Quick Stats: 16.4 Miles & 3,085′ gain via South Ridge from Mosquito Flat. (11,624′ Elevation at Turnaround)
Hands down one of the riskiest adventures I’ve ever been on. At this point in my life as a mountaineer, I haven’t spent very much time actively concerned for my safety while in the backcountry; however I spent a good chunk of this adventure concerned things would turn south at any minute.
Jaskiran and I planned this trip a while ago when we had climbed Strawberry Peak together. We wanted to do something that satisfied the following criteria: A lot of scrambling; in the Eastern Sierra; over multiple days. Something we didn’t anticipate when we set the dates for the trip was just how terrible the conditions would be due to warming conditions.
We were headed to rock creek / little lakes valley at the end of winter, and it’s apparently not a very popular place as we couldn’t find information on conditions. Even the rangers that Jaskiran called weren’t sure about conditions, or where the hard closure actually started. The only definitive information we had was that we would need snowshoes, the highest temperature we would encounter would be 40°F, and the avalanche forecast from ESAC was elevated to “moderate” at all elevations. We set out on Thursday the 24th for a real adventure!
The hard closure was not as far back as we had anticipated, but was still a long way from Mosquito Flat, the trail head that acts as an entry point to one of those most beautiful areas in the Eastern Sierra (when the road isn’t closed).
We began our journey at around 5 PM with the goal of getting to Ruby Lake to set camp, but also aware that we may have to be flexible based on conditions. . . and flexible we had to be. Deep snow covered the road for a couple miles of the approach, and being allowed to bake in the sun all day meant the quality was pretty terrible, causing us to post hole even in our snowshoes. We changed plans and decided to set camp at the Mosquito Flat Backpacking Campground instead, since we arrived there after dark as it was, and Ruby Lake was still a decent trek away.
The next morning we set out on our ambitious itinerary: Mount Starr, Mono Pass Peak, Lookout Peak, and possibly Ruby Peak. When you look at this on a map without snow, it looks like a relatively easy, really fun day of peakbagging in the Easter Sierra– especially since all of them have scrambling routes to the summit. However, from the outset we had to deal with poor conditions and routefinding issues.
As we got to below Mount Starr, we started to notice some obvious signs that we were in avalanche terrain, so we started adjusting our travel so that we would be passing through areas one at a time. This is the first time I’ve been in such obvious avalanche terrain in poor conditions with an elevated avalanche risk; and it was mentally exhausting. While crossing some of the avy chutes, my head was on a swivel, ready to make a split second decision on how best to try and keep myself out of (or on top of) the slope sliding down the mountains. During one of these crossings, I thought about the trust you have to place in your mountaineering partner. If an avalanche occurs, I’m counting on Jas to keep calm enough to remember her training, use her avalanche rescue gear, and successfully rescue me if I end up buried. When I got to the other side and signaled I was safe so she could cross, I thought about how she’s counting on the exact same from me.
Luckily we’re similar in how we like to be educated / trained / competent in the backcountry, so I definitely do trust her; and we’re also similar in our level of risk tolerance when it comes to avalanche terrain– that is, we’re willing to take risks, but if the risk seems too high we agree it’s better to turn around.
Which is what we ended up doing. We realized we would be heading down these same slopes in a couple hours after scrambling to the top of Mount Starr. This would give these avalanche zones time to bake in the sun on a 40°F day, making the snow quality even worse, and the risk for an avalanche even higher.
We made our way back to camp as quickly as we could given the conditions. Post-holing up to our waists at times (even in snowshoes), trapdoor scenarios, and occasionally needing to be dug out was the norm as we decided to pack up camp at head back to the car.
When we decided to scrub the whole trip, the idea was to find another adventure for us to do as a day trip the next day. By the time we got back to the cars, I was feeling physically and mentally wrecked, and decided heading home was the best course of action for me. Jaskiran decided something a little lower impact like cross country skiing in Mammoth was still in the cards for her, and we set off on the new adventures that lay before us: A 4.5 hour drive for me, and finding a place to dirtbag for her.
This is definitely a summer trip, and I plan to come back when I don’t have to worry about the conditions like this.