This weekend I went on a ski trip down to the Eastern Sierra. In my car I had some cross country (xc) skis and a backcountry setup. It's a couple hour drive down from Tahoe and a major storm was approaching along the crest, so when I made it to Bridgeport, I finally bought some chains which was an extremely good purchase since the storm locked me down in the Mono Basin for a day.
My first stop was on Tioga Pass. My goal this winter is to head up to Tuolumne Meadows, so I wanted to see what it was actually like skiing up Tioga Pass road. It's a roughly twelve mile, 2500' ascent to the pass and then eight miles and a 1500' descent to the ski hut. As I begin to ski up this road I'm initially taken aback by just how freakin long and hard this route might be. Just one long slow slog up 120. The snow was coming down signficantly more then when I started, so I figured I should head back to the car and possibly head down to Bishop, but the mountain weather was against me and I was forced to bivy in the van south of Mono Lake.
My evening was great, I just watched a movie and crashed out hard. Although, I was a little nervous about the snow. It just kept coming and coming. I was worried I was going to be stuck in the morning when I woke up, so I kept the chains on all night. Sure enough, when I awoke there was fresh snow everywhere. It was beautiful, crisp, and clear out. With a little rocking back and forth I was able to get my car moving, but then I had to get enough speed to blow through the plowed snow hill that the snow removers built up. So I backed up and blasted through. That was fun. After a quick morning xc ski run around the flat, I was off to Bishop.
Once down in Bishop, I met up with some friends and we headed up to Habeggars on South Lake Road. This was my first time backcountry skiing. Everything was new to me, my skis, my boots, the bindings, the skins, the snow, etc. I was a total rookie in this backcountry ski world. Add to the fact that I've actually only gone skiing eight or nine times in my entire life and only two of those were as an adult, and you get someone whose mind is fertile ground for learning.
When we get to the top of the hill and I ask, 'So how do you ski down?' I think the others might have been a little taken aback. Now isn't the time for those types of questions. But up till then I had too much to think about. I busy thinking about which line to create going up hill, I had to think about how tired I was and I had to worry about the snow that kept on coming down. Skiing in powder was new to me, so I just wanted a one or two sentence answer on the philosophy.
Once at the top of the hill, I moved into 'transition' mode. The crap you have to do between going uphill and downhill is called the 'transition.' Let me tell you, my transition time was atrocious. First off, it's snowing quite significantly, visibility was low, we're perched on the side of this steep incline, all my gear is new and it's cold out. So I'm fumbling and fussing, while those guys are just waiting patiently. Well, maybe not patiently, but silently at least. My skis are flopping around, my bindings won't engage, there's snow everywhere, everything was against me. But once I finally get myself together, I have one more question to ask Jim, but as I turn to get his answer he's already blasted down the hill.
Not wanting to be left alone, I jump right in after him. My initial feeling is speed. I love speed, don't get me wrong. In fact, I drive a slow car, because I love speed too much. I forfeited the right to own a sports car years ago. So going fast isn't my issue, it's going fast without a clue that bothers me. I didn't have too much time to gain speed though since I kept on falling over, but falling over in powder just makes one laugh. It's actually a good feeling. We all made it down eventually before the storm really kicked in gear and my first day of Backcounty skiing was a success.
Day Two was a completely different story though. Crystal clear skies, warm temps, skinning up in tshirts... it's that perfect Sierra day that is just typical of this area. The hike up was less exhausting, the snow was fluffier, and my transition time was pretty much cut in half. No questions at the top, just excitement. This time I make it down flawlessly without a crash. At the bottom, I was able to see the beautiful line I just made on the slope. A beautiful slithering S curve this time, as compared to yesterdays line which looked like someone with a seizure was trying to draw a picture.
Needless to say, the weekend was incredible. Day two was followed up by more XC skiing at Mono Lake and then up to Virginia Lakes Road for some final runs at setting light with an amazing view of Mono Lake in the background. It doesn't get much better then that.
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