Trip Report
Report from June 25, 2023
13,623′ University Peak, CA’s “Northeast Couloir” held epic skiing & chockstone anxiety yesterday!
This aesthetic chute stuffed a nail into our mind’s eye last Thursday when we passed underneath it on our way to and from University Peak’s “North Face.”
We never could tell if the thing went or if it was a closeout…
Yesterday, we returned to discover exactly what goes on behind that rock spire blocking our view.
To our dismay, the chute didn’t go.
A 6′ boulder was stuck in the middle of the chute, inhibiting our way.
My three ski mountaineering partners balked at the stone and moved on to ski a different line.
I remained…
I was at least gonna walk right up to it, touch it, smell it, taste it, and decide if it was climbable and down-climbable.
13,632′ University Peak, CA – “Northeast Couloir” Details
- Summit (actually a notch): 13,100′
- Car: 9,200′
- Vertical From Car: 3,900′
- Vertical skied: 2,600′ (1,000′ in the chute, then another 1,600 down to Slim Lake)
- Max Pitch: 45+º
- Avg Pitch: 40+º
- Aspect: Northeast
- Distance: 6.5-miles round trip
- Time From Car to Top: 4.5-hours
- Car to Car Time: 7.5 hours (about 1.5 hours of waiting for my ski buddies to come back to Slim Lake)
- Recommended Equipment: Crampons, Ice Axe x 2, Skins, Ski Crampons
- Note: We don’t know the actual name of this couloir. In the tradition of extremely boring Eastern Sierra chute names, we’re calling it the Northeast Couloir. If it were up to us, we’d name it “Chockstone Couloir.”
Up at 5 am.
On the road by 5:45 am.
It was nice to sleep in…
I was still gun-shy after my last two outings holding firm, steep, scary snow (Mt. Thompson & University Peak’s “North Face”).
The four of us were hiking by 8 am.
Alex and Tall Carl are fast.
We were up at Slim Lake in only 1 hour and 15 minutes.
From there, we galloped uphill to see if the Northeast Couloir was skiable.
Alex ran ahead, got a full view of the chute, and came back down to us.
He showed us photos of a chockstone blocking the exit right in the chute’s steepest, most critical part.
Trevor, Carl, & Alex decided it was a no-go and left to curl around the mountain and ski the “North Face.”
I remained…
I was at least gonna walk right up to it, touch it, smell it, taste it, and decide if it was climbable and down-climbable.
Upon close inspection, I decided it was passable.
In the corner of my mind, I even hoped I could ski it…
I mantled up and over the chockstone, mostly sure I could down-climb it, and continued up.
I ambled up the steep snow above the stone with trepidation.
“Would I be able to down-climb that rock?”
“Is the snow above the stone too steep?”
I did my best to push those questions out of my mind and focus on the climb at hand.
The steepest part of the chute was above the chute-choking rock.
The upper chute held elegant corn and fun, complex terrain that skied like a dream.
The ski down to the stone was steep and scary, and firm.
As I approached the chockstone, the Palisades Tahoe skier in my lizard brain took over, and I rock-slid/aired the chockstone into the blazing corn below.
I screamed, buzzed, and beeped like R2D2!
The whole day felt like a birthday miracle.
My 45th!
The first time I’d ever skied on my birthday.
I skied the very fun “Slim Lake Chute” (video above) & celebrated with a birthday suit 🍑 swim and 30-minute nude sunbathing.
After an hour, my buddies showed up, and we skied back to the real world with smiles on our faces and endorphins in our brains.
For après ski, our plan was Glenn’s Taqueria and the Eastern Sierra Ice Cream Company, but Glenn’s was closed, pushing us to Taquria Mi Guadalajara in Bishop.
The Chicken Burrito wasn’t bad.
Thanks, California!
SPRING 2023 REPORTS
- 6/22/23: Trip Report: 13,632′ University Peak, CA – “North Face”
- 6/20/23: Trip Report: 13,494′ Mt. Thompson, CA – “Trident Couloirs”
- 6/15/23: Trip Report: 12,871′ Mount Johnson, CA – “North Couloir”
- 6/9/23: Trip Report: 13,366′ Point Powell, CA – “Point Powell Couloir”
- 6/8/23: Trip Report: 12,219′ Hurd Peak, CA – “North Face”
- 6/4/23: Trip Report: The Incredible Hulk, CA – “Hulk Left Couloir”
- 6/2/23: Trip Report: 13,187′ Basin Mountain – “Basin Couloir Alternate”
- 5/31/23: Trip Report: 12,808′ Four Gables, CA – “Tungstar Bowls”
- 5/27/23: Trip Report: 11,160′ Mt. Scowden – Lundy Canyon – “North Face Chute”
- 5/24/23: Sierra Nevada, CA Report: Skiing Through A Lava Tube Cave
- 5/23/23: Trip Report: 13,118′ Mt. Emerson – The 45º Steep “North Couloir”
- 5/20/23: Trip Report: 12,200′ Mt. Esha, CA – “2nd Chute”
- 5/18/23: Trip Report: McGee Creek Peak, CA – 2,800-Vertical-Foot “Wineglass Couloir”
- 5/16/23:Trip Report: 10,908′ Carson Peak, CA – 45º Steep “Pete’s Dream”
- 5/5/15/23: Trip Report: 11,812′ Mt. Laurel, CA – 3,500-Vertical-Foot “Pinner Couloir”
- 5/10/23: Trip Report: 13,005′ Mt. Morgan, CA – Nevahbe Ridge Gullies
PHOTOS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
