Lake Mead & Flagstaff

Mary and I just got home from a wonderful two week road trip which started out with the drive from Bishop to Lake Mead. We camped at Boulder Beach campground which was very nice.

We awoke to a magnificent sunrise over the lake.

Before the drive to Flagstaff we rode out the old railroad grade from near the campground towards Hoover Dam.

We enjoyed fine temps and a splendid wildflower display.

Good views of Lake Mead too. 

Next stop was Flagstaff where we caught up old friends and family. I also went for a fine gravel ride out Woody Mountain Road to Rogers Lake which was dry at the time.

Found some fun gravel bike friendly trails above Rogers Lake that passed this interesting picnic area. Water from the shelter's roof was collected in the steel tank.

Views of Rogers Lake.

and the San Francisco Peaks.

Capped off the ride with a solid train spotting.

We always enjoy a visit to Flagstaff!

A Little More Skiing

Gradually feeling better, so I went on a short tour up South Fork Bishop Creek Monday. Table and Habeggar's are still very thin (basically dry) at the bottom so I continued up canyon on the snow covered road.

Headed up to a seldom visited zone on NE aspects which were holding nice cold soft snow. Swell views of the Parcher's and Brown Lake zones on the way up.

It's been a long time since I've done this tour and I had forgotten the lay of the land. Thought I was taking a shortcut to avoid Alder bushwhacking but it turned into an arduous "longcut". Laughable.

The original intent was to ski these nice trees above, but I was too pooped after my alder fest. Looked good in there!

Once back through the alder I enjoyed a nice run back to the road.

Rested up Tuesday then joined my buddy Dave for a tour up out of Aspendell towards Bishop Bowl. The meadow is quite thin and thinning more with the warm temps, but the approach gullies held enough snow to allow us mostly easy skinning up the moraine.

There's good coverage once up and over the moraine although the snow is pretty wind affected. Dave tops out on the first knoll along the East ridge with Bishop and the Owens Valley behind.

We enjoyed grand views of Bishop Bowl.

and the Sierra crest above Lake Sabrina. Coverage looked quite good back there.

The skiing down wasn't great, but not bad either.

With careful reading of the snow texture one could fine soft snow in the glades. The moraine run was surprisingly decent too. Sun softened wind board in the gullies skied well with mash potatoes here and there to keep us on our toes.

Good to be getting out!  

A Little Skiing

On Friday, while most folks were enjoying deep powder further north, I made the mistake of trying to ski above Bishop. Thought there would be more snow.

Looking down to Aspendell (right) and the approach moraine to Bishop Bowl (left).

Good skiing on this short run albeit pretty scary with hidden rocks and brush.

Monday I headed up Chicken Wing. Still feeling pretty slow after my Chicken Pox episode. I figured there would be a skin track to the top, so it would be a pretty easy day.

A bit surprised by the number of tracks, but the skin up was indeed pretty cruiser. Nice views from the top.

Tracks everywhere, but still able to find good skiing throughout the descent.

Nice to get out!

Death Valley Recuperation

After skiing with Alan I took a couple of weeks off to catch up on projects around the house then I managed to contract Chicken Pox which put me out of action for two more weeks.

Once I was on my feet again I decided take a trip to Death Valley to recuperate.

Towed the Scamp to Texas Springs Campground at Furnace Creek.

Each evening I took a stroll in the desert right from the campground. Quiet, relaxing and serene.

Mornings were spent riding.

Rock sculpture on the way to Badwater.

Starkness.

 Rode the purple Lobster gravel bike which was handy a few times for excursions on the dirt.

By the third day I felt better and tackled the Artist Drive Loop.

Perfect weather, good road, very light traffic, and tremendous scenery.

Artist Pallette

Just what the doctor ordered!

Carson Pass Ski Touring

My High School buddy Alan moved to the Lake Tahoe area last year. Although an avid alpine and cross country skier, he hadn't done much touring. This year he bought the gear, took an avi class and, of course, it hasn't snowed much at all!

He invited me up for some exploring around Carson Pass. Figured it couldn't be much worse than what we have down here, plus I knew it would be fun to hang out, so I headed up.

The first day we elected to check out the north side of Red Lake Peak. We started by hiking up the road to Crater Lake - which turned out to be driveable. Would have saved about 15 minutes of hiking, but not much more. 

Almost to Crater Lake we got our first good views of the skiing terrain off the peak.

The southeast facing slopes above the lake were likely corning up nicely but we elected to try for winter snow on the north slopes.

There had been lots of traffic on the skin track which made it quite firm, but one could usually find some purchase to the side.

Sweet tracks on a sub peak just south.

Distant views of the Sweetwater Range.

Looking down into the depressingly dry Hope Valley.

There were lots of tracks but the snow quality was good

 
and got better as we descended.

Found this delightful, relatively untracked glade just above the lake. Sweet!

The next day we chose to tour right from Carson Pass which was a bit of a scene with plenty of skiers and snowshoers.

After a bit of rolling skinning through the forest the views of Round Top Peak (left) and The Sisters (right) opened up. We wound our way round to the saddle in the center.

A view back to Winnemucca Lake and Elephants Back.

The Crescent Couloir on Round Top Peak.

Alan gains elevation with Caples Lake down below.

We skied this nice bowl among the Sisters. Wind packed but fun.

Up on the saddle we enjoyed a snack, the views

and a cool Ermine sighting.

Nice to get a glimpse of Lake Tahoe too.

Alan drops in!

We had a smorgasbord of snow including wind buff, settled powder, and corn lower down, but very little breakable crust and no mank. Good fun!

Really enjoyed the skiing, exploring a whole new area and hanging out with Alan and his wife Tree. I'll be back!