ELDERBERRY CANYON AND HURD COL May 4-5, 1996

Signing up for this Ski Mountaineers trip, I motored down U.S. 395 to the Eastern Sierra to meet the group at Rovana Road along U.S. 395. I was able to hitch a ride in a van to negotiate the 4WD road to the start of the ski hike.

We took a dirt road to the side of the canyon proper to hike faster up the hill. By me, you can cut over into the canyon after the end of the road, which we did. The group was fast and strong and I had my heavy pack. We came to snow, skinned up, and soon they were way ahead of me. I took some pictures, and shortly came to about 11,200 feet elevation, the highest point of the canyon. Other skiers were skiing up the headwall of the canyon, reaching up to 12,000 feet.

It was called to start back down, and I got a group shot. The snow was typical spring skiing, but this being my first tour for a year, I had to relearn my skiing and then ski as fast as the group. They get to ski a lot, most of them skiing all winter. The local chapter had long banned skiing for me, so I was at an extreme disadvantage. I managed to get some photos of the others skiing down.

We ran out of snow at about 7,500 feet, so put the skis on our packs and hiked down a good trail through rocks along the edges of the canyon. Back to the cars at 4 p.m., the others went to the hot springs along U.S. 395, and I went on my own somewhere. We had some sights of a Sierra wave during the sunset.

Meeting again in the morning, I skied with the group from South Lake. We skied to Hurd Col, where I took many falls due to bad, icy snow. I had to ski down separate from the group, who were making many S's, and me being without my usual ski legs.

Getting back to my car, I had to be content with just attending the trip, my ego blown with my poor performance. It was a nice drive back north, with a final sight, and more, of Elderberry Canyon from Sherwin Grade on my way home.

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