Lone Pine Peak - East Couloir
Sometimes as a writer you just don’t know how much information to give.
It would be easy to present this as a dashing adventure in which I fearlessly charged into the unknown and triumphed, except that’s not at all what it was like.
This was an intense struggle that really made me question myself and what I was trying to do.
I had noticed a tiny sliver of snow near Lone Pine Peak’s summit several years ago. It looked interesting. It also looked like it fed right into the middle of the peak’s massive northeast headwall, a 1000′ high cliff with no way out.
How I ever came to think it would be possible to ski this line, I can’t say. Occasionally, I guess my imagination runs amuk. I am glad to be able to return and tell the tale here. It was a powerful experience. For the record, I don’t know if this has ever been done before. It’s just such a big, elegant, aesthetic line it’s hard to believe it could have escaped so many good skiers’ attention for so long (though, as I note, it is indeed ‘hidden in plain view’). But I’ve never heard a word of it, so I just don’t know.
Lone Pine Peak: Summit to Desert
April 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Fantastic article! Absolutely riveting, with stunning pictures. Thank you!
BTW, is “camp Doom” a name you came up with?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
This entry is pure inspiration. Thanks for the incredible story!
April 12th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Outstanding Andy. I’ve eyed that line so many times wondering the same thing. Way to get up there and do it.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
This is absolutely the most insane TR i have ever read in taking place in the Eastern Sierra. Inspiring, What an unreal line. I’ll be first in line to buy the book.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Andrew this is a brilliant piece of writing. Well done. You have captured the essence of adventure in the Range of Light with this one. Hope to run into you sometime this spring…maybe Ellery Bowl…
April 24th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Found a snapshot* from the drive up Whitney Portal Road. Just another angle of the Northeast Face and Headwall on Lone Pine Peak.
I have always looked up there from the road and wondered if it was do-able or if anything connected to the top. Incredible that you answered those questions here, and bagged it just a few days later!
Andrew, thanks again for the amazing T.R. on this line!
Cheers! S.Wilson
(*apologies for the low quality - it was taken from an iPhone.)
April 29th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I love checking in on your website and seeing what mountain you’ve conquered. This one blows the others away. Amazing climb and descent and well written as always.