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of Where People Went Skiing 2002 - 2003
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April 26, 2003 Six of us gathered for an assault on Mt. Ralston, knowing that "the more, the merrier" is so true when punching in trail in a foot and a half of new snow. The plan was to skin up the tele skis for the climb and then to enjoy these technical wonders for the descent. We departed from the Antioch Baptist Retreat on Sierra Pines Road at about 8:00 AM in cold and mostly clear weather. The powder was to-die-for and the lead skier traded out frequently as we pressed upward along the west side of Tamarack Creek. The snowpack was surprisingly stable. About half way up we heard voices behind us as 3 other folks, who had followed our track, caught up to us. Needless to say, they were very thankful to have found our trail, so, after a bit, they volunteered to take over the lead. The more, the merrier! As the terrain changed from mostly wooded to mostly open, the wind increased and visibility decreased. The snow up here was wind-deposited with very prominent wind furrows and ridges on the lee side of obstacles. Trees were encased in rime ice. When we were about ¼ mile from the summit, we decided it was time to un-skin and head down, since, by now, visibility was only about 100 yards or so. The cold, wind-deposited snow up high was very consistent and turns were nice. Descending into the trees, the soft, new powder predominated and the woods were filled with the sounds of our whooping and hollering! There were a dozen happy feet dancing with the steep and the deep! Down lower, where the sun had been shining with very little wind, the new snow had turned noticeably wetter, but was still very good to ski in. What a variety of snow and weather conditions today! Pyramid Peak is next. . . . - Theresa, Gene, Pam, Mike M., Cliff, & George
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April 19, 2003 The weekend brought us a pretty good storm with off and on storminess the following week. Mike, Julie & Cathy made a couple of weekday trips up to Echo Summit and reported the new snow "heavy". So, with a sunny Saturday forecast, where should we go? We decided to take a chance and see how much snow was in the Loon Lake area. We thought that if there was good snow coverage this lower elevation, snow would be settling out quicker than the higher elevation. We were surprised, and pleased, to find about 3 feet of snow in the south campground area. And, it was nice and hard in the morning making for good traveling snow. We decided, since it was about 5 years since we had skied to Buck Island Lake, it would be nice to reacquaint ourselves with that terrain. What a great and interesting trip. It was obvious that on some brush covered slopes we were skiing on snow only from the last storms. The nicest thing about making this trip is that it is truly a "back country" ski into an area very seldom visited in winter. It requires good map, compass, and route selection skills, and a great deal of our fun in making this trip is the practice in using those skills. We used a higher route to go out to Buck Island and a route a bit lower and more to the north to return. It is quite "broken" country out there and a place where you find out what lives between the 40-foot contour interval of the USGS quad, drainages, cliffs, and stream crossings. All this makes for a good daylong exercise in what we call "survival skiing techniques". We had nice turning snow conditions on the slopes down to Buck Island Lake. At exactly 1:00 pm the snow turned to slop, wet mashed potatoes. We had quite a slog all the way back to the truck. A couple more days of settling may bring us more spring-like snow conditions in this area but more storms are forecast and we certainly shouldn't complain about that! This is about a 11 mile round trip. - Julie, Monte, Mike P., and Cathy R.
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April 6, 2003 Rocky Canyon to Pyramid Peak. Two days after significant snowfall to low elevations we decided to buck it up the brutal 4000' canyon to Pyramid Peak. Having the snow coverage from the freeway looked good. As it turned out the normal rock and bush to snow line at around 7000' would have been better. Overcast with light snowfall, starting out snow depth was 1 to 2 ft but not enough to cover rocks and bushes to ski on. Booting it the first 1200' we finally put skis on at 7000'. Climbing to 7600' was exciting looking forward to breaking out of the trees and trying to make some progress to the summit. The normal 1000' per hour was not met at this point and we sadly turned around. The canyon whipped us this day but we vowed to return to mighty Rocky Canyon as soon as the snow melts on the lower mountain. We had a good time anyway with a safe descent to the highway. -Cliff, Greg, & Alex
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April 6, 2003 It was one of the finest powder days of this season! Ah, the glories of spring skiing! We skied from the Echo Lakes Sno Park on Highway 50 up onto Becker Ridge. The slopes with an aspect that had sun yesterday had a little crust today. The shaded, timbered slopes leading down to Lower Echo Lake held an incredible 2 feet of wonderful powder from our latest storm. The skies were overcast with a light snow today which helped maintain nice powder conditions. We just harvested slope after appropriate slope, surrendered to the fall line, up and down, up and down, and had fun. -Monte & Julie
