Shully and I embarked on a series of Tahoe adventures. After driving up to North Lake, we spent Saturday cross country skiing at Royal Gorge. Shully attempted to teach me how to skate ski, which after much time spent on my ass, I manage to move myself from place to place tolerably well and we spent the day exploring the many trails at the resort. I think Shully probably skied twice as far as I did that day as she was constantly bouncing on ahead and then doubling back to help pull me out of the snowbanks. Later that evening we headed down to South Lake where, fortified by a yummy dinner at Sprouts, we negotiated the very icy road to Sierra Camp. Driving in, I realized that I had not been there since I left in August two summers ago and it felt so good to be home again with those familiar lights greeting us over the water.
Watching the sunrise over Fallen Leaf Lake has to be one of the best things in the world. On Sunday, Shully and I set off on our second snow adventure as we snowshoed up into Desolation.
As we climbed past Lily Lake and assessed our options, we made the interesting choice to try to climb the Mid-Talac trail. Things were going relatively well until we hit a roughly 45 degree slope with few trees and a steep drop off at the end of the run-out. hmmm... what have I been taught about avalanches again? As we continued to climb, the slope began to get steeper and I began to pray for an ice axe. At this point the snow was getting really soft in the spring skiing-like conditions and our snowshoes were of little help in gripping the slope. scary. After I had a bit of a panic attack, Shully and I decided that to go further would not be smart as we had no idea if the snow was going to get any better and there was still a long steep slope to traverse before we got up on the ridge. This left us, however, with the prospect of traversing back across the soft snow about 50 m or so to a rocky scree slope that looked like heaven compared to the snow slope we were on. With Shully in the lead kicking steps, we eventually make it back across and enjoyed the downclimb into Glen Alpine.
Our path across the slope. Not recommended that you try this without some more gear. Even then, maybe not such a good idea.
The north end of Fallen Leaf Lake with the mountains of North Lake visible in the distance.
View of Sierra Camp from Baby Beach
Looking back at camp and Mt. Talac from Fallen Leaf Road
Photos of Lovers Leap taken while sitting in Tahoe traffic
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