MT MARY AUSTIN

Mt Mary Austin on the right

          This was a Dan plan, a Powder Dan Molnar plan. It started with a 4:30 am wake up for Jon and I, and we were at Shat’s bakery in Bishop by 6 a.m. This was my first time south of Bishop, and Jon’s first trip to the area. We were amazed by the views the whole way to the trail head.

Moonrise over the southern sierra

Morning glow on the southern sierra

This was a southern sierra desert approach. We drove up a dirt road for a few miles , through the sagebrush, and arrived at the snowline. The east face of the east summit of Mary Austin was looking pretty good, but we were unsure what the conditions would be. We headed up the baxter pass summer trail to the north of Mary Austin for some more options. It looked as though the head of the canyon was ringed with 13, ooo ft peaks, so on we went.

Jon gets booted in the van

Old archway entering the canyon

Powder Dan skins out of the desert

The skinning was pretty good for the first few miles, there had been a fire, and a large mudslide down the canyon a few years ago changing the landscape a bit.

Skinning through the lower canyon

Jon climbs higher up the draw

We arrived at the base of the NW wall of Mary Austin, I didn’t feel I had much left in the tank for another 1000 vert or so of steep boot packing. It had a few thin couloirs that ran down the face, non of them ending at the summit. Kind of a bummer. Powder Dan was feeling strong, and he went a few hundred vert higher than Jon and I.

Next time...Acrodectes Peak

Jon and I skied the thin couloir, and waited for Dan below.

Skiing the NW face of Mary Austin

Jon skiing the NW face

Jon farther down the NW face

Jon feeling the long day

Where's Powder Dan? NW Face of Mary Austin

We skied the face, and down through the draw, which turned out to be really good snow.

Powder Dan finds the line

Nice turns Dan

There's the spot

Time to carve some pow

Jon enjoys the lighting

Most of the skiing, all 6 miles of it, was pretty good, with some nice powder in the north facing burned trees lower down canyon. The last mile or so was bad breakable crust, what do you expect, it’s the desert. I realize now, that we missed the premier line, the North Couloir. It looks pretty sustained 200o vert at 45 deg. Next time. It turned out to be a long day, about 9 hours car to car. We were feeling it. It was great day of exploring, and recon for future adventures to come in that area. I know we’ll be back.

Where's my beer?