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I want to thank all the peeps that showed up. Was a fun event with 12 people touring on the biggest day and 20 people showing up for the film. In spite of last minute cancellations on the entertainment and some Really Bad service by the Inbred Staff at Tom's Place resort we had a good time.

Most of My Pics are video so it will take me a few days.
I would really like to thank the sponsors who provided demo gear and some nice prizes to give away

SPARK R& D
Mammoth Mountainering

And Chris@SPLITBORD.COM for the Venture Demo Board.

FRIDAY: Tex, Scruffy and Storn toured Mt. Tom?Elderberry canyon
Swanny was at the trailhead but He's Still sporting a short leg and a limp so Doctor said "no Touring"

The 3 of us made it to the Circe at the top of Elderberry canyon. Scruffy continued climbing the main couloir that drops from the ridge while Storn and I turned right and climber to 11,700. Im guessing Scruffy made it above 12,000.
Snow conditions were BAD from 11700-10300 with Chicken Heads being the order of the day. However below 10,300 was some smooth corn. We got a little over 5000 ft down to the car. Not bad for a 'recon" mission


SATURDAY: 5 splitters went to the Schilite Couloir(sic)? on the Wheeler crest while the other 7 of us went to Old man's Bowl out by Mt Morrison.
We found corn on all aspects below 10,000 again. Had the typical Chineese Downhill and was all smiles back at the car.
The other crew found ...some snow

Party Night: The Schilite crew was making me worried because by 7 pm they still were out there. Luckily they showed at about 7:45 and the party started.
Schwalbster provided an EXCELLENT slide show on the Haute Route. Mr. Schwalbster is new to the States from Germany and had a great story with pics. If anyone needs a strong ride to tour with .....
We had a drawing for a few goodies that Spark r and d provided along with Dave at Mammoth Mountaineering. MM kicked in a nice Avalanche kit (shovel,probe.and BEACON!) We split that up and pulled names from the hat. I will post a pic of our winners
We then kicked back on the couches and watche Let it Ride the Craig kelly Movie.

SUNDAY ; after hanging around eating and chatting till oh 10:30 or so we headed out to Powerhouse chute. 6 of us started up , 3 of us bailed at the first ridge and 3 others climbed about 1000 ft more. On the way down we found a nice wind loaded chute for a few powdery turns but then at the bottom it was some hard sliding due to cold temps and no snow, We still had a good time with smiles all around once again

Thanks to those who made the long drive up or down.

And NO THANKS to the Inbred Staff at Tom's Place resort , where its more important to smoke another ciggarette than to wait on your customers. YOU GUYS ROCK

I will be posting a few pics later but feel free to add yours

Thanks again

Some pics from Mt. Tom...


One last glimpse at Scruffy - man he climbs fast.


Portraits of TEX and I after giving up the chase about 3000' into the climb.



Yeah - that's kinda what it felt like.

Scruffy may be that little dot in the main chute. We climbed to looker's right.




Some views.






Some riding.










And finally, a field of those damn chicken heads!

There was nice corn for the last 3000' feet, though. More from the Scheelite Chute when I get the chance.

Tex,

Thanks for pulling it all together I had a blast and it was fun putting faces/personalities with the different sb.com'ers from here.

I think the key word for the weekend for me was 'almost'.

Almost made it to the top of Mt Tom
Almost made it to the top of Scheelite Chute
Almost had enough room for a bed in the room at Tom's Place
Almost had a powder run, (ok about a dozen turns for the weekend)
Almost had a reasonably sane guide (JimW)

But definitely had fun. Tex did an awesome job pulling this all together even though the weather, the snow and the TP inbreed staff tried their best to mess it up.

Almost had some good pictures, <a href='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats#100026&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=5'>click here to see the full gallery</a>

Here is the specks view from 'ALMOST' the top of Mt Tom
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3173/web.jpg' />

Looking back at Mt Tom
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3181/web.jpg' />

Scheelite Chute (note the safety lines we strung to catch anyone on the way down that forgot about the waterfall)
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3238/web.jpg' />

JimW airing out over some of those chicken heads
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3234/web.jpg' />

The person voted most likely to torch Tom's Place topping out on the bench above Powerhouse.
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3240/web.jpg' />

Tioga Pass at The End
<img src='http://gallery.mac.com/nanocats/100026/IMG_3253/web.jpg' />

-- Scruff

On Saturday we went up the Scheelite Chute, which is SE facing and pretty long. 6000' ft according to the guidebook, but that seems a little generous. Still, it's definitely more than a vertical mile.


