Report from May 15, 2025

I knew we wanted to start south this year in the Eastern Sierra, CA, but I didn’t make it here until May 10 due to a family issue.

Even more reason to start in the south.

Fox had just been down there to a zone I’d never been to and said it was special.

I was in.

He was right.

It’s a gorgeous zone with a nearly endless amount of stellar ski lines.

13,595′ University Peak, CA – “East Face”

Details

• Summit (actually a notch):  13,300′
• Car:  9,200′
• Vertical From Car:  4,100′
• Vertical skied:  4,100′ (2,000′ in the chute/apron)
• Max Pitch:  35º 
• Avg Pitch: 30º 
• Aspect:  East
• Distance:  5.8-miles round trip
• Time From Car to Top:  5 hours 
• Car to Car Time: 6 hours & 32 minutes
• Recommended Equipment:  Crampons, Ice Axe, skins

We started at the top of the Onion Valley Road at about 9 am.

A later start because it had frozen very hard the night before.

Our timing was good.

The first climb outta the parking lot was steep, icy, and brutal.

Once into the valley proper, the angle eased up and we hit our stride.

Fox had already skied the East Face, so he peeled off to ski 3 other chutes in the area.

Dwanis, John, and I continued on and we took the high traverse on the looker’s right, which was not the best route…

We shoulda stayed in the valley and climbed the chute from bottom to top.

After suffering the traverse, we started botting up the traverse.

I’m still not acclimatized yet, and I noticed it once we breached 13,000′.

I put in the booter and I was dragging towards the top.

The view off the top of Kings Canyon was awe-inspiring.

Deep, green, jagged canyons.

I dropped first and I didn’t expect much from the snow.

On the hike up, I slogged through a mixture of new snow, cooked new snow, corn snow, and old wet slide debris.

I was happy just to be there and wasn’t worried about the snow, which made it epic that the snow was good.

I dropped in and the snow was good!

I’d planned on struggling down and stopping a bunch.

Instead, the snow was great and I was able to rip it top to bottom.

I was stoked.

It was unexpected.

I watched Greggy and John shred down the 2,000′ line right to me.

We rejoiced and worked our way home skiing another 2,000′ through rollers, trees, creeks, stumps, and rocks right back to the parking lot with big smiles.

The Onion Valley Road on the downhill is an adventure in itself.

Surf and turn burritos at Glenn’s were amazing and I’m not a seafood person.

The Eastern Sierra Ice Cream shop was closed…

We drifted north to Bishop and jumped in the ice cold Owens river for a quick swim under the watchful gaze of Basin Mountain.

Thanks, California!

Photos In Chronological Order