Running Floriston Rapid May 2nd 2009

Last night Dina threw me a surprise birthday party at Silver Peak (I was very surprised) and I got talking to Eric Frudden, Charles and Eric Lovejoy about boating – how I really stopped kayaking. Well, today I noticed the river was brown and fast and when I checked the flow it was 1900 at Farad. So I called Frudden and we drove up there to run it. We were both a tad tense about running it at the higher flow, given neither of us has boated much in the past few years (although Eric did do the Grand last summer!). In any case, we pretty much just ran it without much playing. It took all of ~30 mins! Jaws had a big line down the right and I pretty much nailed it (always anticlimactic when you hit the line). Eric went too far left and had an exciting run, hitting the bottom hole. After Jaws I felt much looser and had more fun. I did drop in to one hole unintentionally, but stayed cool and enjoyed pulling to get out. We were both so glad we did the run. For me at least, it made me feel like I can still kayak!

Here's what the run looked like from the bridge as we drove up:

From Drop Box

Mt Lamarck and Mt Darwin Tour, April 17 - 19, 2009

I finally got down to the Sierra High Peaks for another ski tour, and it turned out we picked a great weekend. After a wonderful two days in Disneyland with the family, Dina dropped me off in Bishop where I meet Eric Martin. After eating dinner in the Chinese restaurant (there's only one), we drove out of town to camp at the "Pit" campground where we were invited to hang out at the campfire by some college climber babes. We enjoyed the evening's fireside chatting and "butt name spelling", but the big action was waiting for us the next day.

We fueled up with the Denney's Grand Slam and then drove up to North Lake. Unfortunately the road was closed at Alpendale, about 2 miles shy of North Lake. It was doubly frustrating because the road crew came by and opened the gate (a repeat of our Gilcrest luck!?) but wouldn't let us through. They were "working" on the road. Well, an hour later and a thousand feet higher we finally reached snow near North Lake and started skinning. We had some skin tracks to follow, but somehow got slightly off course and had to do a traverse that only cost us about 30 minutes. Eventually we got above tree-line and as we looked up there appeared to be someone on the ridge above us. Down came a snowboarder who just shouted hello at us as he went by and wished us well.

Finally, at 5pm, we reached the top of Lamarck Col at approximately 13,000. That made the day's elevation gain almost 5,000'! Needless to say, we were delighted to reach the high point of the day. From there we had to down climb through some rocks to get to consistent snow and then ski down to the Darwin Lakes where we saw evidence of the mystery split boarder's camp. After looking around a bit, we elected to camp along a moraine separating the first two lakes because Eric found a trickle of water we could use. He made a little dam and reservoir to collect water and then we used the hose from my Camelback to fill bottles. Later I found a more convenient spot in the ice that pooled nice fresh water. We were beat by the time we finished setting up camp and the Megamid, but enjoyed dinner time as the sun started to go down and enjoyed some Thai food and a sauvignon blanc.

Saturday we decided to give Mt Darwin a shot. We headed up to the snowboarder's old camp and then followed his tracks up the North Couloir of Darwin using our ski crampons until it got too steep and narrow and then we followed his boot track. Luckily it wasn't icy so even without boot crampons were were okay (I had a Whippet and Eric had an ice ax). It got really narrow and steep at the top, plus there were two sets of tracks and one of the sliders just side-slipped down, making it very unpleasant looking for the descent. Anyway, we got to the top (13,831'), which is a broad plateau with a gendarme sticking up and enjoyed the views, great weather (no wind) and lunch. We decided we were men enough to downclimb the upper section of the couloir, which was scary enough, and then skied the lower 2/3 and on to the apron. I was pooped when we got back to camp (my allergies were kicking in, surprisingly enough way up there!) but we went out for an afternoon "corn harvest" before dinner.

Sunday was our "easy day". We broke camp and shouldered the packs, now a bit ligther than on the in, and headed up for the summit of Mt. Lamarck (13,417'). It was a fairly easy skin up almost to the summit (especially compared to Mt. Darwin) and some great views. It was really nice to realize that we were basically done with climbing and could now enjoy the ski down to North Lake. The corn off the summit was spectatular and held up great until around 10,000', then it got mushy. Eric led us on an interesting line down the steep section above the lake and then we "enjoyed" the walk back on the road to the car.

The fun wasn't over yet; we stopped in Walker at Mountainview BBQ and had some incredible BBQ. It's my new favorite!

