McGee Mountain, northeast gullies

On March 10, 2010, 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.:

Coverage is full in all couloirs and gullies of McGee Mountain, with no visible avalanche activity whatsoever. Snow skirt can be easily accessed directly from paved roads, requiring no hiking to begin ascents.

Ascended northeast gullies directly from the solo old house on Long Valley Road. No tracks before us. Skinned on skis and splitboard to top. Thorough snow coverage, though brush may well begin to melt out by the end of this week's warm weather. Attempts to ski cut the slope were non-reactive.

Snow surface during ascent was a solid sun crust varying in depth from 2-6 inches, with a couple of feet of gorgeous powder trapped inaccessibly below. Through the whole ascent, our skis only punched through the crust on a few steps, making skinning pretty easy. Once on top, the freezing wind really started blowing with negative windchill temperatures, so we got down as fast as we could safely do so. The skiing was some of the worst we have experienced in our lives! The fast wind quickly made the crust chunky at best, much like the lower fans of the Wipeouts/Dropouts can become wind-affected at Mammoth Mountain. Hop turns were necessary for a safe descent. If there was any wind-loaded snow, we couldn't get to it as the crust was too firm and punchy. Bleck! Good exercise, but crap skiing!