The seed for this tour started for me in 1994 when I got my hands on the Moynier High Sierra Skiing Guidebook. This peak wasn’t in there, but I ticked all of them except one I believe passes the sketchy threshold for my age at this point. Then I moved over to the Richin’s 50 Classic Ski Descents of California book and mixed in there I started doing some new tours of my own. Before closing that old Moynier book I would always flip to the back for a glance at his hand drawn map of notable big peaks and passes. This crude map showed the notable big Sierra Peaks his crew had used to navigate weeklong Sierra ski tours. One small dot in the middle was Seven Gables. The name sounded so ominous and important. And when I saw it finally 20 years later from the top of Feather Peak, I put it on my list; even though I was full of anxiety just standing where I was, plenty far from the car, freezing with matt Gold and glancing at it for 5 seconds.
For me this guidebook laid out my homework assignment ski descents. A full education would be the reward if you did em all. You got one paragraph and one scary black and white photo of each mountain. The book was basically his blog of stuff he has done and thought worthy of recommending. I do the same on my Mike’s Ski Tours blog you are reading, hopefully adding in some humor, a stack of helpful color photos, and a few lessons to beginners. I’m still a beginner I make the same mistakes over and over. Any successes I have in the mountains comes mostly from enthusiasm. Back to the Moynier book drawing with Seven Gables, I took the purpose to be a closing statement to us kids that said “The Sierra is huge; get a sleeping bag and go into the middle. You’re ready now.”
Moynier didn’t have the benefit of website and phone map software. I’m reviewing the terrain now as I load pictures and think about our route, which I think is the best way to ski this peak. After going over our options for days out there feeling it all out, we picked an easy low angle and seriously beautiful lollipop shape loop. Skiing out there out-and-back would be much more boring and still require a campsite. Going over our passes will always work, where alternative passes I can suggest will be steeper and scarier with an overnight pack if the snow is frozen firm. Ruskie Pass could have worked I think, and we were up there in an exploratory peak ski, but I can’t say for sure you’ll thank me in firm conditions. We poked at La Salle Col and saw it from both sides, I say DO NOT GO THERE. Way too steep for full size packs and thin coverage.
OK my first comment is that you could head out to Seven Gables and the beautiful Bear Lakes Region at any time of year. I went out a few years ago in the summer and it was unreal. You are off trail in a sea of cool lakes when you cross over our Granite Bear Pass. From there you stroll endlessly down a long path of nature’s finest and friendliest wilderness scenery to the foot of Seven Gables. In both summer and this winter tour I setup our camp at the west end of Vee lakes. It’s a long haul. 8 hours on skis with big packs at a comfortable pace. In the summer we spent 2 easy days getting there. This pass is steep enough to want ski crampons or an axe, and the granite spire that guards it looks so cool! I hope to come back to climb it from the pass and bet it goes at every grade you could want in 3-4 pitches. When you get to the pass on skis, you can count on reaching Vee lakes without skins. You will push a little with extended poles, so keep up your speed. We got out of the drain and veered left to reach the north shore of V Lakes. I didn’t want to be all the way down in the lowest elevation for the morning climb. I wanted to setup camp near water and have an inspiring view of the mountain. It’s kind of nice to start out a tour with skins off as well, and glide down a few hundred feet to the start. I don’t want a huge climb to find my tent at the end of the day, but I don’t mind 20 minutes on skins. We knew we were going to re-use our camp that night after the climb. Sure, we could have packed up and headed into a new valley, but instead we skied another long, nice panel of smoother corn snow closer to Gemini-Gables saddle.
I had no intel on skiing this peak, as there was nothing online. The summit register showed no winter entries going back to it’s origin in 2013. I couldn’t see snow on the upper half of the mountain from any peaks I have previously visited, but the contours were mellow enough to deal with crust and rocks. And yup, that’s what we got up on the north face. We did ski it all, but it wasn’t great. The lower half from the couloir down to our tents was killer, however. And I have included some aerial photos of the peak from a mammoth Pilot Ed Cesnalis which show amazing snow coverage. That’s not at all what we found and must have been a huge winter in March. This season was below average for snowfall, and our tour date was a bit later in the season than I would have liked. Walking up the Pinecreek Trail is kind of nice in trail shoes however, and we found snow within an hour.
