Trip Report: Sequoia NP. Wolverton to Table Meadows

[tshaq]

First time poster here. Thanks for sharing all of this! Looks and sounds lovely.

My wife, FIL and I are actually currently planning on winter camping around April 16th or so and have been thinking about taking a very similar route and itinerary. Would love to connect with anyone who has done it or been out there lately.

Particularly curious about the terrain and any avalanche concerns.

[Gogd]

What is your planned itinerary?

• https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/ provides snow condition information for the region Tahoe NF and El Dorado NF regions.
• https://www.esavalanche.org/ provides snow conditions for the Eastern Sierra, south from Twin Lakes, and east of Owens Valley.
  https://www.internationalalpineguides.com/contact and https://www.alpineskills.com/spring_shr.html both conduct guided tours, which travel through the area you intent to travel. Perhaps they can assist you with locating snow pack information.
• I am not aware of public facing resources currently dedicated to monitoring avalanche hazards for the Western Sierra. I would suggest contacting the agency that administrates the region you plan on traveling in. Perhaps contacting a ski resort near you itinerary may turn up a good resource. Likewise the California Department of Water Resources may be able to help you locate this information, as they send crews into the backcountry to assess the snowpack.

As for the timing of your trip: Pay close attention to the night time temperature leading up to and including your trip. An elevated avalanche hazard often occurs around that time of year, lasting about a week. It results when both day and night time temps remain above freezing. So pay attention to the nightly lows. The warming spell does pass in time, and night time temps return to being cold enough to freeze and stabilize the snowpack in the upper elevations, making it safer for morning travel again.

Ed

[c9h13no3]

Particularly curious about the terrain and any avalanche concerns.

Do 2 things:

1) Read Bruce Tremper's "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain".
2) Learn how to wake up early, and have the hammock up relaxing by noon.

If you do those two things, it'll be hard to screw up too badly. But from the sound of things, an alternative location (Dewey Point?) would be wiser.

[tshaq]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I have been following the various avalanche forecasts for both adjacent regions this season but was not sure of any local information for the western sierras. Will contact the local guide groups and ski resorts, great idea.

Absolutely agree that given time of year, wet loose caused by spring warming cycle is a concern among others. Will re-read bruce's book (the bible) again before going out and no stranger to the morning grind but will look into Dewey as well.

As for the planned itinerary, we were scouting out a day night trip, leaving from the Wolverton trailhead, following the lakes trail to pear lake and then camping around the ski hut area barring better suggestions. Then heading up either to Table Meadows on day 2, or taking the long route (i.e. past the hut and not up the steeper part of winter alta) around to Moose lake and back to pear lake for night 2. Considered heading up to the peak of winter alta but given conditions and slope angle, figured we'd rather enjoy tablelands.

Followed by hiking out on day 3. Was hoping to keep mileage per day relatively low and be settled in every day early.

That said, was going to call the ranger station as we got a bit closer and get advice on conditions and routes, including alternate lower elevation routes. Our only real objectives are to enjoy and of course return, so not wedded to any particular route or objective.

Thanks again!

[c9h13no3]

Will re-read bruce's book (the bible) again before going out and no stranger to the morning grind but will look into Dewey as well.

Ah, yeah, I didn't know your level of experience. Just kinda provided some generic advice. Dewey is the classic newbie winter camping spot in Yosemite. Short approach, great views, hard to get in trouble. And while it is great for newbies... it is also just a great spot to camp regardless of experience.

We'll know more as we get closer, but we'll be in a storm cycle all the way into April. Mid-April, even though you're usually dealing with a loose-wet problem, the colder north facing slopes are often the issue. South facing stuff has been soaking up sun all spring and generally transitions quickly to a melt-freeze snowpack. The steeper north faces are just starting to see sun strong enough to cause wet slides, and they take forever to transition.

[tshaq]

Your advice is awesome. Really appreciate it. Exactly why I posted!

Haven't spent much time in Yosemite but was looking for some good spots so will check it out. And was looking for some fallback options and alternates regardless.

And that makes sense on the avy problems. I'm less familiar with the western sierras tbh. Have also done more snow travel in CO these last few years despite living in SoCal so less used to late spring deep snowpacks...Looks like most of the route is SW and NW facing according to caltopo but haven't done enough of a deep dive yet to match that up with slope angles and other concerns.

Looks like a pretty magical place from the TR etc. so hoping conditions line up but will plan on a backup or fallback option. Tend to be conservative in choices and as I said, have no goals other than just enjoying before the season ends so no need to push my luck more than baseline backcountry risk to begin with.

[Harlen]

tshaq wrote:

Haven't spent much time in Yosemite but was looking for some good spots so will check it out. And was looking for some fallback options and alternates regardless...

And that makes sense on the avie problems. I'm less familiar with the western sierras ...

[Table Meadows)] Looks like a pretty magical place from the TR etc. so hoping conditions line up but will plan on a backup or fallback option.

Hi tshaq, I'll weigh in, having just skied out today after 4 days/3nights on Badger Ridge. I camped the first night above Dewey Point, as the ranger who gave me my WP (obtained from the ranger A-frame hut right at the Badger Ski Resort) told me that camping is not allowed right in the immediate area of Dewey Point, but just above and to the west, is a nice flat spot for camping. I've also seen folks camping a bit below and southeast of Dewey. We've camped at Dewey Pt. with the boys and friends at least 4x, and love the place.

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Dewey Point.



Ski touring along the frozen Glacier Point Rd is easy going, and dead safe from avie risk, but use caution around the cliff edges at the various overlooks. Having skied out from both the Wolverton and Badger trailheads, I'd say that the key difference is the feeling of being on the edge of the mountains at Badger Ridge, and being right among the mountains when skiing in from Wolveton. On my recent ski tour on Badger Ridge, I felt a strong urge to head down off the ridge, and up under the peaks of the Clark Range, or into the great canyon to Merced Lake.

The views from the overlooks of Badger Ridge are phenomenal, and well worth it. I actually had them all to myself, including my second night, camped at Washburn Point, which is a rare occurence. Last night, I slept on top of Sentinel Dome.

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View from Washburn Point. [What you don't see here are the plowed roadway, signs, and trash cans which are right behind me.]

100_6541.JPG

One of many views from atop Sentinel Dome.


It sounds like you are coming from the south tshaq, so you might not want to drive as far as some of other easy, safe, and beautiful westside ski tour locations-- Lake Aloha. et al., in Desolation Wilderness, the Carson Pass area, and @Paul knows of many more, if he's around to tell us.

We wish you the best of luck on your trip, wherever you decide to go.

[tshaq]

Looks incredible!!! My FIL did parts of that route in winter of 86 or something like that and still raves about it. Used to think he was crazy to be such a winter camper when I first met him and of course a decade later, I've caught the bug myself.

Really appreciate the advice and guidance. I"m quickly piling up more places I have to visit in winter! Will just have to find the time to do them all. Will strongly consider some of these as options. And ultimately, seems like it will be mostly driven by the weather gods.