It was a great trip and with the heat wave we're now having, I think the timing was just about right.

Videos

Here's a slideshow:

Houghton Tour - 4-11-09

We got some good rain down in Reno, so Eric Martin and I decided to check out the north bowls off of Houghton. Since we only expected a few inches of new snow on a firm base, I decided to take Yuki. There was just some "dust on crust" at the trailhead, but once we got to Broken Glass, we were surprised to find five or more inches on a soft base.
Top of Galena Peak:

Rather than ski down Broken Glass as usual, we headed out to the end of the ridge allowing us to ski the steep north facing couloir. To my surprise, Eric had never skied it before! (I didn't think there was any line in the Rose BC that Eric hasn't skied.) While I climbed up to the top Eric cut in from the side so that he could take some pictures:

Standing up top:

Taking some turns:

Looking back at the Chute:


Then we climbed up to the top of Houghton and were again pleasantly surprised to find some sweet boot top powder. We did two runs down the north bowls/chutes before splitting up. Eric couldn't pull himself away and had to do another run, but Yuki (and I) were getting tired.

Eric making turns:
A set of tracks and the uptrack:


From the top of Houghton we skied a steep line between the rocks and had a little excitement. It was just steep enough and had gotten just enough sun that it started a slow slide which knocked me off my feet. I was slowly going down the chute and found it quite difficult to get back on my feet. Then I saw a little tree off to my left and I was able to angle over to it and use it to stop.

Looking back at the sluff:

Lesson learned, my next line was much more mellow. I came off Houghton down some nice soft snow and then had a 30 minute mellow ski (kick skins) to the ridge above the road and a few minute ski out. Yuki was really beat by the time we got to the Truck and I have to admit that I was pretty tired too.

Gilcrest Couloir - A Nine Year Wait Ends!

I have been eying this particular couloir for nine years, ever since I climbed Gilcrest Peak "accidentally" with Truckee on a return trip from skiing Elderberry Canyon on Mt. Tom with Eric Wood when he was one of our residents. Looking for an easy ski on the drive home I drove up the road to Lundy Lake thinking I'd find something. Well, there was a nice peak with a broad ramp on the lower section, so off we went. One thing led to another and a few hours later we were on top of Gilcrest Peak at 11,575 feet. Looking down to the lake I noticed what looked like a couloir going all the way, but from up top I couldn't see it all so I skied down the east face, the way we came up. When I got to the car I looked back and saw "the line". It's the one on the "looker's" right that goes all the way to the (false) summit (picture taken April 2008):


So, after thinking and dreaming about it for these past NINE YEARS, I finally decided that the time and conditions were right. I was able to get Jon and Scott to join me. Jon saw the line last year on the way back from a Tioga Pass ski trip and Scott was just game for what I described as an unknown epic line. (Unknown is a bit of an exaggeration, but I've not seen it written up anywhere.)

We got to the Lundy Lake road a little later than planned (don't you always) and found that the gate was locked! What a shock! We really didn't want to hike the four miles to the lake, and we definitely didn't like the idea of hiking four miles out AFTER a big climb and ski. Just as we were getting in the car to find something else to ski, up comes the county road guy in one of those big snowblowers. He opens the gate and tells us to have at it!

We went up approximately the route I took nine years ago, around to the east side of then mountain and then up. It was surprisingly steep, enough to make me wonder what I was doing climbing it by myself that first time. Of course, I didn't intend to climb it that time, I just kept going "a little bit higher". Anyway, we reached the summit ridge around 2:15 and then continued up to he rocky summit before wondering where the entrance to the couloir was. We eventually figured out it was back down a few hundred feet f the summit plateau. The big rock buttresses that seemed to mark the entrance when we were looking up were actually about 1000' below us! It also turned out we had to ski one couloir for about 1,000' and then walk a hundred feet or less over to the next one that took us to the bottom.

We started our descent at 3:00 and found variable, but decent conditions. It was a mixture of firm windbuff, windblown powder and the occasional slick patch. Of course nothing like the ice ice I "enjoyed" for 3500' down Mt Marcy in NY. There were a couple of tight chokes which were a bit icy, but mostly the couloir was plenty wide and we could enjoy the turns. About half way down I realized I lost a basket on one of my poles (I was feeling off balance turning to my left). I have carried a spare basket in my repair kit for years, but of course it wasn't there when I needed it. But I was able to make a basket with a plastic lid to my "Zardoz Not Wax" container and duct tape. It worked pretty well! Between taking turns, the repair, enjoying the views and letting Scott take some pictures, it took us about an hour to reach the bottom and ski out the apron to the car.

