I think 12,264 foot Matterhorn peak is one of the more aesthetic peaks in the High Sierra’s. Rising up from a glacier above Twin Lakes just outside of Bridgeport, this mountain is a classic destination for backcountry ski enthusiasts. Often times snow covers the hiking trail from the Mono Village campground, allowing skiing all the way from the car. Currently, the whole first pitch, from the parking lot over the ridge into the Horse Creek is bare. However, once up in the drainage, snow coverage is still pretty good. The vertical on this run is about 4500 feet and suitable for intermediate or advanced skiers depending on the route chosen. Once near the top, the skis have to come off for a boot pack up any of 3 steep couloir choices. The day we went, we left Reno at 2am because I knew the snow’s weren’t getting a solid refreeze overnight. Even so, by 11am the snow went from ice, to about 30 minutes of beautiful corn snow, to heavy ankle deep mush. Natural wet avalanches were occurring regularly by the time we reached the base of the couloir, so I skipped the final pitch this time for safety reasons and headed to find the entrance to a set of beautiful chutes I had seen while climbing up on looker’s right. We set off some 6-8 inch wet slides at the mouth of the chute, but otherwise made it down around 1:30 pm. With a solid overnight refreeze, this route has beautiful corn snow most of the way down and makes for a great ski.
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Twin lakes at sunrise as seen from the trail to matterhorn peak
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Matterhorn peak, center, and its flanking couloirs
Skier silouetted agains the sunrise on Matterhorn peak
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Climbing over the rise in Horse Creek canyon, headed to ski Matterhorn peak, center
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Skinning up the drainage to ski matterhorn peak
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A marmot peaks at us from far away
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Skinning up the steep hill that seperates Horse Creek drainage from the glacier
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Coming down the open face below the Matterhorn peak, with the east and west couloirs visible, and the ski dreams route, far left of picture.
The chute climbers right on the way up is real easy to find on the way down.
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Steve looks into the gut of the chute and is hating the mushy snow conditions
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And with good reason, as he kicks off a wet slide that slowly flushes down the chute.
Finally headed out the base of the chute and into open terrain.