February 25, 2012: Jeff put out the call and the crowd responded enthusiastically!
Dave even cancelled his Shasta trip, saving a few of us the inconvenience of being launched into space by the jet stream that touched down on the mountain this weekend.
Shaggy proposed a serial peak traverse on the west shore, and everyone quickly piled on, since all tours on that side of the lake naturally involve an obligatory pastry stop at the Tahoe House.
One of these days we'll tag the highly-desired "(Tahoe) House-to (Pfeiffer) -House Tour". Of course, that means we'll have to figure out an über-contrived way to stretch the 1.1-miles of paved road between the two restaurants into a ski tour that actually warrants two big meals and an optional bar stop at the Bridgetender in between.
Hm. Maybe by skiing all the way around Lake Tahoe?
In the meantime, Saturday's tour turned out to be fun and enlightening despite the molar-rattling frozen ski tracks, and the fact that we all ignored Dave (aka Cassandra) and skied it in the wrong direction. This complicated the shuttle wildly, and ensured that we minimized the decent skiing on the north faces.
When pressed, Shaggy pointed out that he was, "The idea man, not the logistics guy," illuminating the fact that we had neglected to appoint a logistics guy who could be heaped with blistering criticism and assigned the blame for our self-flagellating behavior.
The terrain between these typically isolated touring peaks is interesting and more complex than expected. Also, unexpectedly (and inexplicably), new recruit Karen Morey seemed to enjoy herself out of all proportion to the conditions.
This tour provided an opportunity to cram a season's worth of west shore ski-touring peaks into a single day, since the lean year saw most of us skipping these mainstays of the Tahoe winter diet.
Unfortunately, despite bickering that nearly came to blows, we were unable to come to a consensus on which is Bliss Peak and which is Hidden Peak. The protuberance that most tourers call Hidden is nothing of the kind, while so-called Bliss is. Meanwhile, neither was particularly deserving of the name Bliss this weekend.
Fortunately, the painful jackhammer effect of skittering wildly over frozen ski tracks was largely put out of mind by the piercing, fingers-on-a-chalkboard sound of ski edges scrabbling madly for purchase on the brick-like, frozen chunder.
Kim had some amusing remembrances of the day at Pho 777 Tuesday evening, but--typically--I've forgotten what they were, so hopefully she (and others) will chime in in the comments section.
Today, a cold storm deposits sucker blower pow on top of the land mines of a dissolute and anorexic snowpack. Jeff, FF, Beth and Sue are off to the Alps, so the 2011-12 Stupid Ski Touring season has likely ended just in time to avoid broken limbs and cracked noggins. I look forward to unexpected posts from foolish, never-say-die team members, though.
Who?
Shaggy, Dave, Rob, Jeff, FF, Beth, Sue, Susie, Karen, Kim.
Mystery Gooch: Richie. What's this?: the last few years, it seems there's frequently a Stupid Ski Touring tag-a-long from the Patagonia ranks. Some of these folks--like Rob, Shaggy & Dave--stick around until we wonder what we ever did without them. Others vanish in the night like scalded cats when the shuttle vehicle door finally flies open at the end of a typical gruel-fest.
Rob tried to warn him, but Richie enlisted anyway and, for one so young, did a masterful job of suffering with the veterans.
Beth's gear recommendation:
Hearing protection and a machete!
Dave even cancelled his Shasta trip, saving a few of us the inconvenience of being launched into space by the jet stream that touched down on the mountain this weekend.
===============
Hey all!
Up for another day of short skins and epic faceshots? If so, I don't know where one might go.
But if you are interested in something that will be the exact opposite of that, might we want to do one Saturday? If so, what should we do?
Jeff
================
 |
| Sue leads impromptu yoga at the trailhead to keep us warm while Beth and Rob hike back up the hill from the ridonculous car shuttle. |
One of these days we'll tag the highly-desired "(Tahoe) House-to (Pfeiffer) -House Tour". Of course, that means we'll have to figure out an über-contrived way to stretch the 1.1-miles of paved road between the two restaurants into a ski tour that actually warrants two big meals and an optional bar stop at the Bridgetender in between.
Hm. Maybe by skiing all the way around Lake Tahoe?
In the meantime, Saturday's tour turned out to be fun and enlightening despite the molar-rattling frozen ski tracks, and the fact that we all ignored Dave (aka Cassandra) and skied it in the wrong direction. This complicated the shuttle wildly, and ensured that we minimized the decent skiing on the north faces.
When pressed, Shaggy pointed out that he was, "The idea man, not the logistics guy," illuminating the fact that we had neglected to appoint a logistics guy who could be heaped with blistering criticism and assigned the blame for our self-flagellating behavior.The terrain between these typically isolated touring peaks is interesting and more complex than expected. Also, unexpectedly (and inexplicably), new recruit Karen Morey seemed to enjoy herself out of all proportion to the conditions.
This tour provided an opportunity to cram a season's worth of west shore ski-touring peaks into a single day, since the lean year saw most of us skipping these mainstays of the Tahoe winter diet.
Unfortunately, despite bickering that nearly came to blows, we were unable to come to a consensus on which is Bliss Peak and which is Hidden Peak. The protuberance that most tourers call Hidden is nothing of the kind, while so-called Bliss is. Meanwhile, neither was particularly deserving of the name Bliss this weekend.Fortunately, the painful jackhammer effect of skittering wildly over frozen ski tracks was largely put out of mind by the piercing, fingers-on-a-chalkboard sound of ski edges scrabbling madly for purchase on the brick-like, frozen chunder.
Kim had some amusing remembrances of the day at Pho 777 Tuesday evening, but--typically--I've forgotten what they were, so hopefully she (and others) will chime in in the comments section.
 |
| Shaggy looks for trouble. |
Who?
Shaggy, Dave, Rob, Jeff, FF, Beth, Sue, Susie, Karen, Kim.
Mystery Gooch: Richie. What's this?: the last few years, it seems there's frequently a Stupid Ski Touring tag-a-long from the Patagonia ranks. Some of these folks--like Rob, Shaggy & Dave--stick around until we wonder what we ever did without them. Others vanish in the night like scalded cats when the shuttle vehicle door finally flies open at the end of a typical gruel-fest.
Rob tried to warn him, but Richie enlisted anyway and, for one so young, did a masterful job of suffering with the veterans.
Beth's gear recommendation:
Hearing protection and a machete!
 |
| Good lord! Can this really be the best snow out here? |
  |
| Susie popped over the hill to see us skinning DOWNhill and immediately declared the team in need of an Arab Spring. |
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