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April 5, 2003 So the last part of this week had snow levels even as low as Placerville. What does that mean? Cold, light powder up high! And this could maybe be the last powder storm of the season. One of the nicest places to go that's close is Scout Peak. Its just south of highway 50 at Echo Summit. Park at the pull out across the highway from the old Little Norway buildings. You will see an access road marked with big old orange diamonds and new blue diamonds and a couple no snowmobile signs. This is your route to the top, and it is the road marked on the Echo Lake USGS quad. Today there was 2 feet of new powder, no one was ahead of us and we got to break trail to the top (the best turns are the ones you earn!), which is the first communication building and tower. Glorious is the description of the downhill run. The sun was out and the snow changes quickly with the sun at its higher angle, so the more shaded slopes were best. -Monte & Julie
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March 30, 2003 Another great day! We decided to stretch the legs some so a ski into Wrights Lake was just the ticket. At this time you can drive up Wrights Road from Highway 50 to the 3-mile mark, where the road is snow covered and the wise people park. That makes it a 5-mile ski into Wrights Lake, more or less a gentle climb the whole way. In the morning, we were skiing about 8:45; snow conditions were perfect for traveling, just starting to soften. We made it a relaxing ski with an easy pace with a few stops. This area does not get much back country skier use. It?s beautiful timbered land with some great views of the Crystal Range to the east. At Wrights Lake we enjoyed the views and one of the things that makes spring skiing so great: we dozed off in the sun for a while! It's a gentle downhill most of the way back to the truck. It was warm today, so the snow was soft and slow on the way back. We did not see another person until we got within a half-mile of the truck. A wonderful, relaxing day. -Monte & Julie
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March 29, 2003 So spring is here and it's the best time of year to ski. I know the question, is there any snow left? You bet there is! It is a below normal snow pack so watch for exposed objects, especially on the sunny aspects. Today we skied one of our favorite loops in the Carson Pass area. We call it the Lost Cabin Mine Loop. We skied from Carson Pass down the marked blue diamond trail to Woods Lake. Just before the lake we head to the west and climb past the Lost Cabin Mine into the high meadow just to the east of Black Butte. On the steep, east facing slopes around the mine we found some corn snow ready for harvest, so we did. From here there are several options, but the objective is to ski roughly south, climbing to Round Top Lake. Round Top Lake is usually a quite windy place and it did not disappoint. Here we have some classic and beautiful avalanche terrain with slopes just crying out for us to test our downhill skills. I must stress education, experience, and religious adherence to safe travel skills in dealing with avalanche hazard. Know what you are doing; err on the side of caution, live to ski another day. There are several options for the ski down to Winnemucca Lake. We climbed high and out on the north face of Round Top. Spring snow conditions are not present on high shaded aspects. It was windy and cold, befitting the alpine terrain it is. We found hard wind slab, sometimes with some icy chunks, and some light breakable crust. It was ski able and we had a pretty good downhill run all the way to Winnemucca Lake. From here we traversed over to Frog Lake and then skied down the west side of the ridge back to Carson Pass. This is about an 8-mile loop. -Monte & Julie
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January 18 & 19, 2003 We finally had some great weather for the annual Loon Lake Chalet Open House, which helped to bring in a great turnout by the public. It was also a good turnout for EDNSP members who took advantage of the full moon that weekend and got in some good night skiing/snowshoeing. -February 2003 EDNSP Newsletter
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January 11, 2003 Qualifying Ski Day – It was a great day with wonderful snow conditions! We started at Echo Summit Snow Park and skied to Cookie 1 (on the Echo-to-Kirkwood Race Course), then out towards Sierra-at-Tahoe, and back to Echo Summit. -February 2003 EDNSP Newsletter
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January 11, 2003 We skied the Echo-to-Kirkwood Trail from Echo Summit to Schneider Camp Road and Highway 88. What a glorious and relaxing day! There was about a foot of new snow all the way across the top and we were the only people out there. The powder was great. It was a slow, steady day of breaking trail. The sky was overcast and darkening, which kept the day cold and the snow consistent. The cloud ceiling stayed above the peaks so the views were still great! This was our first trip across the E2K this season checking for storm-downed trees across the route. There weren't any! Please be aware that you need to be thoroughly prepared; equipment, navigation and backcountry skills, shuttles in place, physical conditioning, etc., to do this route. Please make informed and wise decisions! -Monte & Julie
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January 2, 2003 The day dawned overcast with lenticular clouds visible - which means high winds are aloft (again, no surprise here). It is noticeably warmer today, perhaps 30-35 degrees F. I dug a hasty pit on a short, steep northeast slope to see what the snow pack would reveal. The top 4 - 4½ feet was uniform new snow with a barely-noticeable transition between storms about 20 inches down. I did not dig any deeper than this. However, I did observe a significant graupel layer (unstable) from earlier this season in the snow that slid off the roof of the Information Station building. Beware of what lies beneath! I headed toward Winnemucca Lake and breaking out of the woods found (guess what) winds and sastrugi snow. Being in the cruise mode today, I descended back into the woods through very nice, soft, turnable snow. Sweet! The Boundary Trail is now well-packed by skiers and snowshoers. -George
