The winter of 2018/19 was fat to say the least. The highest of white tides graced us throughout the winter months to set up an enormous spring snowpack. After some continued avalanche training in early January and then a trip to Japan in February it was game on in the Sierra as well as a few days on Mt. Baldy where it was possible to ride all the way to your car after Bowl laps. Being on a hunt to summit the California 14’ers I went straight for Tyndall in a solo attempt and was very quickly humbled even with a 3am start. Bailing early allowed me to check the Onion Vally zone, whose road access allows you to drive directly to the snow line.
After the Tyndall escapade I gained a little more experience on smaller approach summits, learned the basics of crampon and ice tool techniques and then set sites on another 14’er: Split Mountain. Partnering up with Skier Brian, whom I reached out to on Instagram, was the winning factor here. It’s pretty funny to meet someone for the first time and then hop into a 5-hour car ride and then spend two days on a remote mountain with them. It worked out great though and I’ve learned years of experience from him on this adventure and since.
Finding the trailhead is often described as the hardest part, but thanks to our high clearance rental 4×4 we had no issues. Left the lot around 11am and pitched camp around 330 or 4 due to an unexpected storm. Listening to the wind howling all night and zero visibility I assumed our Split plans would be forced to change, but we awoke to perfect conditions. Early morning climbing conditions were perfect. Nice crispy for cramponing but once we hit the bottom of the East face the sun started to beat down on us. This only being my second time in crampons and shitty ones at that, I was gripped the entire time up the face as the sun detorioated the snow conditions. Just 500-ft below the summit we were both gassed and left wondering if we could make it up before the snow conditions would force us to turn around. Roller balls were starting to form and increasing snow depth through melt let us know that wet slide conditions were starting to present themselves. With a sudden second wind we booted to the top. Strapping in on a new board for the first time and with Brian having no idea yet if I actually knew how to snowboard we dropped through the top 45 degree crux and linked turns in perfect conditions all the way back to the tents. We made the slog out and celebrated with a cold beer in the parking lot. It was gonna be a good spring.