But wait! This isn't just any old vertical mile... we're talking about a vertical mile of dogsh!t snow!


First there was the rockfall & assorted detritus zone.


Then we were blocked by the waterfall and took a side route up...


...and into the dirt zone.


After that we found the 'Hey this isn't that horrendous zone.' It was corning up and everything!!


But after the next little bench we quickly found ourselves in the chunk zone - chicken heads, baby heads, gigantic gashes and creases, and hey... is it starting to firm up a little??


One of the endearing things about fullers2oh is that he likes to carve out a little seat when he stops for a break.


It's especially awesome if you are behind him on the slope because you can "share" it with him when you catch up.


Dutch Marc on the other hand just sits on a rock.

By the way, Marc skinned the whole way to his highpoint. He is definitely NOT welcome over at my new site, splitboot.com.

Scruffy and JimW made it to the ridge. Marc and I made it to something like 11,300 and fullers2oh continued up another few hundred feet.


We decided to wait for the fog, mist, and pissing snow before starting down. When a slope is all gnarly and beat like this, you really want to wait until it's rock hard before descending.


That way the turns are just that much more epic-er. Fullers2oh:


Dutch Marc, feeling the love.


The Scruffster.


The exit was kind of like the climb, only in reverse.


jimw.


I joke about the snow being bad, but actually it was one of my best days in the backcountry ever. It was my first time up a big Eastern Sierra chute and I loved every second of it. I feel so honored to be able to explore a place like this, to feel the wind and taste the weather coming in. And it was fun climbing with a good group of friends.


On Sunday we visited the Powerhouse area of Dana Plateau en mass.


Jimw was once again our fearless & peerless leader. He offerred vague theories on why THIS one wouldn't be a total crap-fest, but no solid assurances.


So I bailed.

And I took WavyDavey with me too!

We lapped the little apron by the parking lot and practiced our crampon and ice axe skills.


You'll just have to ask Jimw how his little adventure up Powerhouse turned out!


Thanks again for putting everything together, TEX. It was a blast! It'd be nice to see some pics from Saturday's Old Man's trip, too, if anyone's got 'em.

Maybe the two top candidates for most interesting headwear appear in this thread...TEX and the full face helmet cam (look at the scrapes on that brain bucket) and SF with the full white kangol.

Splitboard fashion show finest. By the way, weather and conditions not withstanding it looks like a great trip. I hope to find my way to a splitfest gathering sometime in the near future.

Huge thanks to TEX for putting this together, and nabbing the conference room at the Shilo Inn for the slideshow/videos. BTW, everyone who bailed after the vids, you missed out on the free hot tub access! It was great seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new ones, and it's always great to get out in the eastern Sierra.

Now I must attend to some business...



I think I see a theme emerging here...


... but ah, grasshopper, it appears that you are learning the Jimw Method (tm) quite well!


Well all I have to say about that is... remember this?

Exhibit A: fullers2oh appears to be enjoying the, ahem, crap-fest on his new Mojo:



In fact, every single turn the whole weekend was just like this one!* Everyone who bailed - you missed out. More pics to come...

*wait, is today April 1???

Hey Everybody,
it was really cool to meet you guys and go on tour with some of you. I wish I would 've had more time!
Tex thanks for putting it all together and for giving me credit, I'm glad you liked the slideshow! I had a great time!
I am gonna put up pictures of the saturday tour to old mans bowl as soon as I can! I have an account wih flickr.com, will that work?

Good stoke guys!

Glad you all had a good time.

Who decided to go up Sheelite? Gotta be JimW.

Of Corse it was Jim W's plan...along with some help from Fullers2Oh

Looks like we all missed the big event though

http://easternsierratv.com/discover-eve ... ot-340.wmv

Until TEX gets his pics of Old Man's Bowl up, I'll post a few of my scenics. Stupid Flickr gives you pic size options of not quite big enough, and too big. I'm going with too big unless some one complains.

The first 500 feet or so of climbing was interesting. We had to traverse on the right wall of a semi steep, icy gully. The other side was brambles and bushes. It was a battle trying to keep from getting pitched into the more unpleasant side of the gully.

Top of Old Man's Bowl. AT'er Cristo and splitter schwalbster pointing at something ignoring Mt. Morrison right next to them.


I'm guessing they're pointing at the pinner.


