Daron decided that with four days off straight (at least) we should make the pilgrimage to the east side of the Sierras. We settled on an itinerary that went like this: Day one ski both couloirs on the Incredible Hulk outside of Bridgeport (w/ the Matterhorn, Ski Dreams, and other famous lines in the same area). Unfortunately Daron got pulled over for 20 MPH over at ~6am by a local oinker, although he "only" wrote him up for 10 over (130$!). After a lengthy delay we're back off. We showed up around 9am after getting up EARLY (4:20). We ran into one of Daron's friends in the parking lot right as we were taking off. We skinned through the campground and up the valley toward our objective (which was 5 miles and 4k vertical ft away). We had to work through an interesting zone where a creek was exposed in various spots and there was a narrow log crossing that led to the climb. We strapped on the ski crampons and ascended the side of the mountain to the upper drainage. After rounding that corner we were treated to a stunning view of enormous alpine granite spires. We started up the drainage before fixing the ski crampons for an especially steep and firm section. I struggled for more than a few minutes trying to get my crampon fixed (pin wouldn't line up!?!!) and Daron was nearly out of sight as I started up the ice ramp. I wished I had both crampons fixed (always digging in) because it was FIRM!! I think I made it up there on sheer upper body strength and poling alone. Some sections had powder and made it incredibly hard to stay balanced (first time in a while I cursed the pow). After a good struggle I make it to the bench and a well deserved slump over my poles. Looking up to the Incredible Hulk rock formation and the top of the L couloir is a way to motivate myself to push on further. Daron is gone and all of the tracks look the same, without evidence of fresh travel. Since I can only see the L couloir and we had talked about doing both I start "charging" toward the bottom of the L of the formation. Once I get onto the next bench I can see Daron still skinning up the side of the huge apron, although not too fast. I put my head down and make up some ground (since I've stopped 50 times to take pics). There was a nice sized rock off to the L where we changed over to boot crampons and put our boards/skis on our backs. This is where things got interesting......it had been windy all morning but now the gusts were intensifying as if they knew we were trying to tiptoe our way up the aesthetic couloir. With snow pelting me in the face with every gust I threw my super heavy pack on with the board sticking up like a sail. Just as I get going I see Daron get flattened by a huge gust. It approaches me like a tornado and I cower to the snow, digging my crampons in with all my might, poles digging in opposing directions. If we were searching for excitement, we were sure getting it!! 5 miles back into the mountains, sandwiched between 1200' granite walls.....gripped. After making it about 1/3 of the way up we decided to bail. No sense in getting ourselves in an even worse scenario!! The snow was pretty variable and tracks from previous parties were actually above the snow, like fossils. We made some decent turns down the apron, then started traversing R along the edge of the slope to the middle bench. We dropped that roller and made some increasingly soft turns before one more traverse to meet back up with the skintrack. After getting below the traverse line and having to boot back up to it I was feeling pretty worked. The last pitch actually had good soft turns but ended abruptly with another imminent changeover. We skinned for a while, then took the skins off and had arguably some of the most exciting turns (at least for me!!). There were lots of short fast sections through the trees mixed in with flat sections that taunted me. Daron stopped a few times to watch the spectacle of me "skiing." Somehow I managed to not kill myself or blow out a major joint in my body. Back at the truck we devoured a good chunk of the pan of lasagna I had cooked the night before and a beer. Ahhhh!! With the forecast of increasing wind in the area we decided to head back home and wait for the conditions to improve before attempting to summit these huge peaks. As we swung through Incline Village Daron wheeled into the In N Out Burger and I reluctantly ingested my first "double double animal style." At the time I was surprised my the presentation and size of my task ahead. But blind hunger prevailed and I only needed an ice cream and a couple chocolate bars to wash it down!! Days like that are a testament to why you actually GAIN weight by physically exerting yourself for 8 hours in the cold. The food must have put me in a coma because I slept for almost 12 hours!! Today we took it easy in the morning (or what was left of it), cleaned, then went up to Sugarbowl and poached our way onto the chairlift. It was trying to snow but was doing a better job of producing this wet slop that stuck to your goggles and creating the "pea soup effect" where you suffer vertigo trying to get down the slope (no depth, speed, or directional perception). Fun times. We last an hour then head back in time to see Ohio State lose the Big Ten championship in BB, then see the Cavs win their 27th home game of the season over the Knicks (27-1). They're the Eastern Conference Champs this year!! Gives me an excuse to lay on the couch and relax!!! Go Cavs!!
Pic descriptions: 1. The Incredible Hulk with the L couloir objective in sight!! 2-4. Me skinning up 5. The log crossing
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