Future tours.

We've been making good progress on the old list, so it feels like time to update our potential adventures. J & F's weekends are gone until mid-April, but if the snowpack on north faces holds, the longer days might make the following strategems a good plan for late season stupidity.

Anybody have any other new ideas to add?

Squaw to Sugarbowl.

Luther-Tahoe

Job's Peak-Great Basin

• Squaw-to-Sugarbowl: for years, Jeff & I have been thinking about an overnight tour from Squaw, down into the Cedars, then out Sugarbowl. The logistics require getting a North Fork cabin owner involved, which complicates things. But Jeff, Rob and I scoped the crest yesterday while sussing out the new Squaw-Alpine backcountry link-up. It looks like we can actually do this trans-crest traverse as a day tour. A short-ish descent, a long downward-trending slog, a good long skin, followed by...a ski out a groomer. Sounds stupid to me. We could reverse it, if we want to buy ski passes at Sugarbowl, which would be really stupid. But that would allow for a public transit tour on the employee shuttle and TART.
• Luther Pass-Tahoe: This was originally proposed as a Carson Pass-Tahoe tour by the late Mike Colpo, but the man was insane, bless his little heart. This chunk is burly, but might be doable without damaging us too badly. Start just over Luther Pass, climb up to Freel Peak, descend and traverse to Trimmer Peak, then down, down, down, down, down...all the way to Pioneer Trail in South Lake. Whee!
• Job's Peak-Gardnerville: the big daddy tour, with more vertical drop and more heinous shuttling than anything else out there. Plus, we get to cross state lines! From Luther Pass, up Job's Peak, then down into the Great Basin. Maybe we can hit it in spring conditions on the north face descent, though that will probably mean a whole lot of dirt walking to the summit. I think there are some private property issues at the bottom--anybody know?
• Mt. Rose-Glenshire: STILL trying to sort this one out. Is there really no one we know with the gate combo?

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.

Virginia Lakes Tour

Carrying on in the illustrious, if somewhat flawed in logic, ski-steps of Jeff and Faerthen, Heidi Pesterfield and I decided to get in at least one more stupid ski tour before this 70 degree weather robs us of the little snow we did receive this winter.

After much research, Heidi discovered through local beta that the snow above Virginia Lakes was indeed freezing, albeit barely, and that the road completely open.  (Guess it’s been open all winter thanks to unseasonably dry conditions).  Thus, a 24-hour east side adventure was proposed.  Saturday to Sunday: 5pm to 5pm.

Of course no east side trip is complete without a stop by the Travertine hot springs.  We reached Bridgeport with the last of the Alpen glow and were treated to an amazing show of pink and purple thunderheads.  Heidi was voting for a thunderstorm.  I was hoping it might stay a little drier.

Disheartened by the serious lack of snow.

After deciding the upper tub was too hot and the middle tub was too crowded (we are a bit like Goldilocks), we discovered a lovely new third tub lower down the hillside.  This provided a delightful soaking experience until the aforementioned thunderheads regaled us with a lightning storm.  We decided this would be an opportune moment to exit the water.

After a much-appreciated stay with Heidi’s friends in Mono City, we awoke with the sun and drove back to Virginia Lakes.  We had serious second thoughts as first, the temperature seemed to be steadily climbing from a low of 45 and second, as the lack of snow from this winter became more and more apparent.  However, the temperature finally dropped back to 35 as we reached the base of the lakes and we decided it would be a bit silly to skip the ski tour after driving for 3 hours.

Stupid Ski Tour Rule #1:
Take off skis to hike across
dirt.  Check!

As defined by stupid ski tour guidelines, we first made the obligatory creek crossing and then proceeded to remove our skis in order to “boot pack” the dirt.  We didn’t get to traverse over small trees until the exit.

Final resting place of Heid's ski.  Ok, not really, we staged this photo.
However, we were impressed that it ricocheted through two stands
of pine trees and still emerged unscathed.

Midway up our skin, we decided to do a run on the bottom half of Black Mountain as it was already corning up and it was only 8:30am.  My traditional turns revealed this to be an excellent decision.  Heidi chose an alternative method of descent, as her ski decided it really didn’t need to wait for her before making its way down the mountain.  Thus, the legend of the bum track was born.



The shore of Red Lake is an amazing glacial blue.  Unfortunately
I just couldn't capture it on camera.

Turns down the north
bowl.

After returning the ski to the appropriate foot, we headed back up the north bowl above Red Lakes, finishing the day on surprisingly good corn.  For anyone thinking this sounds like a good idea, go early and go soon, the snow will not last long.

Heidi and Kim finish the day at the late hour of 11am.







Rubicon Peak-Hidden Peak-Bliss Peak-Jake's Peak Extravaganza

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.

===============
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.

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.

Shaggy looks for trouble.

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!

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.

Sagehen Ski Weekend, 2012

Sue and Dr. Debbie entertain themselves while waiting
for the snowcat to arrive.

February 17-20, 2012: It's Sagehen Ski Weekend!

Here are some pics. Send me your picture links and I'll add them.

Highlights:
- Amazingly great snow this year;
- The Imp is back in action, thanks to Mike, et al;
- Susie & FF rescued an abandoned 13-year-old girl, then Susie whaled on the dude who left her out there;
- And as always, fantastic company!

The Imp is alive!

Who?

Jeff, FF, Dr. Beth, Dr. Jim, Dr. Debbie, Sue, Susie, Susan, Jodie, Steve, Mark, Jen, Dave, Karey, Mike, Kim, Sarah, Greg, Rob, Anne...who'd I miss?

More photos:

Jeff's | Dave's

Up again.

Mike's homophobic skin bag.

Sarah strums the air guitar while skinning.

Instead of gear, Dr. Beth chose to make a technique recommendation for this week's touring: the "Dracula"! See photos.

Lap or Shlap? Here's where you gotta decide.

Sagehen 911! Susie Sutphin is "the
Backcountry Ballbuster"!

Dr. Beth demonstrates "Dracula Technique".

Dracula Technique in action.

Rob demonstrates incorrect Dracula
Technique. Do not duplicate!

Topping out. The antennae help.

Skins off.

Dr. Debbie surveys from the top of the world.

Independence Lake

Susie drops into the mad "Rabbit-hole"

SUCH better snow than we expected...as is typical for
Ski Weekend :)

Jeff brings in the pot for the traditional Monday
afternoon hot cheese.

Mt. Rose, Houghton Peak recce

We still harbor fantasies of skiing from Mt. Rose out to Floriston, an absurd tour that would involve major weed-thrashing even in a big snow year. This year, it would require a mountain bike & a chainsaw.

There's also the possibility of bottoming out in a deep, dark ravine; or wandering aimlessly through the convoluted Grey/Bronco Creek drainages.

So, we decided to do a little recce around Mt. Rose and Houghton Peak this weekend to try to suss out the most efficient way to start this tour.

Along the way, we were treated to insufficient snow, tree-climbing and that most superb form of breakable crust: breakable old ski tracks.

Who? Beth, Kim, Jeff & FF.

Beth's gear recommendation: arborist equipment!