Posted by Jim
on February 16, 2009, 3:42 pm
63.193.144.X
A few years ago (the last year it really dumped, when there were many feet of snow on the mountain and the road was closed for weeks) I picked up a couple of snowboarders and gave them a lift up to the first snow gate. They had been boarding on "the Face" (that steep treeless slope up above the first snow gate) and told me they had also been up the day before, and sometime overnight the Face had avalanched. I had previously seen what looked like a cornice hanging on the ridge above the Face. I think that had finally let go.
Do any of you guys who have been around Mt. Pinos for a while know of any other likely avalanche spots on the mountain? Or any other known hazards? I have seen some deadly looking cliffs on the north side of the mountain in a canyon below the summit meadows, but you'd have to be nuts to go in there without mountaineering gear. I'm more concerned about the kind of thing that could sneak up on you.
Thanks for any local knowledge. I want to avoid being on the news like those 3 guys at Wrightwood last winter.
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