Round Top and Crescent Moon Couloir

It's getting really close to going home time, but we managed to squeeze one more backcountry trip in. This one was a recommendation from Guermo, it's called Round Top and is south of Lake Tahoe, a few miles from Kirkwood. We got a great view of Emerald Bay on the way down.

We parked up at a Sno-Park and started hiking, Round Top loomed in the distance. The plan was to do Crescent Moon Couloir which runs down the middle of Round Top, you can't miss it in this photo.

Myself and Liam both had colds and were coughing away as we skinned up. The last section of the ascent involved a grade 2 scramble with our skis/splitboard on our backs. There was a cross with a photo stuck to it half way up which was quite sombering.

We eventually found the drop in point for the couloir and Liam went first. The beginning section was steep and narrow.

But GREAT fun!
 

Once Liam had got round the bend I gave him a minute or two and then dropped in myself.
 

I stopped half way down to steady my nerves and get a photo of the bottom section. It was much wider and full of nice soft snow.
 

Once I could see the exit I caned it down the couloir and came out the bottom whooping! I then hit a patch of ice and slid onto my ass! Liam laughed as he'd done exactly the same thing.

We then got some great turns in on the snow below the couloir.
 

We rode as far down the mountain as we could and then skinned up and headed back to the car. My directions were a little off and we came out on the road about a mile and a half from the car and had to hike back up. Well worth it though!