A Short Ski Tour Above Lake Sabrina- Trip Report
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 7:12 pm
Trip Dates: February 25-27
Grateful for the news from WD that snow had actually fallen again in the southern Sierra, I gathered my new skis, and my old dog, and raced around to the Eastside on February the 24th. I chose to ski into the basins above Lake Sabrina because I have only been up there once before. Though it had snowed 4-6" at 10,000' between 2/21 and 2/23, I expected to find the same hard-packed surface as on my January trip, with perhaps a nice new layer of softer crust over it. I got what I expected for the first few miles along the road, and on the west-facing slopes above Lake Sabrina, but then I was surprised to find deep, soft snow on all of the north and east slopes from there on. We used some old snowshoe tracks along the summer trail, and were alright as long as we stuck to it, but any deviation put my skis beneath the surface, and Bearzy's legs down into bottomless granular snow. He had to leap and swim through it, which was fun for awhile, but he was having to work very hard.
The gate was closed at the top of Aspendell, and you can park along the road just before the gate. I bet now you can ski from the gate to Lake Sabrina, but I had to walk the first bit to where the road branches off to North Lake. From that point I skied the next couple miles, till the rocky summer trail began to show through. I booted up the rock and hard snow trail, and then followed the snowshoe tracks till camp at 10,000'-- about a half-mile north of Blue Lake. It was clear and windless and beautiful. I'm sorry to say, we didn't get much farther than that. This was the shortest trip on record, as softened snow on all of the northern and eastern aspects made it miserable for Bearzy, and I never want to make him suffer on these trips. The next day we wallowed about for a few more miles, and decided to turn around before reaching even Dingleberry Lake. I remembered the very appealing campsite, and views around the north end of Blue Lake-- which also had nearly a mile of firm, frozen lakeshore for ski touring and dog running. So we swallowed our pride and returned to that lower paradise. I had entertained big dreams of day touring up as far as Echo Lake and then climbing up Echo Col for views into upper Evolution Valley, and the Ionian Basin high country, so our effort fell woefully short again... this seems to be a pattern common to many of my recent trips, and I wonder if there is a dismal negative correlation between one's age and miles travelled? Oh well.
We spent our first night in the Alabama Hills, and so, got a pretty late start because Bearzy loves to mess around in those hills...
climbing in the rocks, and
driving irresponsibly offroad!
We got off to a great start, moving fast up the road above Aspendell.
The snow was thin and hard above the lake, and everyone was booting up for the first 500.'
3 miles and 1000' up, we camped in this rock garden, planted with mountain mahogany, sage, and pine.
At sunrise on our second day we saw Mt Haeckel lit up; I had hoped to camp in view of that peak, or around Moonlight Lake. It was not to be.
Soon the snow softened and deepened.
When I stepped out of the skis to put on skins I sank thigh-deep! Bear was wallowing out of his depth.
We had passed this fantastic spot along Blue Lake in the early morning of our second day.
The slope that defeated us is that easy-looking area in the middle left, below Mt. Darwin-- the flat-topped peak to the left.
Blue Lake was a very nice consolation prize. We skied and ran all around!
Grateful for the news from WD that snow had actually fallen again in the southern Sierra, I gathered my new skis, and my old dog, and raced around to the Eastside on February the 24th. I chose to ski into the basins above Lake Sabrina because I have only been up there once before. Though it had snowed 4-6" at 10,000' between 2/21 and 2/23, I expected to find the same hard-packed surface as on my January trip, with perhaps a nice new layer of softer crust over it. I got what I expected for the first few miles along the road, and on the west-facing slopes above Lake Sabrina, but then I was surprised to find deep, soft snow on all of the north and east slopes from there on. We used some old snowshoe tracks along the summer trail, and were alright as long as we stuck to it, but any deviation put my skis beneath the surface, and Bearzy's legs down into bottomless granular snow. He had to leap and swim through it, which was fun for awhile, but he was having to work very hard.
The gate was closed at the top of Aspendell, and you can park along the road just before the gate. I bet now you can ski from the gate to Lake Sabrina, but I had to walk the first bit to where the road branches off to North Lake. From that point I skied the next couple miles, till the rocky summer trail began to show through. I booted up the rock and hard snow trail, and then followed the snowshoe tracks till camp at 10,000'-- about a half-mile north of Blue Lake. It was clear and windless and beautiful. I'm sorry to say, we didn't get much farther than that. This was the shortest trip on record, as softened snow on all of the northern and eastern aspects made it miserable for Bearzy, and I never want to make him suffer on these trips. The next day we wallowed about for a few more miles, and decided to turn around before reaching even Dingleberry Lake. I remembered the very appealing campsite, and views around the north end of Blue Lake-- which also had nearly a mile of firm, frozen lakeshore for ski touring and dog running. So we swallowed our pride and returned to that lower paradise. I had entertained big dreams of day touring up as far as Echo Lake and then climbing up Echo Col for views into upper Evolution Valley, and the Ionian Basin high country, so our effort fell woefully short again... this seems to be a pattern common to many of my recent trips, and I wonder if there is a dismal negative correlation between one's age and miles travelled? Oh well.
We spent our first night in the Alabama Hills, and so, got a pretty late start because Bearzy loves to mess around in those hills...
climbing in the rocks, and
driving irresponsibly offroad!
We got off to a great start, moving fast up the road above Aspendell.
The snow was thin and hard above the lake, and everyone was booting up for the first 500.'
3 miles and 1000' up, we camped in this rock garden, planted with mountain mahogany, sage, and pine.
At sunrise on our second day we saw Mt Haeckel lit up; I had hoped to camp in view of that peak, or around Moonlight Lake. It was not to be.
Soon the snow softened and deepened.
When I stepped out of the skis to put on skins I sank thigh-deep! Bear was wallowing out of his depth.
We had passed this fantastic spot along Blue Lake in the early morning of our second day.
The slope that defeated us is that easy-looking area in the middle left, below Mt. Darwin-- the flat-topped peak to the left.
Blue Lake was a very nice consolation prize. We skied and ran all around!
