Yosemite ” Epic snow Trip” 2011
- This topic is empty.
-
WOW!!! I don't even know where to start. Originally this trip had around 12-13 people going up to Dewey Point in Yosemite on 3/17-3/20/2011, as it got closer to the take off time, the weather reports I had been getting were varied, but for me not to alarming. Most did not make it, some were getting over being sick, others still not sure about the weather, which later was probably a wise choice on thier part, and some just couldn't get away from work, we all know how that goes.
The trip started with 3 BPL'ers, Adam C., and Marc E. came from up north, I came from the south, Adam met me in Oakhurst so we could car pool into the park and split the cost, Marc came in from the north by himself, and was the 1st one to the A-frame to obtain the permit. The skys were partly cloudy, with crisp mountain air blowing, temp was around 30* nice day for a hike. After geting the permit we were instructed where we could park the cars, overnight hikers had to park in a specific area so the snow plow could get through, we got dressed and all the gear together, and we were ready to hike, I think it was about 11:30 a.m. when we started.
Last minute checks before we head out, even though everybodys gear was a little different, we all weighed in at about 30lbs
Looking back at the trail head, and we're off.
After taking a few pics we headed out on a nice groomed road/trail, you could see were they groomed for skis, and snow shoes were off to the side.
Heading up the trail.
Adam and Marc, a few more adjustments
What a way to start your day.
Adam out in front.
The sun would keep trying to poke through the clouds all day.
Getting near the top, and the views are starting to show.
We're at the top, taking pics around 1:30 p.m.
I think this was looking off the right side, if you were hiking straight out to the point
This almost looks fake.
Looks like bad weather, maybe we should set up our shelters.
Not before we get a pic of " Adam, king of Dewey Point" and a few more.
I will try to finish this post tomorrow.
Sorry Jack I got too impatient to post my pics… I hope you add more soon.
Jack with his Chillba hat.
View of El Capitan from Dewey Point.
Snow starting to come in Friday night
How not to set a tarp up for snow. I had to redo my shelter in the dark when I realized it wasn't going to work.
Tarptent Moment in the foreground, Marc had a Solomid and my homemade tarp in the background.
Another view of our campsite, the kitchen tent was a great addition
Jack in the almost finished igloo, unfortunately, we ran out of time
Raven
My tarp before I dug it out Saturday night.
Inside tarp, a lot of snow blew in from the 40 mph winds. Also, notice bulging sides from snow load.
Sunday morning, more than 2 feet of snow overnight.
Insulated insoles were a real lifesaver for my feet.
Just before setting out Sunday morning, we had no idea what was in store for us.
Always smiling.
Poor visibility made following trail markers difficult.
Happy to be living life fully.
Andy and Brian, two guys who camped near us on Saturday night. They didn't know what to expect either.I was so happy these guys joined us, we could share the work of breaking trail and they were great company.
Badger Pass Lodge. Snowed in with no power.
Marc looking happy to have his truck free from the snow.
After spending the night inside we all pitched in to shovel out the lodge. The snow just kept coming.
Caravan out of Yosemite. This was our one chance to get out, another storm was coming in fast.Beautiful views heading into the valley.
Happy to be safe, warm and full of food. We had a great ride out of the valley, although it took many hours there were lots of laughs and good times.
Here are some more pictures and comments. I left 5:30 am on friday March 18th . I usually come in on 120 but hadn't called to see if it was open. I knew 140 would be open so headed down to Merced and hooked a left. I was surprised to find the slide still there on the way in. I remember going in to ski at Badger in I think '97 and it had just happened.
Not a very good picture but this is still a great view.
Adam, Jack and Marc going in late friday morning. I had gotten to the a frame just ahead of Jack and Adam and got the permit. Headed to the parking lot, got our stuff together and headed off on the trail. The snow was crusty and we didn't really need snow shoes. Microspikes would have been just fine.
No snow on the trees yet but nice and cloudy.
Adam and Jack by Adams Ray Way tarp.
Jack's Tarptent Moment, and my MLD Solomid. This was saturday morning after it had snow almost a foot friday night. We had cut blocks of snow out for a kitchen we were going to set up and stacked the blocks around the shelter to block the wind. This allowed the snow to build up on the shelter and in the middle of the night I had to get up and shovel it off.
This was the excavation we did for the kitchen that we ended up not using because it was too large an area. You can see the snowfall for the night on top of the table.
Took a little hike back out to Dewey point and got a picture looking south. At this point you couldn't see across the the valley.
We set up the kitchen with and 8×10 tarp Jack had brought. We used the blocks from the other kitchen site to make a wind block.
Adam and Jack got up about 10:00 friday night and had to move Adams shelter because it wasn't working. They quarried some more blocks and used those and some of the others to build a wind block.
This was Adams tarp early sunday morning. He said he had already been up once and shoveled it off.
Sunday morning after 2 ft of snow and 50 mph gusts. I had dug a big trench around the bottom of the shelter and that filled up with snow and most of the rest was blown away. I like the drift on the windward side of the shelter. It was a pretty sleepless night with the wind howling in the trees and rattling the tent. My little Toughstakes held just fine.
