Two Teats

The morning sun was out, fresh powder everywhere, and the view of the Ritter Range from Minaret Summit (9,175') was spectacular. Beyond the road end there were no more tracks, so it was time to trailbreak in 10" of fresh snow. The workout became easier after we reached the treeless ridge with packed snow, but there is a reason for it; a howling wind blew on the ridge. High clouds were building up. We skied up the San Joaquin ridge to Deadman Pass (10,255'). There, most previous SMS trips ended, but it is only half the way to San Joaquin. After the pass the ridge drops a few 100', then one reclimbs another peaklet (10,375'), then it drops again and you reclimb again to 10,485', then you drop again and climb another bump at 10,913', then you drop again before climbing the Two Teats (11,387'), and of, course, you drop twice again before climbing San Joaquin (11,600').

Spotted Susan in the distance but she was slowly heading back. Something seemed wrong. This uncertainty, the weather, and timing called for a retreat. After I caught up with Susan I noticed she was missing one skin. She had skied down with skins which came loose, stripped off and, by the time she noticed the loss and returned, they were gone with the wind. %^&* happens! Well, I gave her mine, put on my ski crampons and returned sidehilling up the bumps. At Deadman Pass the sky was uniformly grey, Ritter was clouding in and a blizzard blew spindrifts into our faces. Time to get out. Nice telemarking down the ridge. In the forest we appreciated the tracks of the often-criticized snowmobilers which got us quickly on the road without trailbreaking. By 5 pm we were back at the car and six hours later at home. The impending big storm dumped 5 feet of snow on Mammoth Mtn.

(Ed. Note -- Two Teats consists of the rather strange volcanic outcrop shown in the photo and a bump on the San Joaquin Ridge.)