Talusdancers

Owen Lee looks at Clark Range from camp spot.
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View of the Clark Range from Glacier Point Road.
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Dan geared up and ready to ski out.
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Home, sweet home.
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***Glacier Point Ski Trip (April 4-6, 2003)

Dan and Owen headed to Yosemite on Friday, April 4 with the intention of sking partway to Glacier Point that afternoon and camping along the trail. The plan was to ski the rest of the way to Glacier Point and camp there Saturday, and then to ski back out on Sunday. But plans change…

As we drove to Yosemite on Friday we encountered snow at about the 2700 foot level just outside of Mariposo – odd for April, to say the least! It was snowing when we arrived in Yosemite Valley and the road to Badger Pass (the starting point for our ski trip) was closed, so we ended up camping in the Valley. We enjoyed a snowy “trailhead barbecue” with ingredients obtained from the Valley grocery store.

On Saturday morning we managed to convince the ranger at the “Road Closed” sign at Chinquipin to let us drive on up to Badger Pass and we got on the trail around 12:30, skiing through 15 inches of new snow. Things went well until just after the second cutoff to the Ostrander Hut, where we encountered incredibly bad snow that balled-up under the skis, reducing us to trudging along at a sub-one-mile-per-hour rate. We finally surrendered around 4:30 when we reached a viewpoint overlooking the Clark Range, and we set up camp in light snow.

Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful; relatively warm with clear blue skies for our ski back out to the car.

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***Back from Yosemite.
Dan wrote a brief description and posted it on one of his web sites.
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***FRIDAY
…SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY… HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 31 TO 41…AT 8000 FEET 19 TO 29.

***FRIDAY NIGHT
…SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY… LOWS AT 5000 FEET 18 TO 28…AT 8000 FEET 7 TO 17. SIGNIFICANT TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 15 INCHES POSSIBLE NEAR YOSEMITE…LESSER AMOUNTS TO THE SOUTH. CHANCE OF SNOW IS 70 PERCENT.

***SATURDAY
…MOSTLY CLOUDY… A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MORNING. HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 31 TO 41…AT 8000 FEET 19 TO 29.

***SATURDAY NIGHT
…PARTLY CLOUDY… LOWS AT 5000 FEET 26 TO 36…AT 8000 FEET 13 TO 23.

***SUNDAY
…PARTLY CLOUDY… HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 38 TO 48…AT 8000 FEET 26 TO 36.

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***The Glacier Point trip is on
and the weather is evolving. Current forecasts and discussions suggest that it will be windy and snowy on Friday with a chance for heavy snow, but that it will be less snowy on Saturday and only partly cloudy on Sunday.

***FRIDAY
…STRONG WINDS… NUMEROUS SNOW SHOWERS… HEAVY SNOW POSSIBLE HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 28 TO 33…AT 8000 FEET 15 TO 25.

***FRIDAY NIGHT
…VERY WINDY… SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY… LOWS AT 5000 FEET 22 TO 30…AT 8000 FEET 15 TO 20. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 2500 FEET.

***SATURDAY
…PARTLY CLOUDY… SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS… HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 31 TO 41…AT 8000 FEET 19 TO 29.

***SATURDAY NIGHT
…MOSTLY CLOUDY… LOWS AT 5000 FEET 26 TO 36…AT 8000 FEET 13 TO 23.

***SUNDAY
…PARTLY CLOUDY… HIGHS AT 5000 FEET 38 TO 48…AT 8000 FEET 26 TO 36.