Cristo was a super cool dude. He's an AT'er and I'm not sure how he found out about our gathering. He came along sans transceiver, said he didn't own one. While waiting EONS for someone to friggin look at us at Tom's Place Diner, Tex and I were saying it would be way cool if he won the transceiver at the raffle since he didn't own one. Guess who won? I swear it wasn't rigged.

The splitter crew, and an unlucky couple and their dog who happened to be there when we arrived.


So, we dropped the bowl Chinese downhill style. That poor couple, they dropped a few minutes before us and we passed them going down en masse. Actually I think they pulled over and just let us pass so they could have the place to themselves.
We got to the bottom and climbed the next drainage over.

Top of Old Man's Neighbor


Yeah, it sucks. I don't have any riding pics at Old Man's bowl. I'm sure Tex has a few.

But here's a few from Sunday.

Split bootpack evangelist SanFrantastico negotiates some ice.


And finds a couple turns in decent snow.


And here's something you don't see in the trip reports too often, fullers2oh actually riding. His copious solo trip reports, while inspiring, seldom catch him in motion. Here he finishes off the weekend with a little ollie.


Good meeting you all, already looking forward to next year. Thanks Tex!

wavy, great update to the thread. The more you guys post the more it looks like a blast. I think that might be the first Fullers2oh riding shot I have seen. That ollie on his mojo makes me think of a Seattle Mariner call..."Mojo Rising"...yes, they borrowed it from music fame. Thanks for sharing!

I will put up the still pics I have. I will grab some riding photos from Video this weekend

Friday- Mount Tom 5000 foot decent





The Riders were Storn,Scruffy , and Tex. Swanny was hanging out at the trailhead (recovery from breaking his leg)
Storn and I climb up onto a ridge on the right side of the top circe while Scruffy Climbed the main chute .
I have wanted to ride Elderberry Canyon for 3 seasons. Felt good to ride Her.

Saturday Morning

Breakfast at The Inbred Cafe....er ah TOM'S Place Resort home of the Rudest Staff On Earth








And NO,the dude in the Black Cowboy Hat didnt work at TOM'S PLACE.......thats JimW


I took some of the group to Old Man's Bowl. Hre we are at convict lake getting ready










Splitters and Skiers heading up. A Super Big Crowd for the Eastern Sierra






Looking Back...we should have tried these vvv





One cool thng abou going up Old man's...I got a clear view of The Pinner Couloir. Tis is the Biggest thing I have done to date.( THANKS DAN)













Saturday Night

We had couches and beer and a big projection screen.
The Haute Route Slide Show and The Movie " Let it Ride" were shown


Between the slide show and Movie a few goodies were handed out.


SPARK R & D

were kind enough to throw in not only Demo bindings but also some NICe tee shirts. Two were given away by picking names from a hat. One was a womens size so we elected to give that one to Buffy. Jim Cheatley (the lone telemarker) and Henning (swabster)won the other two!!!!

Also


MAMMOTH MOUNTAINEERING

was kind enough to give us a sweet avy kit to give away. We split it up and Christo won a Beacon, Fullers2oh won a probe and Hennings friend(Sorry...Henning whats is name?) won the shovel.


Group photo of the winners








Sunday

JimW wanted the Powerhouse Chute. I wanted the Powerhouse Chute. We all wanted the powerhouse Chute








But we didnt get going till......................................11AM???????????



Oh well. It was a good Climb





































Now...I have more actions shots I will post later

However the day after I got home I come home from work and I see a Large Box at the door. Seems UPS was a little slow

Our Great Firnds at


Voile



sent a box of Swag,but it arrived too late. I emailed Dave and told him what had happened. I figured I would just ship it back un opened ...but Dave said give it away at splitboard.com


So I have all of this and we need to figure out a fair contest to give this away.

But........I would like to give away one Item to a splitter that has had a rough year. Broke his leg while riding in the San gabriel mountains near Los Angeles and lost a Malamute at the Emergency room. All this happened a week before a trip to pear lake hut He had organized.
This splitter also showed up at the party even though he couldnt go out and help me a great deal. So I hope its cool with all of you guys and Dave at Voile but I think


Swanny


Should get first prize. I will let him pick what he wants and then you guys can have the rest (whoever wins whatever contest we come up with )

I will start a new thread on the Voile Giveaway
but here is what I have( minus one Item for Swanny)






A splitboard split Kit

A new pair of tractor skins

A T-3 Shovel

A Probe

A Hoddie

A Sweatshirt

A Wicking Tee Shirt

A Cotton Tee Shirt



More Pics to come...see new thread on Voile Gear Give away