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squishy wrote:

rhyang wrote: I think I would do backcountry skiing, if I skied again. I use to downhill race on a team in the bay area when I was kid, so I would want a fixed heel. But I haven't skied in over ten years now...those things look expensive...I do have some snow blades that take mountain boots, they look like a full crampon binding..mmmmmmmmmm....

You can rent some backcountry skis for cheap, used to be $20 for the weekend. The road to Glacier Point is groomed and they put tracks for the skis. Easy going, anybody can do it, especially if you skied before. It's about 10 miles one way, but not that hard. If you do a side trip to Dewey or Taft Point you're off groomed trail. Oh, and it's free (other than the park entrance fee).

The weather isn't quite riding my ass for an outing on Saturday, so I'm headed for some skinning to Chicken Foot Lake in the Little Lakes area. Sunday looks to be the day all hell breaks loose in the Sierra, BUT if I get buried alive or washed into Long Lake on Saturday becuz the weather predictions are off - Chief can say "I told ya so."
And for what's its worth - I am driving from Temecula; 4.75 hours each way..........PUSSAE!

hopefully, by next week, tahquitz will be good. no, not ice, not really, but climbing lily rock in full blown winter conditions is as bad ass as bad ass gets... and it is really, really fun!

Got back from Mosquito Flats at 9:30 last night with a suntan, blisters, sore muscles and loads of experience. Perfect day out for some skinning!

x15x15 wrote:hopefully, by next week, tahquitz will be good. no, not ice, not really, but climbing lily rock in full blown winter conditions is as bad ass as bad ass gets... and it is really, really fun!

Alex and I did The Trough in mid December when there was still some ice around, and I think it was the most fun I've had at Tahquitz! I highly recommend it. We climbed with tools and crampons the whole time. Subjectively, it "felt" like 5.8, but if you break the route down it's M4, WI3, and some 65 degree snow. The normal crux right below the last belay station was tenuous in crampons, but you can get some good protection below. I recommend lots of medium to large nuts and hexes; you will have to bash them in and cams won't work at all in the wet/icy cracks. The ice will come off in droves if it's warm, so bring a good helmet, get out of the line of fire, and learn some new curse words. Have fun!

yup... i generally do a bunch of granite scratch'n on lily rock each year. believe it or not, the trough is usually at its best late march, early april. one year, it was in such fine form, wallspeck and i went back and did it the next day. i think one year, the last ascent was done first week of MAY! another time on the larks, we got turned around 4 pitches up. 3 feet of dry powder over granite made getting through the overhangs kinda tough... swimming up was virtually impossible. i met dave and deb that day...

but for some good, mixed scratch'n, the north face can be pretty darn good. and it has a lot to offer, with good one pitch fright fests and easy rappels off trees or blocks to get back down. if yer gonna wait for good conditions on lily rock, you will never climb the ice...

That's the spirit !

yes gary, JT was perfect! PERFECT!!! and no one climbing! at least not on anything other than the same 3% of the routes.

and not so perfect conditions to keep it on topic... thanx to dave daley...

Bob Burd wrote:If the weather is looking sucky in NoCal, look to SoCal.

If it sucks around LA, look in the desert. This weekend is a great one for heading to the Mojave. Weather report for Barstow:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... it=0&lg=en

I used to pooh-pooh desert peaks until I actually climbed some. They are awesome. For a good start, you can get a whole list of interesting ones on the DPS website. Try it, you'll like it!

(If you can't stomach 6-7hr drives, then forget the above. But I tell ya, they're worth it!)

Well then Bob.....guess you wouldn't have a problem doing Old Woman Statue then.....seeing you haven't done it yet.

Casaval ridge should be perfect right about now

depclimb wrote:Casaval ridge should be perfect right about now

define perfect.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... it=0&lg=en

@12k' which is around the Catwalk?

M.L.King Day: Snow. High near 15. Wind chill values as low as -24. Windy, with a south wind around 41 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 26 to 32 inches possible.

the only time where I climb in below 0 and these type of conditions was going up the fixed line on Denali to the 17k' camp. I seriously thought I was going to die. the only exposed part of my body was the little strip between my goggles and bavaclava and it got flash frozen.

The drive back down 395 was beautiful yesterday, but the rain caught us just south of ridgecrest and made for a slower last couple of miles. I am glad I went up there. the pre storm weather was awesome.

Dave Daly wrote:Well then Bob.....guess you wouldn't have a problem doing Old Woman Statue then.....seeing you haven't done it yet.

Hey, if you had just taken the time to replace those old bolts...

Dougb wrote:There's a desert peak that I've heard "zero" about that would be a fine one to do in crap weather like this. It's called Castle Rock in the Turtle Mts of SoCal. It's less than 3000 ft elevation. I once walked all the way around it, looking for weakness, and could not find a way to get up it, it's definitely not class 4 or easier (my personal limit for soloing). It's obviously not a huge challenge or it would have a page, but it looked nice to me, the two times I went to the Turtle Mts.

Yes, that is a big piece of shit! I can't imagine what kind of gear you could possibly use for packed mud. Some crazy fools supposedly climbed it in the '70s but I don't know by which aspect. We walked around it and didn't see anything "promising." THEN we got a flat tire!

BTW, the weather at Rock Creek was PERFECT on Saturday. I skinned about 14 miles and got a nice suntan.