First tracks on a 45 degree, 1000 foot vertical chute, with knee-deep powder: check!
Skiing through the trees below said chute landed me with a nice little scar on my left wrist, shortly before the gloves went back on, but other than that, no issues, and some damn fine skiing from the boys over at Cat Ski Mt. Bailey.
Details and photos to come.
Today is my Friday!
Tonight, assuming I have my car (which may or may not happen), I’m driving home to my dad’s place. Tomorrow morning, we’re heading up to Oregon to go SnowCat skiing - kind of like helicopter skiing, but immeasurably cheaper and a bit more ghetto.
I’m excited, but a bit worried - I don’t remember how to ski powder from 8 years ago. I’ve been snowboarding for 8 years, and I caught myself up on all the other types of skiing, just not powder (since we haven’t had any fresh powder… damnit!).
I’ve rearranged my furniture for about the 3rd time this year. I think I’ve inherited my mom’s furniture A.D.D.
D’oh!
We summitted at 10,388 ft this morning at around 10am. We’re back alive, safe, but really sore.
Details to follow.
Day 1
7am - awake and re-packing gear.
9am - breakfast.
10 am - leaving Sacramento
1pm - arrive ranger station. procure permits.
2pm - arrive Carson Pass trailhead.
4pm - arrive 1km North of Winnemucca Lake. Start digging snow cave.
8pm - snow cave gains a “window” - we punched through the top.
9pm - snow cave is patched, we move in, and make dinner.
9:30pm - dinner, scotch, and motrin = sleep.
Day 2:
9am - bladder alarm goes off - wake up.
10am - out of the cave (it takes a while to get dressed out here during winter).
10:30am - breakfast in the belly, start formulating plans for the day.
12pm - depart for Round Top Lake on a training hike for tomorrow. The original plan was to summit today, but with such a late start, there’s no way that was going to happen. So, instead, we opted for a short, 1km hike to Winnemucca lake, where we proceeded to dick around, eat lunch, lounge, and perfect the art of building a lounge chair out of skis and ski poles.
2pm - back at camp.
3pm - lunch/dinner.
3:30pm - commit to a 4am alpine start to bag Round Top Peak tomorrow.
4pm - in cave, getting ready to sleep.
4:30pm - sleep
…
8pm - wake up, eat food, drink more scotch.
9pm - sleep again… this time for reals.
Day 3:
4am - 5 alarms signal the alpine start.
5am - coffee and breakfast are made and consumed, gear is packed.
6am - on the trail for Round Top Peak
7am - passing Winnemucca lake, 1.5km from Round Top Lake
8am - On the ridge above Round Top Lake - we’re making unbelievable time. We made very conservative estimates to boost our morale when we inevitably beat our projected time.
9am - We’re at 10,000 feet at the saddle below the summit, 1 hour ahead of schedule. This is the first direct sunshine we’ve had all day, and we relish every moment of it, stripping our cold, outer layers. Already an hour ahead of schedule, we decide to ditch everything, including water, for our push to the summit - only 300 meters as the crow flies, and ~400 vertical feet. Looking up, we come to terms with the next challenges - 100 vertical feet of loose rock, 200 vertical feet of a steep, snowfilled coulior, and another 100 vertical of mixed rock, ice, and snow. Smiles creep across our faces.
“Fuck it, lets get moving.”
If I thought the first 100 feet of loose rock was a tad bit intense, the next 200 vertical feet of snow was worse. High exposure level, poor runouts, and warming (aka: softening) snow formed a mixture of “oh, holy shit” in my head. This being only my second time in crampons made it a bit of a mental challenge to summit. 200 vertical feet of snow and ice climbing with no ropes, no belay - save for my ice axe, and no turning back made for a serious concern for descent. With the snow on our approach route already softening in the southern sun, we were banking on finding another route down. Without it, we’d probably opt to take the big ride - a controlled glissade down a warm snow face is much favored over an uncontrolled free fall down the same face.
The last 100 vertical of climbing turned back to rock/ice - too much southern exposure and high winds to allow for snow to stick for more than a few days.
10am - We reach the summit nearest the saddle. To our dismay, Round Top Peak proper is another 100 meters to our East, over very technical terrain that we were not prepared for. We check the elevation:
10,388 ft @ 10am - we’ve beat our estimate by nearly 2 hours!
We linger at the summit for a good 15 minutes - just enough to cool off. Then, we start the descent. The first 100 vertical feet down is unchanged, but - thank God - the next is much better. We found a northern exposure - still in the shade - that was covered in good snow. Post-holing down 200 vertical feet passed in a manner of minutes, and without all the head-games that went with going up.
11am - back at the saddle. now, we make lunch, rehydrate, and gear up for the descent. I’m on skis, but Bryan is on snow shoes, so he leaves first. With Bryan halfway down the ridge below the saddle by 11:15, I ride to the top of the face below the saddle and prepare for descent. Bryan wanted to film my descent (which wasn’t very graceful - the slope was icy as hell), so I waited until he was ready.
The film went off without a hitch, but I caught an edge on the ice and took a mild spill - nothing serious. Since Bryan was all packed and I wasn’t, and the avalance danger was very low, we agreed that it was okay for me to continue on ahead. I skied down to our camp @ 8500 ft by 12:15pm.
12:15pm - back at camp, I start to pack for the retreat. I also opt to heat water to make some food - the wind screen and fuel cozy I made for my stove proved worth their [minimal] weight in gold!
12:45pm - I’m packed, chicken teriyaki is in the stomach, and fresh water is heated. It’s time to break down the cave.
1pm - Our snow-cave-with-a-view is destroyed and we hit the trail. The going is slow with heavy packs, but we press on, frequently taking breathers.
2:30pm - We’re at the car, greeted by one ranger taking a survey, and another demanding to see permits. Thankfully, they’re both cheerful, understanding, and accomodating, and allow us to remove our packs and get a bit more comfortable before pressing further. The permits located, and the survey complete, we hit the road by 3pm, arriving in Sacramento at my Dad’s house by 4:45pm.
4:45pm and not a minute later - hot shower. And oh-my-god was it good.
From 8,500 ft to 10,350 ft and back, covering a distance of about 5 km in 6 hours, with another 2 km an hour later, and needless to say: a) i’m tired, and b) i’m sore as HELL.
but I’m still kicking!!
The verdict is in: Bryan and I will be repeating the last, ill-fated trip to Carson Pass.
The load is significantly lighter - no camera, no snow pickets, no tripod, no tent.
The goals are significantly more abitious: make it more than 1 mile in (damn weather), peak-bag 3 10,000 ft peaks nearby, get in some skiing, and stay warm — we’ll have help from the Weather on that one.
So, if you don’t hear from me by Saturday, send a search party somewhere in the vicinity of N 38.68717 W 119.98669 or N 38.66909 W 120.01213
