abundance of pics

Thank you for posting your marvelous trip report and photos and so permitting me to vicariously travel through a familiar area and see it from an inspiring new perspective. I remember Galen Rowell's National Geographic piece on doing the JMT in winter. And John Dittli did it as well, as he relate in his great book.

Awesome trip, I wish I could do something like this, but I grew up in FL and don't ski

Well,another year and another bunch of incredible ski tour reports from Harlen.Im not envious of rich people or beautiful people or famous people but i am envious of Harlen's amazing ski tours.What memories.

LMBSGV, Thanks for putting me on to John Dittli's book on the John Muir Trail. I also found his blog and photo gallery, which are both really nice.

Re. winter travel on the JMT, I've only met one skier who did it all in one shot, though I bet it's been done many times. I am content to do it in pieces.

And Davela, thanks for your kind words. Ian.

Looks like a great trip! Those couloirs do look super fun Although, when I went out on a tour before Easter my dumb broken ankles did not hold up as well as I'd hoped so I didn't do any fun side trips and went with easier days like you guys did.

What dates were you out there? Looked like similar weather as had from April 16-20th, we were on the Tyndall Plateau when that wind/snow blew in and decided just to push all the way to the car over Shepherd pass.

Tuolomne sounds like great fun, you might be up for the mammoth to tuolumne section now that you have one trip under your belt. Or just go putsin around the meadow and enjoy the quiet tranquility of spring coming to the high country. I'm with you on the JMT, always thought i didnt want to ski it and now I do. If we get another good snow year, I'm with you. Have fun man, stay safe and get that corn!

Daniel- limpingcrab wrote:

What dates were you out there? Looked like similar weather as had from April 16-20th

Yes, the rough weather we experienced was indeed on 4/15-16. It was never more than 50 knots and light snow on the 15th, and then hard to say what it did that night, and in the early morning hours on the 16th because we were hiding in the Muir Hut. It sounded like it was blowing a gale! What did you guys get up on the Tyndall Plateau? And what's with "the dumb ankles Dan?" Did you finally crash and burn (or break?) in one of your couloirs? I hope you heal well.

Silky, I've skied the Mammoth to Tuolumne section, and I am now considering connecting this last trip to that one- i.e, Piute Pass to Mammoth. I wonder whether to do it on snow shoes, walking along with my dog Bearzy, or on skis again. It's about 86 miles, and I'd like to be in comfortable boots for once. Want to come? Of course your corn snow is wasted on snow shoes.