March 27, 2008, Kid Mt.-Corn and Hot Spring

Jill flew back to Seattle for a week to catchup on stuff so I decided to head south along highway 395 past Bishop. Some of the best touring in the Eastern Sierra is located just west of 395 between Bridgeport and Lone Pine.  This seasons snow pack looks healthy and Sierra corn is at its best.  I drove west from Big Pine at 4000' about 9 miles to Glacier Lodge at roads end at 7800'.  You travel from sagebrush terrain to the snow corn fields.  Many tourers use the Glacier Lodge for access to the Palisades and some of the steepest lines in the Sierra.  But then there's Kid Mountain at 11,896' right at the base of Glacier Lodge.  The mountain has numerous chutes and gullies that provide excellent half pipes/avalanche paths.  This is the classic example practiced by Ron and Mad Dog of not passing excellent corn snow for better corn snow. The other appealing aspect of this tour is that I put the skins on the snow about 10 yards from the campervan-I really like that.  Chute selection depends upon your arrival time and  air temperature.  Today was forecasted for partly cloudy.  If there were any clouds, they must be really thin and it was an SPF 30 event with air temps in the 50's.  Seeing I had a 3pm start(drove from Reno), I selected a line at the base of the cabins, put on the skins and ski crampons(just in case) and stopped when the chute pinched off.  Yeah, it was Sierra corn at its finest.  No one around to cheer or bark with but a great day. After smiling while staring at the lines I carved, I drove back towards Bishop and stopped at Keough Hot Ditch for a hot spring soak.  This is skiing in the Sierra.  Now there is a commercial Keogh Hot Springs that charges a fee but I went to the Hot Ditch which is free and slightly downstream from the commercial operation.  As jdclimber would say "Zap, you and Jill are dirtbags and you should be proud".  Another benefit of the Hot Ditch is you can drive within 5 feet of one of the soaking pools-yeah I like that part also. After a relaxing soak and watching the sun set over the Sierra,I headed for Bishop. With a cold one in hand, it's in the mid 60's, I'm wearing shorts and looking west towards the snow covered Sierra deciding what to ski tomorrow. Life is good in the Sierra.