january has been a dry month and february too here in the sierra. fortunately we’ve had a few storms that have provided surprisingly good conditions pretty much throughout the mini drought. reports started coming in about an approaching storm that could drop as much as 2′ to select locations along the sierra crest. well that didn’t happen. the select locations along the crest received 4-7″ with locally higher amounts drifting into gullies. areas east of the crest received next to nothing.
comments from the tahoe thread on tgr went like so
“6″ of fluff on the crest?!..uuugh, I actually would rather it just be sunny and warm so I could just go ride groomers for a few hours rather than deal with people thinking it’s a powder day. What’s the opposite of a sleeper day? I got my grumpy ass outta bed so I might as well go make some turns. ”
“Was getting ready to head up to HV until my buddy calls to say we only a dusting at our condo next to Stagecoach today. I agree, WTF. ”
“Pretty sad when there was more snow at 3000 feet than in my driveway at 6500 feet in south lake county, watched that storm bust up at the crest all day, hope we get a little wrap around moisture over night”
dangberg – 2/19/13 – the storm starts around 11. we’re skiing pow by 4
on the 20th i got in one lap with chad and the pup in kirkwood’s red cliffs area. on the way back to tahoe i noticed snow still sticking in the trees in one of my favorite locations right on the crest. plans were made for the next day.
carson pass – 2/21/13 – carson pass – a surprise 2″ fell overnight and we had the zone all to ourselves
casey, jason, chad and nacho setting the skin track in the morning light
as the snow continues to fall
chad didn’t waste much time getting into the thick of things
as the snow was way better and deeper than we could have hoped
thats me
the top of the zone gets an alpine feel to it
with a little spice as well
if you run into problems, rest assured nacho will be there to ‘help’
now that’s a recovery
jason gets in on the fun as well
as does casey
nacho has chad in his sights
a little while later, on the other side of the valley, this was happening
chad and nacho in dead tree bowl
the following day we planned a trip to kirkwood from carson pass, with a quick detour up into moon couloir since jeff had never been.
looking a tad like a butterfly, jeff heads up into the couloir
as we entered the couloir, the snow made an instantaneous transition from deep consolidated powder to firm sastrugi and windboard
jeff makes a turn in the only pocket of soft snow within the couloir.
and then gets intimate with one of the harder surfaces
chad takes it out the bottom
and into the fields of joy waiting below
jeff plays with the shadow line
next up on our tour is a line called life on the edge.
the view of round top from the edge
chad drops in to one of life on the edge’s many faces
after exiting moon couloir, we ran into kyle from warshington. he tagged along cause he likes to ski fast and take pictures.
we took the run all the way down to 4th of july lake, and skinned up a different drainage to melissa coray peak’s shoulder.
deadwood peak from 4th of july lake
deadwood gnar
skinning back up to melissa coray
when we reached the ridgeline we were buzzed by a usaf ac-130. pretty cool
sally alley had seen more traffic than we were hoping, but we still found some fresh spots
kyle
chad drops in
and finds a soft turn right off the top, a rarity here
i knew where to find some untouched, even if the landing wasn’t as soft as i hoped (photo by kyle)
the area above the lake is some of the most consistently good snow in tahoe i think (photo by kyle)
the following day nacho and i went back to carson pass so i could check out my new kusala pows in their home element, powder. since it was just me and the pup there’s no skiing pictures, other than the damage my skis did to his forearm. lots of it made the video though. (btw, you should go buy a pair of kusalas right now. they kill the pow and i find myself hunting out icy bumps, looking forward to days i would have meh’d about before)
poor nacho
monday my plan was to not ski. i got an offer i couldn’t refuse. ashley and i went to a zone above caples lake to try and rescue some powder and jump off some things.
the powder was mostly beyond rescue so…
we then made some fast fun turns inbounds at kirkwood rounding out a hugely fun week with one hugely disappointing storm. 😉
frames from the time frame
a disappointing storm? really from powdork on Vimeo.