 | | Ah, another year, another night in the gym. After 10+ years it still doesn't get old.
Mammoth HS, CA
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 | | The buses dropping us off, a mile south of Deer Mtn or so.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Before we do anything I have the group pound snow. Kinda like grapes, but a whole lot colder. This way the snow will compress and refreeze by the time we need to cut blocks.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Luigi digging a trench. He's one of crazy types that doesn't pack a tent for the snow. I don't blame him, those things are heavy and unneccessary.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | This is how we anchor tents in the snow. Bury the stick and you're set. In the morning just cut the fishing line!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Luigi ditched his original hole and started anew in the snow melt around a tree. The hole had already been started there, but it's harder/ice.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | This would be me huffing and puffing to the top. And I thought it was steep last year!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Deer Mountain was partly blown away during an eruption in the not too distant geological past. There are two little peaklets on it.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | This part looks worse than it is, but that's the highest point of Deer Mtn.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Going down is harder than going up, not muscle difficult, more technical with a potential for falling and going boom.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Pulling up blocks is easy to do, but it's hard work!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Jamie with a snow saw cutting blocks out of the packed snow.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Our snow kitchen coming together!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Tom Ryan making his way into my completed domecile. I don't bring a tent on these trips either : )
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | After the kitchen it's imperative that we make a igloo. Yeah, for survival lesson time. That's another way to saw Lance needs a place to sleep.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Dinner starts early so we can have light while we eat.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Bust out the drinks, kick back, and enjoy the company!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Sunday morning- we have to break down everything we made. You never know when some punk has a Bud, goes off trail on his snowmobile, hits our stuff, and sues everyone in sight for his breaking the law and lack of attention.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | I love this section. Yeah it's a pain to do and hard to find exactly right, but we find it every other year. Sliding down with packs saves effort and is real fun!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Ok, it's a 2 hour hike back, we gotta get moving!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | These are Doug Provin's pictures, here's one of his artsy shots during the trip.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Almost there gang, one of the few flat sections on my trip.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | Artist at work. This is just a few yards from the trail head.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | The happy and accomplished crew. Well done 2010!
Mammoth Lakes, CA
save file: small medium large |  | | 2010 was a decent snow year. One year out of every 5 isn't so good with dirt poking through.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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