Sierra Trip Reports

Locations: Hidden Peak, West Shore & Herlan Peak, East Shore, Lake Tahoe

Skiers: Jon, Andrew, Nick & Mike

Photos: As noted

Synopsis: My life trajectory has really validated the theory that good things come in pairs. Ultimately, this TR is A Tale of Twos, so to speak. Two general themes, life and skiing. Two seasons, last year and this year. Two little boys, really struggling then triumphing. Two particular days. Two peaks on two shores of Tahoe. Two life arcs, pre- and post-parenthood. Two inversion layers, above and below the fog. It goes on and on, as does life…

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Dates: Saturday, January 2 & Sunday, January 3, 2015

Location: North Lake Tahoe

Skiers: Noah, Pat & Nick

Photos: As Noted

Synopsis: Following periods of heavy snow during Christmas week, the Tahoe Basin was subject to particularly strong winds that impacted much of the alpine zones above tree line, leaving wind scoured surfaces. However, the near tree line and below tree line terrain sheltered the snow from the intense winds. Coupled with very cold temperatures, the tree skiing continues to be excellent. With more storms forecast this week, fingers are crossed for more days out like this.

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Date: Sunday, November 29, 2015

Location: North Lake Tahoe

Skiers: Andrew, Mike, Morgan and Nick

Photos: Andrew, Mike and Nick as noted (although everything was shot with various forms of cellular machines…)

Synopsis: So far in November, the Tahoe Basin has been consistently receiving small winter storms on a weekly basis. What has been interesting is that November in the Tahoe Basin has been below historical average for both total precip and snowfall. However, with the horrible “winters” the past several years, everyone is obviously excited with cold, consistent snowfall coming in. This past week in fact, Tahoe got a very cold storm dropping down from Alaska the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, followed by well below average temperatures the remainder of the week into the weekend.

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Date: December 2014

Location: North Lake Tahoe

Skiers: Jon, Noah & Nick

Photos: As noted

Early season in Tahoe this year was coupled with big expectation and hype (including the December Mega Storm), which as typical largely under delivered on account of fluctuating snow lines. As of present, we are once again combatting a high-pressure ridge off the West Coast leading to another dry January. As I sit and await our historically biggest snow months of February and March, I think back to some great days early season in December. There were certainly good days to be had, both in the resorts and touring in the backcountry.

Similar to the rising tides and fluctuations in the weather, each day had its ups and downs. Once such great day in December had a lot, in fact!

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Date: Saturday, March 8, 2014

Locations: Sierra Crest, North Lake Tahoe Basin

Skiers: Colin & Nick

Photos: Colin & Nick (as noted)

Synopsis: Armed with high-pressure, clear skies, a decent re-freeze the prior night and a light, Southwesterly wind, Colin and I decided to head out last Saturday for the classic Sierra Crest tour from Sugar Bowl to Squaw in the North Lake Tahoe Basin. I don’t think I am surprising anyone in saying that this season has been pretty bleak in Tahoe for snow accumulation, and I think a lot of the pictures below will show how thin the sun-exposed aspects are right now. Still, it felt great to get out on a longer tour and get some exercise. I particularly like these “meadow skipping” type tours where you cover longer distances to see a lot of terrain. I particularly like multi-day tours in the Eastern Sierra in the Spring, but this season (like last season) is looking like May will be more devoted to High Sierra climbing.

Warning – there are not a ton of action ski shots in a tour like this, but figured I have not posted a TR in a while so why not.

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Dates: Saturday, November 10 – Sunday, November, 11, 2012

Location: Alpine Meadows, CA

Skiers: Alex, Brandon, Jon, Marcus, Mike & Nick

Photos: Alex, Jon & Nick (as noted)

Synopsis: During late last week, another early season storm fell across the Tahoe Basin with extremely cold temps (by Tahoe standards) and light, dry snow. A group of us headed up to Alpine Meadows for a couple of days of backcountry touring. I note “backcountry” as Alpine Meadows is currently closed until the resort opens in December, and therefore the terrain and snowpack is uncontrolled from an avalanche perspective at this point.

Ultimately, we had a great time skiing in good conditions without much incident over the course of both days. Alpine Meadows must have had upwards of 100 people backcountry ski touring, boarding and snowshoeing around the mountain on both days. I have heard of similar reports from Kirkwood and Sugarbowl.

However, as I write this Trip Report, I do so with some sadness and an introspection about the fragility of life in general. As I found after this past weekend, at some point on Saturday (likely after we had left for the day) a young skier suffered a traumatic accident while telemark skiing at Alpine Meadows. She was telemark skiing for the first time, likely enjoying a beautiful day with her friends in the exact same fashion we were elsewhere on the mountain. I since learned that she suffered a crash while skiing (and wearing a helmet) and struck a rock buried in the snow relatively hard. Ultimately, due to the strong efforts of her companions and the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol (who were on site conducting training at the base), a valiant effort was made to transport her via helicopter to emergency care. Unfortunately, she suffered critical injuries in the fall and she has since passed on.

Since I first heard about this, a stark reality struck me:

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Skiers: Alex, Andrew & Nick

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2012

Location: Alpine Meadows, CA

Synopsis: Last week, the Tahoe basin was blessed with an early season storm that 2-3 feet of powder along the upper reaches of the Sierra Crest. Therefore, Alex, Andrew and I headed up to Alpine Meadows for some early season skinning and skiing. In the afternoon once the weather got too warm and the snow conditions too sticky, we got in some good practice on our avalanche rescue scenarios in a mock debris field we created near the base of the mountain. Generally, I tend to shy away from early season skiing in the backcountry as I get concerned about thin coverage and getting hurt. Alpine Meadows seemed like a good bet on both coverage and being familiar with the underlined terrain if we stayed closed to historically groomed areas. Although it was definitely pre-season conditions and AM is not yet open for about month – so we took it easy.

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Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Skiers: Colin & Nick

Location: Silver Peak (Tahoe Backcountry)

Summary: Colin and I headed out to the low-angle trees near Silver Peak for some storm day skiing. We skinned up an access road and through low-angle meadows with the intention to ski low angle trees and avoid any avy terrain (due to avy conditions). Upon reaching the intended zone, a weather system moved in and visibility went to around 5 feet, so we simply turned around and headed back to the car.

Still a fun day in the mountains, breaking trail through beautiful surroundings.

Here is a short video entitled “Breaking Trail” (my attempt at being artsy) – music is included.

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Location: Silver Peak, CA

Date:  Saturday, January 3, 2009

Skiers:  Colin & Nick

Photographer: Nick

Weather:  Clear skies, intermittent clouds, temps from 15-30

Avalanche Conditions:  LOW, with pockets of MODERATE on N-NE aspects over 37 degrees (from the Sierra Avalanche Center).  Our observations while skiing indicated a strong snow pack.  No serious sluffing or visible signs of slabbing.  N-NE aspects did have a slight rain crust about 6 inches down (from overnight rain on Jan 1st) with powder on top (from Jan 2nd storm).  S aspects had pockets of sun crust on the top by mid day.

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