It was a great ski and I felt great having the monkey off my back after all these years. Now I can't wait to go back and ski it with some fresh powder on it.

A picture of our route:


Here are some pictures that Scott and I took. His work can be found at TahoeLight.com.

Skiing Mt Marcy

My weekend partners (both "established" and online) all fell through, but I was not to be deterred and drove up to the Adirondack Loj to ski Mt. Marcy (New York's highest peak). The worker at the Loj excitedly told me it would be a great day to ski Marcy so I was stoked and tried not to be worried when I saw this at the trailhead.

Okay, maybe it was a little icy here, but surely it won't be like that for long! After carefully walking this section of road for ~1/2 mile, I turned off on to another access road that I could actually ski. Mostly. There were quite a few bare spots that I either walked across with my skis (and kick skins) or took off my skis. I finally got to Marcy Dam around 11:30. It took me over an hour to go just under 3 miles and 200' gain. Not good.

A guide at the dam warned me that I should reassess at Indian Falls, as it was getting late. I should have also picked up on the fact that he was taking his client in the other direction to find some corn in one of the slides.

But the day was beautiful and long, so off I went. There were a ton of people at the Dam, most seeming to head up to Marcy, but once on the trail I only saw 2 or 3 groups going up and a few more coming down. I started to wonder what I was getting myself in to, especially since the trail was narrow and icy. Oh well, it will soften up for the ski down.

The summit cone had a nice coat of snow on it, but unfortunately a not so nice coat of ice on top of the snow. Oh, back East when they say ice, they mean ice.
Summit cone:

But the view on the summit was wonderful. You can see some slides on Wright's Peak in the distance.

To my surprise there were three snowboarders and one other skier up there. The snowboarders and I did find some decent snow off the SE aspect of the summit, but only about 500' vertical. Then I cut over to the north face to see if there was any good snow there. All ice. When I say "ice", it was so slick that traversing across a moderate pitch my skis just shot out from under me and I quickly started sliding down the mountain. "Luckily" some rocks and shrubs were there to break my fall!

Here's what skiing off the summit was like:


The rest of the decent to Marcy Dam was mostly a scary snowplow down an icy trail.

A little ways above the dam the snow finally softened and I was able to enjoy the winding trail. I did try to go off trail once, but quickly found myself ensnared by trees and branches. Not like Tahoe, I mean REALLY dense trees and branches!
Here's the opening into the trees, it gets MUCH denser:


All in all, I'm glad I climbed the peak. I had climbed it one summer with my brother and father when I was 11, and since I'm out here to help my father recovery from surgery, it seemed a good tribute.

But I will be VERY happy to return home and ski some fine Tahoe and Sierra snow!

Night Skiing in NY

Bridger and I went night skiing the other day! We got up to West Mountain around six and met Robbie, his brother Will and their cousin, plus Dad's. We skied until around eight, then had dinner (second dinner for Bridger) in the nice restaurant in the lodge. It was pretty darn icy, but Bridger didn't seem to care.

S***y Mountain, NY

I got a "free day" while up in Saratoga helping my Dad recover from his eye surgery (still not sure how successful it was), so after emailing back and forth with "Freedan" from T-tips and doing some research, I headed up towards Indian Lake to ski the Slides . Dan gave me great directions, so I only drove past the trailhead a couple of times before pulling over and getting going. I started up around 10:30 and reached the bottom of the slides by 11:15, another 45 min's and I was up on top of S***y Mtn looking for a vantage for a good photo of the High Peaks to the north. Unfortunately all I could see was more trees all around me. So I made my way back to the slide, which wasn't easy to find from above, and enjoyed the corn. I did two runs on the main slide and one on a slightly smaller slide, but which was much less skied from yesterday. Each time I went above the slide and was amazed at how hard they are to see from above or the side. On my last climb I found an interesting frozen waterfall that I had to take a few picgtures of. After three runs and lunch I skied back out the the car thoroughly happy with my day.

Here is the slideshow:


And a short video of my skiing. First, skiing the trees to get to the Slide:



Here I am skiing the Slide, notice how well hidden it is:


(NB - edited to remove the name of the mtn since learning that one doesn't reveal "secret" slides when back East)