Irrational Exuberance on the Sierra Crest, December 2004

 

...Continued   Undaunted by the cold weather and the very real prospect of getting blown off the mountain, I drove up to Donner Pass around 7am after a mandatory stop at Wild Cherries and left my car at ASI. Skins and ski crampons were put on for the initial climb alongside the Sugar Bowl resort area up to Mt. Judah. Looking back, I got a nice view of Castle Peak above Donner Summit.   It was a nice climb up from the pass. It felt awesome to be back on skis again, even if it wasn't going to be a great day of making turns. The weather was pretty good on the way up Judah, but there were isolated pockets of "snow flurries". Made it up to Mt. Judah, then did the ankle-breaking traverse across to Mt. Lincoln. Along the way, one of my ski crampons kicked off and went for a ride down the mountain. By sheer luck only, it caught up on a tiny tree snag and I only had to downclimb around 100 feet to get it. It easily could've gone another 500 feet. Nice luck. From Mt. Lincoln, I had a nice view of the first half of the route in front of me. Here's looking south towards the American River divide. Needle Peak is the pointy one at center; Granite Chief is further left. The ridge in the foreground is where I'd be skiing, up and over the two big peaks on the left -- Anderson Peak and Tinker Knob. Along the way, there was lots of surface hoar, showing how the temperature, wind and lack of recent snow had wreaked havoc with the snowpack. But ugly as the stuff is for avalanche conditions, it was very pretty; it looked like a nice healthy white grass lawn. I had great views the entire day out towards the American River Divide. Nice skiing back there, but access is pretty brutal as you must drop down to Chief Creek/N. Fork American and then climb back up.   I dropped down from Mt. Lincoln and made some surviva-marks on the superfirm "snow". I actually linked some turns and it was fun. After about 500 feet of turns, I skinned up again and climbed back up to the crest. From there, I braved the gusty winds along the ridge until I stood below Anderson Peak. The linked photo looks at the north face. Benson Hut sits just left of and below the peak, right at the base of the highest tree seen in this photo. To summit the peak, I booted up the little dogleg snow chute on the left side of the face.  You also get nice views from the crest out to Mt. Rose and Martis Valley below. You can't tell in this photo, but the wind is absolutely howling. It was also blowing east to west, opposite the normal direction. The cornices and wind-blasted trees were confused.  At noon, I made it to Benson Hut, a nice place to duck out the wind for lunch. I called my wife who was driving up from SF with her mom. I told her to pick up my car at Donner Pass on the way in and drive it over to Squaw. No turning back now! Before leaving the hut, I snooped around a bit. Someone left me a nice little gift in one of the cupboards. Thanks!   I stepped out of the hut and returned to the wind. High above me, soaring on the gusts, I saw the coolest thing -- a magnificent bald eagle just chilling above the Sierra crest. Turns out there are a few baldies left in the area and I was fortunate enough to see one. I traded skis and poles for axe and crampons and then booted up the north chute of Anderson. I was hugging the rock wall the entire way up to get out of the wind. Here I am getting pummelled by the wind. Nice shot of Royal Gorge behind.  Up top, the views were outstanding. This shot looks out over Tinker Knob. Lake Tahoe is tucked into that large basin on the left.   I figured the skiing off the south side of Anderson would be grim to non-existent, and I was right. I peeked over the edge and was presented with a 400' field of volcanic talus. Downclimbing in ski boots through 60 mph winds was definitely type III memories -- classic "character building" my mother would call it. At the bottom of the talus, I put the skis on and made a few more hundred feet of turns, then it was skins/crampons on again up to the top of Tinker Knob, where I found a gaggle of a strange species known as snowboarders. They were up on a day hike from the Bradley Hut down in Pole Creek. The Sierra crest south from Tinker Knob is pretty jagged and must be negotiated on the east or west side. The normal PCT route drops down to the west. I took a different route, dropping down the east side of Tinker Knob into Deep Creek, where I found some decent turns. From there I skied across upper Deep Creek and over into Pole Creek.   3pm at the head of Deep Creek. Getting dark, and I still have to cross two more drainages and then ski down to my house. I'm starting to think I'll be doing it in the dark.  I climbed up out of Deep Creek and reached the saddle above Bradley Hut. Got this nice view of Silver Peak and knew I was almost home.   I skied down into Pole Creek and traversed across the head of the canyon west of the hut. I lost an edge on some ice and took a nice slide for life. Visions of my hot tub began to dance in my head. Skins and crampons back on, I climbed up to the saddle above Shirley Canyon. From there, Silver Peak was 400 feet higher and looking pretty bare on the south side.  The late afternoon light over KT-22 was beautiful, with Twin Peaks, Dicks/Jacks and Crystal Range beyond.  More nice light the other direction towards the Carson Range and Lake Tahoe.  As expected, the south side of Silver Peak was utterly burnt, as was the north side of Shirley Canyon. So I skied off a finger of snow on the east face of Silver Peak. After a few hundred feet, I traversed over to the south ridge which also held slivers of skiable snow further down. By now it was 5pm and the sun was well behind the crest. When you see the lights on at the Squaw Valley Ski Area, you know you have misbudgeted your time.     Just above Squaw, the ridge turns east and heads down towards my house. I stayed on the north side of the ridge to stay on the snow. Navigating via a near full moon, I "skied" down some death crust pockmarked by snowshoe tracks. A few nice beaters later and I was on the ridgetop right above my house. My wife left the porch light on, and I navigated right down to the hot tub. Nice finish to a long day.

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