The high mountain passes in California close for the winter every year when the snow starts falling. Around mid April Caltrans heads to the mountains to clear the snow for the summer traffic. Once the passes are cleared these high altitude roads become access point for backcountry skiers trying to squeeze a little more winter out of their season. Skiing Tioga or Sonora Pass right after they open have become California classics.
Sonora opened up Friday afternoon and I took off for the hills afterwork. Parked the car at 9000 feet and took a Subaru snooze for the night. The next morning Yu drove up ridiculously early and we were skinning by 7AM. The access was amazing and we quickly found ourselves amongst big wild peaks of the high sierra. 10,800 foot Leavitt Peak was are final destination. From the top of the peak you have a few choices for descent. Yu hit the Y couloir, a beautiful chute with a challenging entrance. For some reason I just wasn't feeling the couloir and something in me just didn't want to ski it. So I took the easier way down, skiing the wide open bowl. I kind of regret not pushing it but I believe you need to listen to those feelings in the backcountry. The mountain will be there tomorrow and now I really have an excuse to go back!
Really fun skiing on the lower section as the snow corned up nicely and we pinballed through gullies and drainages. We end at the road a few miles from where we parked and hitched a ride in the bed of a Tacoma to our car. It was one fine California day. Check the video below with music from the late great MCA and Yu's awesome shots from the trip here.
Sonora opened up Friday afternoon and I took off for the hills afterwork. Parked the car at 9000 feet and took a Subaru snooze for the night. The next morning Yu drove up ridiculously early and we were skinning by 7AM. The access was amazing and we quickly found ourselves amongst big wild peaks of the high sierra. 10,800 foot Leavitt Peak was are final destination. From the top of the peak you have a few choices for descent. Yu hit the Y couloir, a beautiful chute with a challenging entrance. For some reason I just wasn't feeling the couloir and something in me just didn't want to ski it. So I took the easier way down, skiing the wide open bowl. I kind of regret not pushing it but I believe you need to listen to those feelings in the backcountry. The mountain will be there tomorrow and now I really have an excuse to go back!
Really fun skiing on the lower section as the snow corned up nicely and we pinballed through gullies and drainages. We end at the road a few miles from where we parked and hitched a ride in the bed of a Tacoma to our car. It was one fine California day. Check the video below with music from the late great MCA and Yu's awesome shots from the trip here.
