Saddlebag Lake, July 11, 2015

We were not stopped by rumors of there being no snow around Saddlebag Lake.
George had boarded Conness Glacier a week earlier and found some snow. During the week the Tioga Pass area received about 6 inches of wet snow. Enough to close the pass for a few hours. While most of it had melted due to high temperatures and rain that followed, any remaining snow patches would hold onto the recent July snowfall for a while. Even though we were told that Kook Chute might be empty this year, we approached with blind faith.

Here are a couple images of what we saw after hiking toward Cascade Lake:

Here is a close-up of of the recent fresh July snowfall:

Soft mini-snowballs covered the corn snow underneath.

George on the bootpack:

Stev’s selfie from the top of Kook Chute:

Looking over at Conness Glacier from the top of Kook Chute:

A panoramic view looking back from the top of Kook Chute:

Saddlebag Lake is on the left. Greenstone Lake and Conness Lakes are below. Conness Glacier and Mt. Conness can also be seen.

Stev skiing Kook Chute:

George riding Kook Chute:

Stev skiing further down Kook Chute:

George riding below Kook Chute:

Video of George Riding Saddlebag Lake on July 11, 2015:

After getting about 400 feet of vertical on Kook Chute we checked out one of the bonus chutes on the ridge.

Stev skiing a “bonus” chute:

George riding a “bonus” chute: