Last gasp skiing trip teaser

They say there is no snow in the Sierra this year, Laura has been posting pics almost every weekend proving that wrong. For the most part it is above 10,000 feet, which means some effort is required to get to it.

We headed in from Virginia Lakes on Sat May 24. It wasn't long before we had to walk across snow fields and our walking shoes got pretty wet before we switched to skis and started skinning up over the pass and with a little bit of steep snow and rock scrambling and a bit of fun skiing to Summit Lake.

Grey Butte reflected in the small melted part of Summit Lake

home sweet homes

We set up in a dryish spot and relaxed and ate delicious foods. Appetizers were flavored triscuits with brie and gouda and then bacon wrapped sirloin with bacon mashed potatos and pesto... (yes, this was a trip with Laura, so Moose Lodge hospitality was in full effect.

bacon wrapped steak with bacon mashed potatoes and pesto = YUM

The next day we skinned up a nice bowl and then higher on another slope and skied down. That was so much fun we did the bowl again. There were nice clouds making for interesting light. We took lots of pics.

Laura drops into the bowl

and continues to the creek

an epic fail attempt at a handstand w/ skis

That night dinner was my turn for dinner - I brought dehydrated curried lentils with sweet potato. Luckily we still had some crackers and brie and gouda too.

I tried to get some night pics when I woke up at midnight. I got a few, but I couldn't figure out the K3 cameras modes that I thought would help.

Memorial day we packed up and headed out. It was amazing how much less snow there was on the way out compared to hiking in. That meant hiking instead of skiing back from the pass, but it wasn't too bad. Then a stop at the Whoa Nellie Deli and on to the Tufa at Mono Lake to take pics. I got brought out the big lens and took a bunch of detail pics and pics of gulls and osprey.

osprey bringing a stick to the tufa top penthouse suite

same pic - cropped in even more

There will be more details and pics in a trip report eventually. I'll put the link here when it is done.

and here it is:

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/lastski2014.html

New camera, new lens, pine creek climbing, poetry contest, tasty food, ultra marathon...

Some of those things in the title are me, others aren't.  But my loyal fan probably wants to know what all I've been up to. For starters I got a new K3 and Sigma 150-500mm lens.

You can read more about that and see some sample pics here:

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/newk3.html


I also went climbing in Pine Creek recently - lots of good rock up there, and some not so good rock raining down a few hundred yards up canyon from us.

Tai and a brace of Eriks in Pine Creek

Laura had a get together celebrating a number of things, and of course there were lots of tasty things to eat.

roasted garlic torte

Then we went to Spellbinder Books - for the awarding of the winners of the poetry competition. Years ago I used to rap Xanadu with my sister, and knowing the verses helped me win a poetry book.

Laura reads her poem

and shows off her award

Then off to the Mountain Light Gallery to for a new show opening with lots of fantastic images. Finally that night I biked out to Mill Pond park to talk to Julie who was volunteering at the end of the Bishop High Sierra Ultramarathon. We watched some of the last few people finish the 100K race.

Crossing the finish line after 17+ hours and 100K