Silver Peak to Deep Creek

Dave and the Pink Sunglasses dose up
and dress to impress.

February 10, 2013: Dave's pink sunglasses have been pestering him that it is high time for a Stupid Ski Tour, and we all agreed heartily. Especially since those sunglasses have been on more stupid tours than many of us.

After a tortured e-mail thread that entrained half the population of Tahoe and bumped around the colorful beachball of a brutal Bay-to-Bay tour (Meeks' to Emerald), we settled for the merely inauspicious: a repeat of Silver Peak-to-Deep Creek.

As expected, the conditions on the way up were, um, thin.

And the cold new snow on top of firm crust led to slick and desperate skinning conditions, a situation undoubtedly the result of several SST-ers failing to bring ski crampons; the gods know these things and invariably punish transgressors severely.

Most of us gave up and boot-packed, which wasn't a massive improvement. Tim, already enjoying sufficient suffering from Bali-Belly, gave up the thrash at the first summit and slunk home. Then we all watched out nervously for more plague signs of the Apocalypse when Susie stated that she didn't want to ski anything steep today.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Sue was
heard to say, "Well, I definitely would
have done that differently."

Perhaps because we haven't skied together much yet this season, the noise level was generally high and progress slow as we chatted and laughed incessantly, despite the hateful skinning conditions.

But then something strange and virtually unprecedented on a Stupid Ski Tour happened: the snow on the shady north gullies actually turned out to be tolerable. Heck, I'll say it: it was downright delightful! We couldn't help but "Sierra-Club" through the trees, after Sue explained what that is (skiing along with your arms in the air for no particular reason, hollering joyfully).

We skied down to the Bradley Hut where friends were encountered and a birthday card was created and deposited for a group arriving the next day.

Then a quick skin, some lunch and a reminder from Karen about the benefits of carrying a thermos (yum!). Off for more fast, swoopy meadow hopping that Sue dubbed "moped" skiing: low-power, but great fun as long as your friends don't see you doing it!

Starker hogs the fluff.

Who?: Jeff, FF, Sue, Beth, Rob, Dave, Susie, Nicole, Karen, Tim.

More photos: FF's | Dave's

Beth's gear recommendation:

Ice axes.

Birthday card for Superheroes.

The opportunity to chronicle people like this is why Dave carries
50# of camera gear and a 75-l pack on every tour.