Powder Weekend (17-18 March 2012)

Spark Notes:

100" of powder at Kirkwood throughout the storm

Saturday - skied Heavenly

Sunday - backountry, 3 laps and 5k vert at Waterhouse Peak

Song Of The Weekend: The Boondock Saints (YouTube) It was St Patrick's Day, after all.

It's been a dry winter for Tahoe, and while that meant climbing last weekend was excellent, it's been rough for skiing this season.  Fortunately, it snowed in the Sierra all of last week, and the biggest dump was saved for Friday night through Saturday night: perfect for everyone from the Bay Area who might have skis, a snowboard, or a sled to make the drive up to Tahoe.
I left work late on Friday and arrived very late of Friday night, technically Saturday morning. This led to a late-ish (9:30am) start, so Eric and I opted to ski Heavenly. One false start later (Eric forgot his boots) and we were on the slopes by 10.  Despite last season's spectacular ski conditions, I think this was my first for-real powder day.   What a way to celebrate St. Patricks day.  I, fortunately, plan my year around the holiday and proudly wore my green soft shell, boots, and skis. (Yeah, right.)

Heavenly...good skiing and great lake views.

A few runs in and I was finally getting the technique and loving the feel of bottomless snow.  Mott Canyon proved packed, but the Palisades gave us lap after lap of untracked runs, so we didn't see any need to really explore for the rest of the day.

Eric, shredding the Heavenly Palisades.

On another note...skiing The Face (double diamond) last year, felt like a real accomplishment after a couple days at Heavenly.  It was my first run this time around, with no hesitation.  I was pretty happy with that.

I got a bit of work in on Saturday night, but mostly relaxed and watched G.N.A.R.  Sunday, we checked out the avalanche forecast (moderate on all aspects above and below treeline on slopes 35 degrees and greater) and opted to head to Kirkwood.  On the way, though, both Eric and I were feeling the call of the backcountry. After driving past, I had to pull a U-turn to park at Luther Pass.  We recalled that Waterhouse Peak was pretty low angle, and would be anchored very well by trees, plus neither of us had skied it before, so the choice was pretty much made.

Waterhouse topo. Credit: www.aboutlaketahoe.com

Great decision on our part...the skin track was laid reasonably well, and we had spectacular, untracked conditions from top to bottom.  We were even safer than at the resort, where there was an in-bounds avalanche.

Eric skinning up among heavily loaded trees.

I've never had quite that feeling of weightlessness and pure joy while skiing before.  I finally understand all the hype about "blower pow" that all the ski movies talk about.  The trees were just spaced out enough, with plenty of snow to let us go off of rocks and trees for a little added fun.  The storm kept on all day, filling in our skin tracks a little between each lap.  That was fine with us though, I don't think anything could have crushed the mood.  Three laps later dark was falling, so we headed back to pick up the girls and begin the slog back home.

Sometimes low angle, but always awesome.

Tahoe Two-Sport Weekend (10-11 March 2012)

Spark Notes:

Saturday - Sugar Loaf, West Buttress (Guide: South Lake Tahoe Climbing by SuperTopo)

Sunday - skied at Kirkwood

Song of the trip: RJD2 – Ghostwriter (Spotify)

Waking up at a civilized 7am, I headed north to pick Bennett up in the city.  After loading more skis and cams than necessary, I pointed the Subaru north and east to Tahoe.  Bennett worked the iPod like a pro and the miles flew by.  On the drive we mixed bad singing with discussion about our goals for the day: with the consensus being moderate leading, and definitely some practice placing gear.  We debated the merits of the Leap and Cosumnes River Gorge, but eventually settled on Sugar Loaf.

We followed the SuperTopo directions to park along the side of 50.  We were met by gorgeous, sunny, t-shirt climbing weather (yay for March in California).  At the West Buttress area, we found both sticky granite and a class from the Lake Tahoe Community College.  Fortunately, the guides/students were friendly, and by situating ourselves to the far left, we climbed without interference all day.

Sacroiliac Joint (5.7)

Bennett started climbing first and led the way all day (he brought the psyche for sure) and I followed-up with my best impression.  We climbed the four routes at the far left of the crag, two friction sport climbs (5.8 and 5.9) to get a sense of things, followed by a couple top ropes to practice placing gear (10b with small gear + 2 bolts and an awkward, left leaning trad 5.7).  We supplemented the training by climbing up and then down-climbing, placing and removing gear on the 5.7.  Sufficiently psyched, we ended the climbing by leading the .7 and then the .10b in succession.  I was particularly happy with the last lead as I had greased off the 10b crux on TR before finding an easier path with some crucial nubs on the otherwise blank face.  We took the last half hour before sunset to walk around the base of the Sugar Loaf to get our bearings (and fill our heads with inspiration for another trip).  We retreated to the car in darkness: a good day indeed.

Sunset from Sugar Loaf

We arrived at the cabin expecting a relatively quite night, but found 7 new friends enjoying a feast, with food to spare.  You never know what you'll find when at Adam's place!  Glad for the company, we ditched our pizza in the fridge and joined the meal, adding some roasted veggies o the table.

Empty slopes going up The Wall at Kirkwood.

An extended hot tub session left our hands stinging but our legs refreshed for a day at Kirkwood.  We got a leisurely start after Bennett gave me a lesson in how to hot wax my skis.  Very therapeutic.  Because of the late start, we ate leftover pizza on the lift between runs: more time for skiing!  Wind, swirling snow, temperature, and low-hanging cloud cover kept the mountain relatively deserted meaning that Bennett and I were able to find plenty of drifts of soft snow among the icy patches.  A few premature binding releases on the Wall reminded me that I needed to adjust my bindings after having lent the skis to Doug last weekend.  Once snugged down, everything felt better, and we bounced back and forth from the Wall to Solitude threading between steep moguls and powder filled trees with a few little kickers in the gullies and small terrain parks.  All told, we could have barely asked for a better day, and were treated to gorgeous scenery on the drive home thanks to the additional hour of daylight.

Snow's in the forecast for this weekend so I guess I may be headed back...

Tick List:

Long Toe (5.8) - sport - lead

Middle Toe (5.9) - sport - lead

Sacroiliac Joint (5.7) - trad - mock lead, then lead

Short Toe (5.10b) - mixed - mock lead (hung), then lead