Me in the kitchen we made. Was thankful for the shelter even though it wasn't a taught pitch.
Looking out from the kitchen.
Melting snow. It was only in the 20's and the little Pocket Rocket just barely did the job. Adam had an MSR gas stove which can really melt some snow. I had just gotten the Light Energy overboots and they kept my feet dry and warm with my innov-8 and thick wool sox. It had continued to snow all night and was still snowing sunday morning. We decided that it wasn't going to let up and decided to go as soon as possible.
It was snowing and blowing pretty good when we took off. The blaze on the trees was pretty hard to see with all the blowing snow and we had to double back a couple of times to find the marks on the trees. I was physically incapable of breaking trail and Jack didn't have any tails for his shoes so most of the first mile of trail was broken by Adam. Thank you Adam. We were off the blazes when Brian and Andy came up behind us. They had been camping out by us at Dewey point and were glad to have the first mile of trail broken. We were certainly glad to see them because Adam was starting to tire. We backtracked and found the blazes and were off again. I was in good spirits when we had spotted a blaze and headed for it but was a little worried when we got to a blaze and couldn't see the next one. We would head out in a direction hoping the blaze was out that way then we would see it. Between Andy, Brian and Adam we broke into the meadow and shortly thereafter two more people came up behind us. They were out beyond Dewey point and were having a hard time of it when they saw our trail. About 2/3 of the way across the meadow we came upon a trail that another group had broken and everyone took off like a shot. The two people came up behind me were pretty tired so I fell in behind them. Adam waited for me at Glacier Point road to see how I was doing. I was pretty tired and out of shape but was alright. Adam took off and I followed the other two people. When we got the parking lot they told us that no one was getting out and we were going to have to stay in the lodge. That was fine with me. The jeep was buried and only a little hump in the snow. We dug out the vehicles and lined them up in front of the lodge in preparation for a caravan down the hill.
Brian and Andy who helped us break trail out, me Adam and Jack at the lodge. We were happy to be out of the blizzard at that point. The electricity was off in the lodge so we were given permission to eat what was in the kitchen. It was fairly well stocked so we got a pretty good dinner sunday night.
sm
It snow all night sunday and we had to do a little more digging monday morning go get them ready for the caravan out. Had some nice pancakes monday morning and a nice cup of coffee.
After breakfast one of the groups was going to have a yoga class so we went upstairs and did yoga for an hour and a half. That was really interesting.
Andy and Brian who saved us on the trail.
A little break in the clouds monday afternoon.
Marc, Adam and Jack.
Snow blower coming up from the valley.
The caravan out.
Going to the valley floor on 41.
El capitan on the way out. 41 and 140 were closed so we had to go out 120.
Let's try this again.
After we took those pics at Dewey Point we went back to set up camp. We tried to set up a kitchen, but the wind was really blowing hard, so we ditched that idea untill morning. All the blocks that we put around our shelters did not help like we had planned, the snow slid off the shelters up against the wind block, and just started to pile up over night. Most everything has been posted, so I'll just put up some more pics with a few words.
Fri. afternoon, my Moment with wind/snow blocks in place
Marcs Solomid with wind screen.
Fri. afternoon, Adams first attempt on his shelter, nice lots of room under there.
Sat. morning, time to start the digging out. This was after a long night in our shelters, the wind started blowing, and snowing so we all turned in Fri. night around 6:30 p.m. what a long night, got down to 17* but everyone stayed warm. Adam is right I had a Neoair reg. with a ccf 1/8 pad under that, I never felt cold, always toasty warm.
Adam Sat. morning after I helped him re-set his shelter Fri. night. Before the trip Adam told me he wanted snow, well there you go Adam, you're one tuff hombre!
What a mess, but this isnt the first time this has happened to me in my Moment.
A pic inside Adams man cave.
Finally got the kitchen tarp up, this will make life easier!
We closed one end of the tarp to help block the wind.
A look inside the kitchen before we dug out the floor.
The aftermath of Fri./Sat looks like a war zone of snow blocks and baracades. You can see in this pic where Marc dug his trench to let any snow that built up on the Solomid, to slide into it, it worked pretty good.
These next pics are back at Dewey on Sat. afternoon
This is the rock that Adam was standing on just 24 hrs ago.
Sat. afternoon taking pics, this was a skier heading back, some people under the tree eating lunch, our camp was up this trail off to the right in the trees.
The sun teasing us all day Sat.
Come on "SUN"
These next pics are inside my Momentmon Sat night around midnight, this is when things got a little scary, I started praying that the trees wouldn't fall on us in the middle of the night. The wind was at least 50 mph, at times, it was so windy I coud feel my shelter move under me. This is inside, the left is where my door is at, and the vestibule. In the vestibule, I had my pack and my boots, which you can't even see due to all the wind driven snow covering both of them, I literally had to dig my way out that morning, "CRAZY, BUT FUN"
Adam, busting trail out of camp Sun. morning, he was one of the "3 Dewey Pont TrailBusters" You were an animal Adam! This is also the last known spot were Adams snow shovel was seen, who wants to go find it?
I have a few more pics I will try to post the rest Mon.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
