Tag Archives: ski

Skiing Freel

That old saying about the third time being a charm rang true this weekend.  Twice before we’ve attempted to ski Freel Peak, and twice before we’ve been stymied.

Yes it’s been a weird season here, but March’s robust snowfall encouraged us to try Freel one last time.  Route finding, time constraints and high winds were the limitations in the past, and with two of the three not a concern, we decided to go for it.    I had very low expectations about the quality of the snow, but as we’ve had little in the way of big backcountry days here, I figured it would be one of the last big days of the season.

Getting to Freel is always a bit of a slog, no matter how you go.  At 10,886 feet, it’s the highest mountain in the Lake Tahoe region, though it doesn’t directly overlook the lake like Mt. Tallac.  As such, it requires an approach.   N suggested a different route than we’ve taken in the past, which ended up saving us time on the traverse and energy on the ascent to Star Lake.  This meant that we both felt fine by the time we hit the ridge just under Freel (and above Star Lake), which has historically been our turnaround point.

Threading the needle

Threading the needle

We gained the ridge, which had more snow than I had seen from afar, and saw a wide and not so steep bowl on the backside of Freel.   It looked totally different than I had envisioned, primarily because my experiences with Freel were either seeing it from the Tahoe Rim Trail or from further away at Heavenly or at lake level.  The side that I’ve seen is the more forbidding front side, which has some interesting looking chutes, but appears to be pretty steep and wind-hammered.  The backside, where we skied, is a gentler, wide open bowl.

Tracks & trees on Freel

Winds had picked up by the time we approached the summit, so we opted to stop at a protected rock outcropping at 10,600’ and then do a high traverse into the bowl and ski from there.  After savoring the views, naturally!

Wet powder descending Freel

Spring powder?

Snow conditions on the descent were variable, and included windboard snow at upper elevations, ‘warming’ winter powder above 8200’ and then gluelike “snow” the rest of the way down.   We had a few chuckles over our need to pole downhill in a few places, and my power wedge moves in the super sticky snow.    Suffice to say not many photos were taken during that part of the descent.

Consolidated snow above High Meadows

Below Freel, above High Meadows

Actually getting to Freel was the day’s objective, which we did. That was what made the day so awesome.  Knowing what we know now, our next goal is to do this trip in much better snow conditions.  After all, that could be an awfully long powder run if timed right.

Powder birthday

So the snow did arrive; up to 8 feet fell on the Tahoe region during the week of my birthday. It was a long overdue powder celebration (and then some), for me along with everyone else at Lake Tahoe.

I made the most of it with Nils, skiing Sierra-at-Tahoe on the high wind days when other resorts were shut down, then hitting Heavenly after it had been virtually closed for two days.  With the new Voile Drifters (121 mm underfoot,
baby!) I felt invincible.  There is no speed limit on those skis.  Better than the unlimited speed however were the face shots, of which these skis gave me plenty.

With the resorts slayed by the hordes of powder hungry skiers by Friday, we knew it was time for some backcountry exploration on the weekend.   Cold temps and a low snow levels meant that we could consider a few lower trailheads, one of which we’d never attempted before.    With some Ttips friends as guides, we found some of the most epic backcountry conditions I have ever encountered in the Lake Tahoe basin.  Full stop.   Over 4000 feet of knee + deep snow.

Want proof?  Well, how about these? (all photos courtesy of Sierra Fred)

 

 

 

Not stopping

So worth missing the Eddie Izzard concert in Oakland that night!

Spring in January

It’s been a hectic week, coming back from traveling and trying to regain some semblance of control at work and at life.  A couple of surprises, with such key things like employment and health insurance, added uninvited excitement.  Because of this I wasn’t all that focused on the snow, but I was surprised at the oddly warm temps we encountered when we got back home.  While N kept telling me snow conditions at Heavenly were still wintery in north facing aspects, I found that hard to believe when I was sweating at lake level just walking from my car (though maybe the down jacket, gloves, hat & scarf were overkill).

Since conditions are at that in between stage at anything not north facing (not quite corn and most definitely not winter snow), we had agreed that ski touring was the call for Saturday, if only to get a bit of exercise.  N had been trying to ski tour with a friend of his, and he and his girlfriend were free.  We don’t usually ski tour with others, primarily because of most of our friends either don’t live near us or are parents of small children.  So it was sort of a novelty to meet and ski with another couple.

We ended up going up towards Emerald Bay to ski Jake’s Peak, a mountain at the north end of the bay.  We’d skied it once before, but had never done it from the south side.  It ended up being a rather athletic climb, as it was steep in places, and firm enough to require either ski crampons (which I had) or experience skinning (which I did not have). Due to the boniness of the originally planned descent, we ended up skiing across the ridge of Jake’s to another slope that had more snow, garnering some cool views along the way.

The payoff for the uphill work was on the descent, which was on a slope that appeared to lead directly into Lake Tahoe. That snow conditions were optimal (an inch or two of soft snow on a consolidated base) only made the descent better.