Funny that the only time we had to break out the boot crampons was at first touch of snow on the morning of day one. Pine Creek Canyon gets steep near the beginning, with big cliffs beneath you. The trail is on the south side of the drainage. This means north facing snow in the morning, and it was too firm for ski crampons. The big packs made it sketchier. So, I had everyone put on boot crampons to cross our first 100-yard patch of snow. when you get to Pine Lake, you just put it in cruise control all the way to Vee Lakes on the west side of Granite Bear Pass. We used Ski crampons in the morning to climb Seven Gables lower slopes, we walked carrying skis to get up the little col at mid mountain, and then we broke out the ice axe for the final 200′ near the summit. We stashed our skis and scrambled easy and secure feeling 3rd class for the final 100′ to the summit. I didn’t see any viable way to ski the south or west slopes. Ed Cesnalis airplane photos sure make that look good, but I saw mostly dry rock. Likewise, there wasn’t enough snow on the north side of Gemeni Peak to bother trying that one next. I had thought I would tag that one in the same day or the following morning.
My original tour plan idea was to focus on skiing the west side of Royce and Merriam Peak along the return to the car. I’ve been up to Royce Lakes to climb and ski a few times but never explored the west side of them. We went through there on day four and found them to be rocky and boring looking. I’m glad we stayed a second night at Seven Gables and a 3rd night in the neighboring lake at 11,200′ below La Salle Col. There was really interesting peaks and passes all around us with excellent snow coverage. We skied an un-named peak 12,200′ with no summit register that had a NE exposure and holds Ruskie Pass on it’s north side. From this peak I could see an alternate tour to Seven Gables that uses Ruskie Pass going in either direction. We loved Featherlite pass however, as it was mellow with nice views. Descending the south side of Featherlite Pass to camp was just right at maybe 30-35 degrees steep and covered well. Featherlite Pass is different than neighboring Feather Pass. There were many steep couloirs and a few peaks you could ski from this valley where we camped in on the 3rd night. I will definitely go out there if I can get healthy again. Going in for major shoulder surgery this week. I’ve had a lot of surgeries. I’m not sure how many more nights in a sleeping bag are in my future after 6 shoulder surgeries. It’s a little easier in the summer where i can stretch out.
OH YEAH, the people I went with! Stevie Woerz. You must meet Stevie. Everyone needs a dose of Stevie. No better drug to bring with you in the mountain then some laughs with Stevie. And my Canadian friends Peter and Zofia I met in BC at Snowfall Lodge about 5 years ago. We skied Hotlum Bolam on Mt.Shasta last year, where I was impressed with their strength and positive attitude. They love this stuff more than anyone I’ve ever met. They live for skiing, mountain biking, and backpacking. Literrally, they live it. Living in their van for 5 years driving around BC and skiing as much as possible but also travelling the world. Stevie does too. I got to listen to great stories. I have family and business to enjoy, so my mountain sports are pretty much Sierra with occasional trips to other states. These guys could talk for hours about the mountains and oceans beyond the US.
I planned for 5 days and more peaks, but we were all happy with our 4-night tour. The snowpack on the peaks around Royce Lakes was thin, and Feather Peak Couloir had some steady traffic. There is some fun skiing in the long journey going home from Royce Lakes, so we were satisfied with that with our overnight pack. I thought I would find something to ski on Royce Peak, but the snow was a bit thin on the steep east facing chutes. The sweet chute you see on the NE side of Royce doesn’t actually go through to the top. It sure looks like it does when you arrive at Royce Lakes. My photo of us standing there makes it look like it goes. But this chute leads to some gnar hidden behind and above it. In a big snow year, you don’t really need to go to Seven Gables. Skiing around Royce Lakes peaks on both east and west sides would be all you could ask for.
I’m going to put Seven Gables in a small group of Sierra peaks I have visited that I can see clearly in my mind any day for the rest of my life. They are that spectacular. The mountain shape itself, the surrounding peaks, the solitude you get from the remote location, and the friendly terrain that lets you ski the thing without risking your life. Grab a sleeping bag and go out there into the middle. You’re ready.
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