Operation Backcountry

The first time I went snowboarding, I spent most of the day on my butt.  I came home so sore that my dad had to carry little 10 year old me down the stairs to my bed that night.  I wondered if I would ever be good enough to make it down a run without falling.  A few years later, I was cruising along slowly, much better now, when a girl passed me, linking beautiful turns from toeside to heelside as she made graceful s's down the mountain.  I stopped next to my dad when I reached him and asked if he thought it was possible that I'd ever be that good.  (Of course he said yes).  My progression continued and eventually I was linking turns, going down steeper runs, and riding faster.  I reached the point of being as good as I thought I could get without hurting myself and at 21 decided to switch to skiing.  

I had lots of good reasons to switch to skiing.  The versatility, family influence and history, wanting to learn a new skill, and being tired of getting stuck on flat sections were among them.  But starting back at square one made me question my decision a bit.  Falling down, yard saleing all over the mountain, and being scared of going fast made me consider sticking with what I knew.  But, that first winter of skiing was also the last epic winter we had in Tahoe and all the powder provided a great cushion for my falling.  Over spring break, I got to enjoy 100" of fresh powder virtually alone, as everyone had either moved on to warm weather activities or couldn't make it over Donner Pass.

The goal was always to start backcountry skiing, but I had trouble making the initial investment into the gear and training I would need to be safe.  At the time, climbing was still my priority and any spare money I had went to climbing gear.  During our trip this year, climbing was definitely a feature, but it took a back seat to trying out new activities.  I discovered that my priorities had shifted to being active in the outdoors in beautiful settings, and I was having more fun doing a wide range of activities.  The time was perfect to start backcountry skiing.  

Enter Operation Backcountry.  Our plan to become proficient at skiing on unpatrolled, uncrowded, untracked terrain.  I've already purchased new skis and boots (I couldn't find anything used that was small enough for me) and skins and bindings.  Next, I will buy my safety equipment: shovel, probe, beacon, and eventually a float pack.  This winter, I will take an avalanche safety course in addition to going out with experienced friends and my boyfriend, Brian (he's a split boarder, it is a slight point of contention in the relationship, but we are working through it).  Anyone who belongs in the mountains will recognize the drive, the pull, the need to be out there.  I can't wait to spend my time exploring the Tahoe backcountry this winter.

As we sit here in sunny New Mexico, the snow has already started to fall in many places, included our intended winter residence, Lake Tahoe.  Despite the dismal seasons we have had there recently, we are giving the area another shot, because we love it so much, and because according to the weather reports, there is a high probability that it will be good.  Really good.  Chances are, we will cut this portion of our trip short, and head back to Tahoe within the next few days to transition back to winter.  We have already gotten in one day in the Utah backcountry- we drove as far as we could up the La Sals, then hopped on our bikes with our skis and biked until we kept skidding out and falling, then hiked until we found a suitable patch of snow, then skiied down it giddily.  We hiked back up and did it again and again until we were completely worn out.  We hopped back on our bikes, headed back to the van, and fell asleep with visions of powder turns dancing in our heads.

Squaw | Alpine

Hitting Tahoe as the first stop on our winter ski tour was obviously a risk.  If the last three seasons have been any indication, we were not confident that we would have good conditions, or even any snow for that matter, in the early season.  However, due to the starting location of our trip (the Bay Area), it really didn’t make sense not to go to Tahoe first.  (As a reminder, our pass gets us two days at Squaw/Alpine, Mammoth, Alta/Snowbird, Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Lake Louise, and Whistler.)  We figured we would get our California skiing done, and move on to steeper and deeper terrain as the trip progressed.  I love Tahoe.  I consider myself a semi-local as I’ve lived there on and off for the last four years.  I just really hope that winter can come back again like it used to.  During the 2010-2011 season, Chelsea and I picked up skis for the first time, bought our first season pass, and were rewarded with deep powder during our stay in December, and 100” of snow in the week we were there over spring break.  80 closed and no one could get up to the mountains, or everyone was in Cabo, and we had the mountain to ourselves.  It was glorious.  

Back to the present.  We prepared for the worst (I pictured mud skiing and got out my rock skis), yet were very pleasantly surprised to have two great days of skiing.  Squaw wasn’t fully open when we went in mid-December, so we got our passes and headed up the funi to the top of the mountain.  It had snowed a decent amount during the week before so we were pretty excited about the conditions.

  

The day was pretty socked in with low visibility and having never skied Squaw before, we weren’t entirely sure where to go.  In a stroke of luck, on our second chair we ended up riding with a super friendly local named Michael.  He was slightly shocked that we had never skied the mountain before and quickly took up our case.  “You’re coming with me!” he exclaimed.  We spent the rest of the morning diligently following Michael all over the mountain to all the best spots.  After he determined that we didn’t fully suck, he took us to ski the Attic, which turned out to be the best powder stash on the mountain that day.  Seriously, it was actually pretty deep.  Around mid-day, Michael had to return to work, and we met up with our friend Eric and enjoyed following him around for the rest of the day.

The holidays came and went, I was held hostage in my hometown due to a 12-day jury summons, but once I was finally released, Chelsea and I were officially on the road and the trip was fully on.  We headed back to Tahoe and were greeted with spring conditions- sun and temperatures in the 50’s.  We took the dogs out on a long snowshoe (we were wearing t-shirts), scoped out a couple of rock climbs on Donner Summit to see if they were dry and decided to check out Alpine the following day.  Alpine is a really user-friendly mountain.  You drive up, park, and you’re on the lift before you even lose feeling in your toes (is this a personal problem, or just an accepted truth about ski boots?).  We cruised around the mountain, and were once again really happy with the conditions.  Sure it got a little soft by the end of the day due to the high temps, but the mountain was mostly covered, and the snow was quite nice.  We met up with Eric again and it was a super enjoyable day of skiing groomers.  With that, our two days of skiing in Tahoe were complete.  

Before heading to Mammoth, we got a last minute invite to hike out to the Bradley Hut in the Tahoe backcountry.  We had a great time with our college friends, Matt and Kelley.  The weather was gorgeous, we got in a lot of snowshoeing, tuckered out the dogs, ate well, and played Bananagrams and Yahtzee in front of the fire.  Satisfied with a fantastic time spent in one of our favorite places on Earth, we got in the van and headed to Mammoth (with a short stop at the Bridgeport hot springs of course!).