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January 1, 2003 The day dawned clear and cold at Carson Pass. The temperature last night was 17 degrees F. There is 6+ feet of new snow in the area. I broke trail on the Boundary Trail towards Woods Lake. Conditions are very good. The snow was deposited under windy conditions (typical for this area) so the snow pack is somewhat dense and I didn't sink in more than about a foot. The air temperature is rising noticeably and the snow pack is getting wetter as the day progresses. There is as much snow here now as there was during last year's peak! A skier who returned from the saddle overlooking Fourth of July Lake reported that conditions were 'icy' there due to the wind-deposited snow. -George
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December 30, 2002 We skied up to Robbs Hut on Robbs Peak and did some maintenance work at the hut. Snow depth was about 4 feet with 18-24 inches of powder. It was absolutely glorious powder skiing conditions on all slopes under cloudy lightly snowing skies. Take along some friends to help with the trail breaking. Even If the sun comes out, the north slopes of Robbs will continue to hold some nice powder stashes for those of you telemarkedly inclined. -Monte & Julie
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December 28, 2002 At Becker Peak the south slope and ridge has a knee-breaking breakable crust. Ninety-eight pound women might not break through and be able to negotiate turns (snow plow) if they are gentle. Fat boys like me break right through. Cornices have formed and wind slabs are present on the ridge. North slope powder is moderately heavy. Turns are difficult but possible. Winds are horrendous today. -Mike M.
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December 28, 2002 We were in the Loon Lake area, skiing and doing some trail work. We added flagging and bamboo poles in the open sections of the Berts Lake Trail. There's great coverage on all trails, with about a 4-5 foot snow depth after this weekend's 3 foot snowfall. Conditions and snow are very good! The Loon Lake Chalet is now open for the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 4pm. -Monte & Julie
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November 10, 2002 Winter weather has arrived! Snow is sticking on the ground at about 5000 feet, there is 11 inches at 6000 feet, and about 24 inches at 7000 feet. There is probably more at higher elevations, but we have no reports at the moment. The snow is heavy, which should be a great base for the season. -George
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January 1, 2003 We skied the Van Vleck Trail from Loon Lake to the new Van Vleck Emergency Shelter. This shelter is placed at the intersection of the Van Vleck Trail and the Shadow Hut (a project in the works) Trail and is a place of refuge if the need arises. We dug out the entrances and checked out the benches that were installed inside. Today was, finally, (we're not complaining!) a day with some sunshine! Snow coverage is great. There is about six feet of snow depth at the emergency shelter. It was very warm in the sun today and no wind. The snow became wet and heavy on the sunny aspects. The shady spots hold nice powder. Use maxi glide or F4 for stopping sticking snow. -Monte & Julie
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December 29, 2002 We skied the Ice House Reservoir area. There's about a 3 foot snow depth with some brush poking through, but nice coverage and conditions. The road is plowed into the boat ramp. This is a nice area for a ski tour, especially if you want to do just a part day trip, and is much less of a drive into the Crystal Basin area.
-Monte & Julie
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December 27, 2002 The Echo-to-Kirkwood trail to Cookie-1 had 8 to 10 inches of mashed potato snow. The slope was skiable, but far from great turning conditions were present. Thin coverage but no bare spots existed. -Mike M.
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December 12, 2002 Winter storm warning in effect! Storm expected to hit tomorrow night and last through Tuesday. Snow forecast for the Sierras. Stay tuned for updates. -George
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December 21, 2002 Ice House Reservoir: Conditions for cross country skiing are pretty good. The snow is deep, conditions are kind of heavy. The snow is new, but has changed to slightly heavy and difficult to turn in. But it is beautiful and nice to be out. If you go there, be sure to ski fairly steep stuff to get some velocity for turning. Don't go there alone. Take a buddy and a radio, if you can. And have fun on the first real snow of the season. -Susan
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November 1, 2002 Mother Nature hasn't produced much snow yet. There is still a very light dusting on the ground from a few weeks ago on shady, north slopes above about 8000 feet - otherwise, nothing. Until a storm track materializes, we continue to enjoy very nice, cool, clear, and dry autumn weather for hiking and exploring. Deciduous trees have partially dropped their leaves at about 4000 feet and are mostly bare at higher elevations. Temperatures are dropping below freezing at night above about 6000 feet, so carry enough warm clothing and emergency shelter material, even for a day outing. -George
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