A Short Ski Tour in the Upper Truckee Basin- Trip Report
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:26 pm
Just returned from the Upper Truckee Basin. Frank, Bear and I skied in from the Meiss Lake Snow Park, which is a mile or so west of Carson Pass, on Hwy 88. We snuck in just before some real weather hits, and had a fine time for 4 days and 3 nights in fairly clear weather. We had some dicey ice on the ascent up to the ridge that led us out to the summit of Little Round Top, but none of the snow that had been predicted came down on us. I will create a proper Trip Report with photos soon, but in the meantime I want to share the snowfall numbers I have just put together:
[Totaling the averages between the forecast ranges for Friday (2/1) through Sunday night (2/3) I get ~5 feet of new snow, and if I total the high end of the forecast ranges, the total is ~6 feet! As this new snow is landing on a layer of icy crust, and then being wind-deposited on lee slopes, it is a recipe for avalanche city! Take care.
I hope some of you are well placed to enjoy this storm from a warm and safe place- Tahoe Jeff? ... Do you like to shovel? I really envy you all who live in the mountains. Best of luck.]
A SHORT SKI TOUR IN THE UPPER TRUCKEE BASIN- TRIP REPORT
I now have the photos chosen to improve the Trip Report for our short ski tour around the Upper Truckee Basin, so I will tack the report on here. As I said above, we got in and out before the current storm hit, and had very fine weather throughout our trip. We put together a new set of "pulks" (i.e. sleds) before leaving for the mountains on 1/28. I measured my gear, and had 27 pounds on the sled, and just 17 lbs. on my back. My newest pulk is the lightest yet, made of doubled bamboo poles attached to the plastic sled simply by drilling paired holes through a thin plywood support piece,and then tied with para. cord. It weighs 5 pounds unladen.
Bearzy got off scot free since I used the sled, and so he was able to roll around and cavort in the snow as he pleased- sans pack. Snow was likely, so Frank and I both brought 3 and 4 season tents. I brought Bearzy his own long pad, plus a kid's down jacket to lie on, and finally, one of those lightweight airplane sort of blankets... and he ended up with my big puffy down jacket too in the end. Our loads were heavy because we brought 2 old MSR stoves to be sure one worked, and a lot of fuel assuming that we would be melting snow for water. The pulks made this load a laugh, and they tracked along behind us just fine.
There is no quota and no Wilderness permit required for the area north of Hwy 88. I am not sure how far that area extends, but we used the Meiss Lake lot for our trailhead. In about 1.4 miles we crossed the low pass that separates the Silver Fork of the American from the Upper Truckee, and I'll tell the rest of story along with photos.
There should be a "thought bubble" filled with curses above me here. I was quietly cursing my decision to take the downhill tele set up- giant plastic boots, and short heavy BD skis with stiff Hammerhead bindings. This gear I use in my ongoing attempt to master- read: learn the tele turn. It is an uncomfortable process on many levels, and I really should have followed Frank in taking my lightweight 3 pin half-skinny skis. Curses!
Wise friend Frank in comfortable NNNBC boots, on old waxless "Lookout" skis, plus kicker-skins. That's the Carson Pass area in the background, with "Elephant Back" here, and Round Top and the Sisters behind me in the photo above.
One nice thing about these mid 8,000' elevation tours is the diversity of the forest. We skied around Sierra juniper, hemlock, my personal favorite- red fir, western white pine and some aspen- along with the ubiquitous lodgepole and whitebark pines.
Looked like stormy weather coming the first day. It built and built, barely snowed, and then made for some beautiful light.
The main mountain in these photos is Red Lake Peak, on the eastern side of the basin; it's just over 10,000 feet.
Our camp was tucked into the edge of the forest on the west side of the basin, about a half mile from Meiss Lake. This ridge leads out to Little Round Top; seen here in the distance is its false summit.
On top of that ridge we looked down on Caples Lake, and behind it are the downhill runs of Kirkwood.
We found open water (with algae) at the base of that group of trees above Bear.
We managed to ski down the slope in the distance on our way back from Little Round Top. The snow was perfect, and deserved better skiers than us, but we had a blast.