Given my overall ski fitness thus far this season I think I did pretty well.  That I was able to go home afterwards and make an awesome chocolate raspberry cake (thanks to Clotilde’s book) and a tasty chicken lima bean mushroom stew for friends was the surprising thing.  We’ll see how early I wake up tomorrow though…

Climbing for Corn

Spring at Lake Tahoe means longer days, loads of sun and the freeze-thaw cycle that creates perfect corn snow.  It’s a big reason why the BF and I go backcountry, that plus we can avoid the craziness of the resorts *and* the dog gets a workout.  This season’s corn snow has been ripe for harvest for some time, but due to travel schedules and whatnot, we’ve not done much touring.  Today’s jaunt could be considered a front country tour, as we literally park the car on Highway 88 (south of Lake Tahoe) and start skinning up the snow.   Despite the easy access we didn’t see another soul the whole day.

Starting the climb

Nearing the top

Soleil was so stupidly happy to be out that she was out of breath and panting from all her sprinting, stick gathering and snow rolling within the first 15 minutes.  N and I, on the other hand, conserved our energy for the 2500 foot climb to what we thought would be Stevens Peak, but thanks to my memory of a left turn, ended up being the ridge between Stevens Peak and Red Lake Peak.  That said we found great skiing.  Soft snow that was nice for turns but not so deep as to cripple our aging-but-enthusiastic mutt.

All in all a relaxed tour.  The combination of sun and exercise has wiped the three of out however.  Think tomorrow will be more along the lines of the chairlift riding variety.  The dog’s probably not going to need any exercise tomorrow, seeing how she’s currently passed out by the fire.

Tired pup

Sierra Sun

After a weekend of snow, wind and grey light, the reappearance of the sun was uplifting.  Especially as it reflected upon the 2 to 5 feet of snow that had fallen.  It was to be a Heavenly day indeed.   While there were a lot more tourists than locals at the ski resort today, we still found some quiet and untracked places.  And even bumped into friends.

Stupidity reached level 11 by about noon, and after an idiot (male, natch) ran into me in the lift corral and then told me it was my fault, I decided that was a sign to get off the mountain.  So I took the mutt for a cross-country ski in the meadow, handily forgetting that I’d be breaking trail for the first mile in what had turned to heavy, wet snow. And I’m wondering why my legs are so sore tonight..?

Backcountry Shenanigans

Since the snow started falling, we’ve been talking about getting out into the backcountry, but the back to back storms and time off didn’t synchronize until this weekend.  Never mind that we’re now seeing a high pressure system that’s more akin to spring (50 degrees during the day, teens at night), we were on a hunt for winter snow, also known as powder.

So we headed up to a tried and true north facing slope we know well. My expectations were low, but I was out there primarily to get exercise and test my new birthday gift.

New 22L Avalung backpack

There was already a skin track, but N used his phat skis to bust some alternate routes and widen the existing track.

Moment Comikazi skis

Cadillac skin track

It’s 1,700 feet uphill, give or take, mostly in the trees.  Treeline ends just before the summit, where we were rewarded with 360 degree views.

Views of the lake from the top

Looking towards Nevada

The dog, who we brought along for the first lap, was unimpressed.

Non-plussed by the scenery

No photos of the descent, but the snow was surprisingly unaffected by the ridiculous post-snowstorm temperatures.  It was so good we decided to go back up again, this time without the dog.  She wasn’t too thrilled by our attempts to protect her hips, but seeing as she was really slow on the descent (something about having to swim through the snow we skied on top of), we didn’t want to be held back.  Good call, too, as the snow at the bottom the second time round was a tad bit grabbier, thanks to the warming temps.  Still a fabulous day out however.  And a great way to celebrate the BF’s birthday.

Another Day in the White Room

It’s not every day Heavenly boasts 33 inches of new snow on its forecast.  I usually invoke the 6 inch powder rule, so this amount meant I *really* had to get out and ski.  Unlike the first wave of the storm yesterday, this snow came in light and dry, making for lots of over the head shots as I danced down through the trees.   On my powder skis, BD Verdicts, I ski exhilaratingly fast, and I got caught up in that speed the first few runs, until my legs let me know that such speed was not sustainable.  So while I dialed it back, N and I were able to knock out 20,000 odd feet of vert in a little over three hours.  All in powder snow.

I’m tired now. But in a good way.

 

First Day of the Season

It was a strangely reluctant start to my ski season today.  With nothing but man-made snow at Lake Tahoe, I wasn’t jonesing to get out like I usually am.  That said, Heavenly had been using their cutting edge snow technology to blanket a few runs with very realistic snow, and N convinced me that even a few hours on groomed runs would be a good way to wake up my skiing muscle memory.

And it was good.  Much better than I had expected (both the snow quality and my ability to link turns), no doubt due to the early wind hold closure of one of the access lifts, thus leaving the two open chairlifts and three covered ski runs nearly empty.  Sadly, the wind hold caught up to everyone else, and we were forced to “evacuate” the mountain via the Gondola (the only way to access Heavenly at the moment), as the concern was that winds would pick up to the point that we’d be unable to get down.

Certainly an exciting way to start the ski season.