The Thumb

The Thumb had been a frequent topic of conversation for Noe and I all winter. It has a very appealing ski descent and it is on the SPS list. Finally we set a date: 4/13. We recruited our housemate Bridget to join as well.

I was very sick all week. Lying on the couch, stomach in agony, unable to eat or even think. I told Noe and Bridget I was probably out. On Saturday I was eating basic solid foods though, so I figured I’d give the Thumb a try. We drove down Saturday evening and found a very pleasant spot near McMurray Meadow to camp. We set our alarms for 3am and settled in a for a few hours of restless sleep.

We awoke in the middle of the night and began the massive climb up the peak. We were down amongst the sagebrush at 6,200 feet, and the peak towered some 7,000 feet above us. We made great progress those first two hours — two steep hours through the darkness that brought us to the snow.

Next came what is always a crux of these types of trips. We sat for a few minutes to transition to skis. The frigid air quickly cooled our bodies which had warmed up from the exertion of the climb. Our fingers quickly got numb as we fiddles around with all of our various gear. Finally, we all got going, and our bodies slowly started to warm back up.

We climbed 1,000 feet or so on snow and then were greeted with a view of the summit. The thumb felt impossibly far away. Many patches of rocks separated us from the summit. The melt had been going quickly this year. We knew we would be in for multiple transitions, which would eat away valuable time. Skis off, walk on rocks for a few minutes, skis back on. We followed this pattern for a while. Bridget admitted after the trip that this was her lowest moment of the trip, but she didn’t complain in the moment and persevered.

The going got better once we were back on snow, but we still had almost 3,000 feet to climb. To add to the stress, the sun was coming out and softening the snow quickly. It was looking very likely that after coming all this way, we would have to turn around short of the summit. We all dug deep and pushed on up the climb.

Some miracle clouds came and cooled things off, saving the snow for a few more hours. We were all exhausted, but we pushed towards the summit. At one point, the terrain became steep so we had to transition to boots.

After many hours, we made the summit at last. We were greeted with incredible views north towards the jagged Palisades, south towards Split Mountain, Bolton Brown and Prater, West towards Palisade Creek and west towards Birch Mountain. We sat for a bit and took in the views.

Then the skiing began! The snow was still a bit hard but edgeable at the very top, but quickly became perfect corn. All of the slopes that had taken us hours to climb up, now flew by in seconds. It was some of the best skiing of my entire life. Throwing turns through the corn in this beautiful setting. Noe and I skied down in unison. I linked my tracks with each of his. We both let out howels of delight. Bridget claimed she was not a good skier, but she managed to negotiate even the steep slopes with grace and was never far behind.

Just as quickly as it began, we reached the end of the snow. Now we still had 3500 feet of descent to get back to our car. The first order of business was climbing over a ridge to get back to the trail. This was my personal low moment, my knee unsteady with the immense weight of the skis now on my back. We bushwhacked and boulder hopped. Noe lead the charge, and soon we were back on the trail. Now I hit my stride. The thousands of miles in my legs kicked in and I began to cruise back down towards the car.

We hiked down the 3500 feet which went quickly on the steep trail. Some may wonder if it is worth it to hike so much on dirt to ski for only a few minutes. Indeed it was. I will never forget those few minutes on the summit, peering over the the edge into the winter wonderland of the high Sierra. And I will definitely never forget those incredible turns in perfect corn, speeding down the mountain at 30mph, wind whipping through my hair, and a massive grin spreading across my face.