The route up Elderberry Canyon, and on up the North Ridge to the summit.
For several months Rob, one of Nancy’s colleagues at TTSA, had been planning a trip south to Bishop to ski Mt. Tom. He was shooting for the beginning of April, but a series of storms which left an unstable snow pack pushed the date back a few weeks.
Mt. Tom is a 13,652’ peak just north of Bishop with a long, long snowfield in Elderberry Canyon that is a popular spring ski trip. If you hike all the way up to the North Ridge, you get a 6,000’ ski descent.
Dave and Rob setting their alarms, or maybe not.
Rob provided gear and beta and got a bunch of other TTSAers to come along—Nancy, Scott and Greg from the ‘U’ crew, assistant manager Jay and Jay’s buddy Ben, and Dave, chief of operations.
Scott and Greg.
The hairiest part of climb turned out to be navigating the jeep road that accesses the trailhead. The road ascends nearly 2000’ and is very narrow, severely off-pitch, and features a scary, washed-out section that would be fatal to roll off of. The first thing Rob said when we stumbled out at the top was, "So, how’s your underwear?"
The original plan had been to meet in Bishop to eat, but that would mean another white-knuckle trip down the access road, so forget it!
Nancy hiking up the rubble at the bottom of Elderberry Canyon.
We all had different goals in mind on the mountain, so we all left at different times. Rob and Dave planned to leave at midnight, and they probably would have if they had heard their alarms. Instead, they left around 4:00 in the morning with Scott and Greg.
Nancy and I left base—elev. 6250’—at 5:15, and since Jay and Ben are way faster than any of us, they didn’t get on the trail until 7:00.
Nancy, Ben and Jay at 8400’.
The climb begins with a hike of nearly a mile on dirt before reaching the snow at the throat of Elderberry Canyon. We considered bringing crampons, but opted against it, figuring it was warm enough at night to kick steps in the snow. With 4,000' of vert ahead of us, weight was the priority.
It took us about two hours of hiking to get up to where the snow was smooth enough and the pitch mellowed out enough to put our skins on. I still have skinny skins from the ’old school,’ so I was slipping a lot on the firm snow. Soon we traversed left to the main route and the skinning became more stable.
Grinding up Elderberry Canyon, with the Owens Valley 5000’ below.
As you can see from the pictures, the Elderberry Canyon route is a long grind up the fall line. Jay and Ben passed us at 8400' and were soon dots on the horizon. Once the sun came up, the canyon turned into a convection oven.
Scott brought a bunch of radios for us to keep in touch with, and we got periodic updates on others’ locations. Scott and Greg were shooting for the summit, while the others were looking to see how high they could get up the North Ridge.
I think Nancy’s goal was to not puke or cry.
We slowly crawled our way up the canyon, looking hopefully every few minutes at the altimeter.
Nancy hit the wall a couple of times, but still fought her way up to 10,000’, just below the Lambert Mine.
Yes, there is an abandoned mine at the top of the canyon at 10,500’. Further proof, in case any was needed, that miners are the toughest sonsabitches around.
Scott’s line in red, the summit behind clouds, and tailings from the Lambert Mine in the foreground.
Jay and Ben began their ski down just as Nancy and I reached our high point. We sat under a small tree—anything for shade—and peered through the clouds blowing over the ridge to watch Scott ride down one of the many chutes lining the North Ridge.
Can you spot Scott?
It was an impressive effort by Scott: 7400’ of climbing, including postholing up the wrong route and navigating the long North Ridge.
He was rewarded with face shots and the only tracks on the ridge. We watched him set off a sizable slough slide in the middle of the chute while working the spines to skier’s right.
Nancy starting down Elderberry Canyon.
Scott beginning the run down Elderberry Canyon.
The ‘U’ crew—Scott, Nancy and Greg—at 9000’.
"If anyone gets hurt, don’t bother coming back." Rob, Dave, Nancy, Greg and Scott.
Finally, after seven hours of climbing, we got to ski down. The snow was variable: corn in places, mush in places, punchy in places, and slide rubble in lots of places.
Rob and Dave on the lower part of Elderberry.
Scott shot down, desperate to get out of his boots, while we worked the sides of the canyon, looking for the best snow. I was able to make tele turns at times, but the punchier sections demanded alpine turns.
Bret in the slide rubble at the bottom of the canyon.
The mouth of the canyon was full of slide rubble and deep muck, so we all pretty much sideslipped the last 500’, dodging rocks and holes in the snow where the stream showed through.
Greg sideslipping at the end of the snowfield.
Everyone had a great time, and we were all stoked to see Scott make the summit. All that remained was making it down the sketchy jeep road (we got shovels out and knocked down the bad sections, but it was still scary).
Dave, Rob and Nancy near base, with the Owens Valley below and White Mountain Peak (elev. 14,246) in the background.
