Trailhead: Wolverton
Elevation: 9049 ft
Route: North facing trees
Difficulty: Easy backcountry ski
With another unplanned string of days off we went looking for safe and fun backcountry skiing in SEKI. Again there is almost no information available on backcountry skiing in the western Sierra so we resorted to looking at topo maps for north facing terrain that might be holding powder after the recent series of storms. The old growth forests between wolverton and lodgepole looked promising so we headed to the wolverton parking lot (also the starting point for the pear lake hut and winter alta).
We started out on the blue blazed trail to pear lake/ the hump. Along this trail to the left drop north facing trees into the parking lot at lodgepole. While this looks like a promising ski run the snow had turned to crust, maybe because of the relatively low altitude of wolverton. To the right the terrain drops down to a creek and then rises again to form the north face of panther peak.
Panther peak as seen from the hump trail
After about a mile on the pear lake trail we crossed a snow bridge over the creek and started heading up panther peak. Fortunately the tree were still holding powder on top of a supportable snow pack. We wound our way up and around old growth lodgepoles until we came to a large plateau beneath the summit ridge.
The last 100 meters or so goes up a steepening ridge to the top of the rocky pillars that comprise the summit of panther peak (there is apparently good rock climbing here if you relish obscurities). We took off our skis and booted up the ridge to find stunning views of the sierra crest, the high sierra trail, and the hamilton lakes area. We enjoyed a rare above the clouds day - something I've witnessed often on the coast but less so in the mountains.
Sierra Crest in the background
The ski down through the trees was fun and easy and deposited us back at the parking lot without having to put our skins back on. Multiple lines of varying steepness appear to be available though none seem steeper than 30 degrees or so. If this run were near tahoe it would be packed after a snow event with folks looking for safe powder. As it was we saw no people other than those grilling in the parking lot (a central valley common site).