The Mountains were calling, so I went (University Pk, Mt Rixford, and Mt Gould)

I had a nice little break going to a wedding in San Diego, hanging out with friends, mountain biking, a bit of boogie boarding... It was nice. Then on up to LA for more mtn biking and some kayak surfing. Actually I was on a wave ski. It was fun although a bit crowded at San Onofre with heaps of stand up paddle boarders. The waves got better as time went on and I had some pretty good (for me) runs. I also got flipped and swirled in the waves a few times. I did manage a few rolls too, which is always satisfying. With the waveski it wasn't too bad to get flipped and swim though except the one time I tried to roll too many times and got hit by another wave just as I was unhitching the seatbelt. I got a lot of the pacific in my sinuses and it continued to trickle out over the next few days. ugh.

Then I stuck around for another day on the computer and to eat ice cream before heading back to the mountains. I got a permit in Lone Pine and then camped out in the Alabama Hills.

Alabama Hills panorama including Mt Whitney

I headed up to the Onion Valley trailhead and started in towards Kearsarge pass. At the 3rd lake in I cut left and up towards University Peak (13,589 ft) or maybe 13,468 feet or even 13632 ft. Eventually I got sick of carrying my pack and I dumped it and the skis and headed on without the load. I wasn't entirely sure that I'd manage to get up the way I was going, but with a little scrambling and some snow I did manage to summit. At this point it was getting late and cold. I decided to descend another way to avoid downclimbing one dicey move, but this dropped me off at a steep snow field. Someone else had skied right down it most impressively, but I carefully kicked steps down. I think I'd have been a little more aggressive if I had an ice axe, but I didn't, so I went down carefully. There was also some annoying post holing and loose scree and talus, but I did finally get back to my pack around 7:30 pm. I found a small flat spot and made it big enough to lie down on and cooked dinner. It was pretty cold and windy, but I had 2 sleeping pads (I thought I might sleep on snow) and my warm down bag so once I got inside I was warm. It would have been nice to have a lighter pack, but since I didn't have any other Yogaslackers with me for insulation I had to carry it myself. It was windy all night, but the sunset was spectacular and as I said once I was bundled up I wasn't cold.

Sunset from my bivy ledge

The next morning I was treated to a beautiful light show as the alpenglow lit up the cliffs and snow plus a nearly full moon. I packed up and traversed a bit (I had to put on the crampons to cross a short steep hard snowfield) until I got to a spot where I wanted to start skiing. The snow was still hard so I took a break and cooked up breakfast (there was better wind shelter here too). Then the snow was a bit softer (maybe) so  I skied down to below a pass and kicked my way up and over to Kings Canyon National Park.

Morning view from my bivy ledge - Mt Gould is on rt, Mt Rixford the snowy peak b/n the 2 rocky closer peaks, I crossed the snowy pass on the left

There I skied down to Kearsarge Lake where I put the skins on the skis and traversed around, over a ridge, around another mostly frozen lake and to a nice looking flat spot. I took a break here and then left most of my food and sleeping gear and headed up towards an unknown mountain that looked doable (I later found out it was 12,887 ft. Mt Rixford).

Here I am on the icy shore of Kearsarge Lake. University Pk on the left

I skinned up a ways and then stowed the skis and switched boots and slogged up the talus forever. Finally I got to the top of the snowfield I had scoped for skiing. I left the rest of my gear here and hot-footed it up to the summit. It didn't seem that far, but from a distance I could see I went quite a ways w/o my skis. The descent was scary because the slope got much steeper at some point below me so I couldn't see all the way down (also there was a little rocky cliff band I had to thread my way through). But the snow was soft and forgiving and I finally was able to spot a line down the steeper bit. I did unleash some small slush avalanches in the steepest section but I just waited off to the side for them to stop creeping downhill before threading the rocky bits. Unfortunately I wasn't able to drop all the way down to the main valley snowfield where the rest of my stuff was so I had to take the skis off a few times to get there. It was nice to be cooking without a lot of wind and to dry out my sweaty clothes before bed. It was so warm without the wind I didn't even wear all of my clothes that night.

On the Summit of Rixford Pk. University Pk behind me

For my last day I wasn't in that much of a rush, and I ended up talking with a hiker who went by for a while. Then I hiked up to Kearsarge pass (the snow was still hard enough to walk on top). There I talked to some PCT through hikers for a bit and then headed up Mount Gould to the north. For the most part I was just walking up scree and talus although I did follow some steps up a steep snowfield at one point. I was entertained by the "top 100 songs of the 80's" - I'm not sure who decided this list though. I was trying to play name that tune and artist and did fairly well, although less well with the year. Eventually I scrambled to the summit only to see that the next pile of rocks was higher, so I went up that one to the 13,005 foot summit of Mount Gould. Then I continued on across an alpine tundra to a few radio repeaters and a nice view down into the Rae Lakes basin. I tried my cell phone but despite 4 bars it said "emergency calls only".  Then I descended back to Kearsarge Pass where I talked with more PCT through hikers and gave one group the rest of my sunscreen (you would get totally crisped without it between the altitude and the snow and theirs wasn't sweat proof and didn't seem to be working so well). Then the stalling was over and I strapped on the skis and dropped over a steep edge and started traversing along the long diagonal trail down. I managed to get down past the second lake with only a little bit of walking and scrambling. Then I switched back to the comfy Inov-8 boots and hoofed it back to the trailhead. There I cooked up a batch of spaghetti while drying some gear and slowly repacking the truck. I also talked with another group of through hikers that I saw coming out when I was going in. It is definitely the season for them all to be passing through.

It was still pretty warm down in the valley when I finally got there, but I still enjoyed soaking in the hot spring  water once it got dark and cooler.

I put a slightly more complete trip report up here:


University Peak and other Sierra peaks trip report