The top 100' of the slope up the ridge was very hard-icy- hard enough to forget the skins and balance on our uphill edges. It was the perfect place to have the added security of the whippet that I finally bought- but didn't think to take on this trip.
Once on top of the ridge, it was pretty good going till the top of Little Round Top.
As you can see, it was fairly steep in places. That's frozen Meiss Lake below, and Tahoe beyond.
[Totaling the averages between the forecast ranges for Friday (2/1) through Sunday night (2/3) I get ~5 feet of new snow, and if I total the high end of the forecast ranges, the total is ~6 feet! As this new snow is landing on a layer of icy crust, and then being wind-deposited on lee slopes, it is a recipe for avalanche city! Take care.
I hope some of you are well placed to enjoy this storm from a warm and safe place- Tahoe Jeff? ... Do you like to shovel? I really envy you all who live in the mountains. Best of luck.]
A SHORT SKI TOUR IN THE UPPER TRUCKEE BASIN- TRIP REPORT
I now have the photos chosen to improve the Trip Report for our short ski tour around the Upper Truckee Basin, so I will tack the report on here. As I said above, we got in and out before the current storm hit, and had very fine weather throughout our trip. We put together a new set of "pulks" (i.e. sleds) before leaving for the mountains on 1/28. I measured my gear, and had 27 pounds on the sled, and just 17 lbs. on my back. My newest pulk is the lightest yet, made of doubled bamboo poles attached to the plastic sled simply by drilling paired holes through a thin plywood support piece,and then tied with para. cord. It weighs 5 pounds unladen.
Bearzy got off scot free since I used the sled, and so he was able to roll around and cavort in the snow as he pleased- sans pack. Snow was likely, so Frank and I both brought 3 and 4 season tents. I brought Bearzy his own long pad, plus a kid's down jacket to lie on, and finally, one of those lightweight airplane sort of blankets... and he ended up with my big puffy down jacket too in the end. Our loads were heavy because we brought 2 old MSR stoves to be sure one worked, and a lot of fuel assuming that we would be melting snow for water. The pulks made this load a laugh, and they tracked along behind us just fine.
There is no quota and no Wilderness permit required for the area north of Hwy 88. I am not sure how far that area extends, but we used the Meiss Lake lot for our trailhead. In about 1.4 miles we crossed the low pass that separates the Silver Fork of the American from the Upper Truckee, and I'll tell the rest of story along with photos.
There should be a "thought bubble" filled with curses above me here. I was quietly cursing my decision to take the downhill tele set up- giant plastic boots, and short heavy BD skis with stiff Hammerhead bindings. This gear I use in my ongoing attempt to master- read: learn the tele turn. It is an uncomfortable process on many levels, and I really should have followed Frank in taking my lightweight 3 pin half-skinny skis. Curses!
Wise friend Frank in comfortable NNNBC boots, on old waxless "Lookout" skis, plus kicker-skins. That's the Carson Pass area in the background, with "Elephant Back" here, and Round Top and the Sisters behind me in the photo above.
One nice thing about these mid 8,000' elevation tours is the diversity of the forest. We skied around Sierra juniper, hemlock, my personal favorite- red fir, western white pine and some aspen- along with the ubiquitous lodgepole and whitebark pines.
Looked like stormy weather coming the first day. It built and built, barely snowed, and then made for some beautiful light.
The main mountain in these photos is Red Lake Peak, on the eastern side of the basin; it's just over 10,000 feet.
Our camp was tucked into the edge of the forest on the west side of the basin, about a half mile from Meiss Lake. This ridge leads out to Little Round Top; seen here in the distance is its false summit.
On top of that ridge we looked down on Caples Lake, and behind it are the downhill runs of Kirkwood.
We found open water (with algae) at the base of that group of trees above Bear.
We managed to ski down the slope in the distance on our way back from Little Round Top. The snow was perfect, and deserved better skiers than us, but we had a blast.
The top 100' of the slope up the ridge was very hard-icy- hard enough to forget the skins and balance on our uphill edges. It was the perfect place to have the added security of the whippet that I finally bought- but didn't think to take on this trip.
Once on top of the ridge, it was pretty good going till the top of Little Round Top.
As you can see, it was fairly steep in places. That's frozen Meiss Lake below, and Tahoe beyond.