Tahoe Backcountry: Corkscrew on Tallac

Spring has sprung in Tahoe, and conditions have been pretty hit or miss; varying between bulletproof ice, slush, and great corn snow.  We had Tallac on our list of things to do while in the area, and got lucky with great conditions on Tuesday (it rained the day before, and the day after).  After a little route finding difficulty on the approach because the access road was closed, we made it to the bottom of the ascent ridge around 8:30am.  Three hours of skinning later, we were on top of the ridge and had come to appreciate:

- just how hot the spring tahoe sun is, (next time I'll wear a hat ...)
- how hard crusty ice can be when your skins slip and you fall on it,
- the necessity of having skins that actually fit your skis,
- how beautiful of a view lake tahoe provides.

We opted not to head for the summit, and instead enjoyed the view from the ridge, and then skied down Corkscrew, the route just to skiers left of the ascent ridge. The wet corn took a little getting used to, but we were soon opening up wide, fast GS turns down the slope.  Next time we'll have to continue on up to the summit bowl and see what the world looks like from the top!

Careful where you park!

The snow is starting to melt in the kirkwood parking lot, and things that were lost in the fall are starting to re-appear.  Hard to imagine how a car could have been buried all winter ...

Goodbye JH :(

What a season, Jackson! 557" of snow, 264 days skied (combined for team BPC), and way too many powder days to remember! In honor of a glorious season, we thought we'd take a moment to remember our favorite times ... here are mine:

Top 5 Runs
5. The Saddle on Casper Bowl (the day after a major storm, first tracks down)
4. Spacewalk (long, sustained steep pitch)
3. Night-skiing down Edleweiss under the Super Moon without my headlamp on (surreal)
2. Corbet's!!
1. Four Shadows (Cody Peak)

Best Day of the Season
Hiking out to Cody Peak, skiing down Four Shadows, hiking back up, and skiing down Powder 8's (and making powder 8's with Pete). There wasn't a cloud in the sky, total bluebird ... and light, fluffy powder. There were also film crews out in full force filming all the pros (not us!)

Most (unintentional) Gaper Moment
Stopping to help someone who had fallen and trying to pick up her pole by using my poles as chopsticks. After many failed attempts, I finally bent down, picked up her pole, and handed it to her.

Kirkwood Bound

6:00 am MST
Pack up all belonging into the back of the car (wiffle ball bat and portable grill included, of course).  Leave Teton Village...which is a ghost town three days after the JH resort closed.   See a coyote by the road and check that off the list of animals seen in Wyoming.

7:00 am MST
Stop at Teton Pass, throw on the teles, skin up the ridge, ski down under the early morning sun through 4" of fresh snow, hitch-hike back up the pass to the car.  Toss the ski clothes in the trunk.

8:30 am MST
Drive to Tahoe.

9:00 pm PST
Arrive at the Tahoe cabin.  Sit down, figure out the wireless password, and have an incredibly relaxing post-13.5-hours-in-the-car beer.


Overall, a pretty good day.

Gaper Day

I'm not sure I had heard the word "gaper" before this season.  But one of the main benefits of skiing of every single day is an expanded vocabulary.   The word gaper comes apparently from skiers who leave a huge "gap" between their goggles and their helmet (or more likely their hat).  The origin aside, however, the term gaper more generally describes that special breed of particularly clueless skier: e.g. the guy flying down in a partial tuck / partial snowplow, with the Starter jacket unzipped, the lift ticket flapping, and an attitude of being the best of the best.

So Jackson Hole - and many other mountains - have a nice little tradition of Gaper Day.   Alternately known as Gaper Fools Day, the event is usually held on April 1st.  The Urban Dictionary rather crudely (this is a family blog, after all), but accurately defines the day.  However, that definition gives no impression of how absolutely and constantly ridiculous a day it is when you're actually at the mountain with a sunny blue sky and dozens upon dozens of exceedingly fired up participants.

Wait a minute! Those aren't your normal ski outfits!
Where are the backcountry packs and leather gloves?

April 1st, 2011 at Jackson Hole, the Friday before closing weekend, was unbelievable.

I've never seen so many straight skis, so many pairs of jean cut-off shorts, and inverted aerials on teles.   It's one thing to see an event with such high participation.  It's another to see a ski event with some many ridiculously good skiers participating.  It felt something like being part of a six hour long, live reenactment of Hot Dog - except probably more entertaining and with better skiing.   To give an anecdote to set the stage, let's just say the events started off with Carrie, Louns, and me down under the lift at Thunder Bumps watching a line of 25 or so skiers in costume bend over to moon the Jackson Hole tram as it passed by.  Lucky Pete was fortunate enough to be on that tram standing by the window as he was trying to catch up with us after a morning at the office.

The crowd assembles to greet Pete as he
transitions from the office

Carrie, Pete, Eric Lounsbury (visiting from the mysterious ski free land of London), and I participated in Gaper Day.  Perhaps we can't claim the same degree of all out enthusiasm as the dude of the tele ski blade setup or the liftie who was hitting the Thunder Bumps' jump while wearing a robe and carrying his portable stereo - but still, I'd say we did a fair job representing.   Carrie donned a most excellent Canadian tuxedo.  Louns' rental poles matched his goggles and Hawaiian shirt nicely.  I wore my favorite Green Bay Packers XL sweatshirt and fanny pack. Pete - well, let's just say when he pretended to ski directly off the groomer and off into the woods toward the cliff warning signs, I think several people were convinced enough he was a legitimate, clueless, out-of-control gaper to yell at him to be careful.

Pete, Carrie, and Louns enjoying Gaper Day

Normally, at Jackson Hole, it's not a very good idea to leave your mustached baby lying on the picnic table while you eat your burrito (even if you are wearing a pink headband) due to the cold.  But on Gaper Day, it's okay.  Also, please note the two pairs of skis at the back picnic table - those guys did in fact ski directly to their table.

Even with all the antics, safety should never be ignored.  Carrie and Louns ensured this was the case and did their best to ensure the more extreme lines on the mountain were avalanche free.  It's primarily thanks to them that the Bivouac run was safe and free of danger on Gaper Day:

The day really was of the you-had-to-be-there variety, but in an attempt to give some more of an impression of the ridiculousness of Gaper Day, here's a smattering of bullet points from the day:

• Many pairs of skis over 200 cm in length with no side-cut where being worn and skied down bumps and everything
• Many pairs of skis well under 100 cm in length equally skied everywhere
• Multiple people hitting a rather large jump and spinning massively with no intention of landing it, let alone landing it in some multiple of 180 degrees
• Seeing a person double eject immediately upon launching off a jump in which has was attempting an inverted aerial...and still doing the inverted aerial, but then simply without any skis to land on.  We assumed that one couldn't have been intentionally... 
• A dude wearing a pink wig and straight skis dropping a 20+ foot cliff by the lift.  See that one every day.
• Tucking races against strangers arranged solely by eye contact
• Enthusiastic quotes at the lift line like, "Did you see how fast I just went down that run?" with responds from strangers like, "Did you just do the black diamond?  I did."
• Very sore hip flexors the next day from so much snowplowing down mogul runs
• The rare and wonderful fanny pack compliment
• ...and so much more!