After nine winters living in Tahoe and skiing the backcountry I am always stoked to get out and do something new. Since I'm somewhat of a creature of habit there are way more things that I haven't done out there than things I have. I suppose that I tend to get into a groove with the places I ski, and I often find that I just do what is easier, or closer. This was not the case yesterday. A friend of Lynn and I suggested that we go ski Pyramid Peak in Desolation Wilderness. In the photograph above, Pyramid is on the left, Mt. Price is on the right, and Jack's peak is in the foreground, pictured from the summit of Dick's Peak. At 9,983 feet, Pyramid Peak is the highest point in the wilderness and one of the most aesthetic mountains in the region. We chose to access this peak from the closest main road, and we parked our car around 6,000 feet at the Horsetail Falls parking area off of Highway 50. The hike brings you up a southeast facing ridge to start and at that elevation the snow was a little thin... We had a bit of an interesting bushwack to start out our day.After ascending about 500 feet or so we were out of the thinly covered rocks and bushes and up onto a prominent ridge that would lead us all the way to the top of Pyramid Peak. While the summit isn't very close to where we parked getting there was quite straightforward and the navigation was simple, once you were out of the bushes. In the photo below Lynn approaches the Southeast side of Pyramid Peak about 3 hours into our hike...
After hanging out at the summit for a while we dropped in on our objective, the north face of Pyramid. Having only viewed this face from a distance I always thought that it was way longer and steeper than it actually was. The snow on the north side was still nice and powdery despite the unseasonably warm temperatures that we've had lately and the skiing was great. Here's a shot of the north side of Pyramid with good coverage, many seasons this doesn't fill in well enough to be able to ski it without walking over rocks...
After skiing the north side we traversed back around and skied a variety of terrain and snow conditions near the route that we came up. Coverage was great and the terrain interesting most of the way back down to the car. Things got a little spicy once we got back down below 6500 feet or so, but with some good route finding, a little bit of bush skiing, and some questionable creek crossings we made it out of there with no problems at all.

Here's a couple clips from yesterday and today, two of the best days of skiing that I have ever had. These are a couple of the good runs I had, the really, really good ones are safely tucked away in my brain, just for me. And, by the way the song, so fresh so clean, is describing the snow, not me...

The new taller heel riser is on the right, obviously. The difference is truly amazing, taking pressure and strain off my lower back and hips, making skinning uphill easier and more comfortable. Anyone who has felt that the heel risers were too short on their Dukes should get their hands on a set a.s.a.p.

It has been a pretty incredible week in Lake Tahoe. With 2 consecutive 3 plus foot dumps the mountains around here have just been getting plastered. We've gone from icy groomers with very little open to full on mid season conditions, in places, in a matter of just a little over a week. Yesterday, not only did KT-22 spin for the first day of the season, but Alpine Meadows also managed to open the ridgetop hikes out to Beaver, Estelle, and Bernies bowls. The skiing was off the hook to say the least, and the uncrowded slopes and liftlines made for all day freshies for everyone in attendance. It felt pretty good to step into my Elan Boomerangs for the past few days and charge around the mountain on my big skis with little to no more fear of hitting tons of rocks. While I completely forgot to put on my helmet cam for just about every run, I managed to strap it on once for the short clip you see here. Those GoPro helmet cams are so small that sometimes you forget that you even have it with you.

It finally happened.  I went a full 7 days without going skiing.  Rather than cry about it I figured it was the perfect time to go hit up the East Face of Mount Shasta.  There's really nothing like a 7,000 foot run to brighten up your day, especially when ski season is "over".  Sunrises are cool, and your shadow is long at 6 am, here we're just popping out of the trees near the Brewer Creek Trailhead, at 7,200 feet.  The summit is 14,143.  

Jeremy

Jeremy

Keep your tips up,

Jeremy

While the skiing has been good in and around Tahoe, the January thaw is usually a good time to get on down to the High Sierra and see what's happening. Yesterday I cruised down to Tioga Pass with my buddy Oscar to meet up with weatherman Joe and our friend Dave.  We had a really convenient camp spot, burned a little fire, crushed a few beers, and went to bed early in preparation for the all day slaughterfest we had in store for ourselves.  We woke up with the sunrise and got right on it.  Our goal was the Kidney Lake Chute, located on the far southern end of the Dana Plateau.  With the pass closed our only option was to start from the very bottom, right next to Lee Vining Creek on the Power Plant Rd.  That meant we only had 5,000 vertical feet to climb.  With the dawn came the sudden realization that the snowpack in that area is incredibly thin, especially down around 7,000 feet.  It looked good enough though, and with a little bushwhacking, rock walking, and some swearing we made our way up to the steeper, higher terrain that is holding snow quite well.  We skinned til it was too steep, then booted the rest of the way up the Coke Chute to get up on the Dana Plateau.  The wind has been blasting down there, east and north facing snow is really firm, which is why we opted for the due south facing chute.  After four and half hours of skining and booting we made it to the top of line and were delighted to find excellent coverage.  We took in the views, skied the crap out of it, and picked our way through the thin cover back to the car, and we found some sweet pow turns hidden in the trees on the way.  We had an awesome time, hope you enjoy the pics.

The weather in Lake Tahoe has a tendency to keep us guessing.  One week its snowing everyday and a couple weeks later its sunny and 55 degrees.  This being my 8th winter, I'm pretty used to it.  I've learned to accept and even love the inevitable January corn cycle.  It could be worse, Severe flooding in Washington, 8-10 foot crowns at the ski area in Jackson, or you could live in Colorado or something crazy like that....   Needless to say, we've got it pretty good.  Right now you can shred north-facing chalk at the ski area, or you can go for a hike and find some sweet south facing corn.  This here's a shot of my girlfriend, super-rad professional freeskier Lynn Kennen skiing above emerald bay.  I'm a terrible photographer, but I tried..  Have fun and make sure to put on some sunscreen, goggle tan stopped being cool about 5 years ago.  

---Jeremy