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!

Bradley Hut

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted a trip report up, so here we go...

After having such a great time in the Sierra Club huts last time, we decided to hit up the Bradley Hut again. Last time we were there we spotted loads of great terrain to ride and were itching to check it out. The team this time consisted of Graham (Trilby), Liam (one of our next door neighbours), Kate (Liam's girlfriend over here for a visit) and of course myself.

Day 1

The plan was to head up to the top of Granite Chief at Squaw on Sunday and then skin over to the ridge above Bradley Hut. However, due to the wind, Granite was closed so we ended up taking the Funitel up, then onto East Broadway, down Shirley Lake and starting our trip from there.

Me and Liam at the bottom of Shirley Lake getting ready to set off.

We skinned up the opposite side of the Shirley drainage but soon ran out of snow. Me, Liam and Kate with our skis/splitboards a-framed and Squaw in the background.

We picked up a trail and followed it for a while. We eventually got back to some snow and skinned up to a ridge overlooking Bradley Hut.

We could have kept the high line and made it to the hut quicker but we spotted a nice face with some nice looking snow on so we decided to get some turns in. It was about 4pm but we still had plenty of daylight left. I went first with the excuse of taking photos and then Graham followed, plenty of lines for everyone.

Then Kate put in some nice turns.

Last but not least, Liam.

It was some of the nicest spring snow I've ridden this season. We then continued on down through some trees and eventually picked up a trail at the bottom. Me and Liam had been to the Bradley Hut a couple of weeks ago so knew where it was but still had some trouble finding a route to it as the snow coverage was a lot lower. We found the Pole Creek trail but weren't sure which side of the hut we were on. I volunteered to check out one direction and found that it just kept going down so turned around and the hut was about ten minutes in the opposite direction. It was about 7pm by the time we got there so we got the fire going, cooked dinner and then hit the sack.

Day 2


I was up early the next morning so got the fire going and some water boiling for porridge and coffee.

We all got geared up and picked a slope for our first descent. The hut is surrounded by fantastic terrain, it's like having a ski resort all to yourselves, except no chair lifts!

We had quite a mellow hike up to the west of the hut and made it to the top in no time.

There were some great views from the top. The face just below the trees in the far right of this photo was the first descent Craig, Liam and myself had made two weeks ago on our Pacific Crest Trail trip.

Of the two peaks in the foreground, the left is Silver Peak which we'd also ridden a couple of weeks ago (shortly after Guermo). Our route to the hut the day before was across the ridge to the right of the right hand peak.

We had a great ride back down to the bottom and stopped off at the hut for a spot of lunch. We then headed up to a cliff band we had spotted from the mornings hike.

We stopped on a windlip under the cliff to get ready for the ride down.

We were treated to more fantastic spring corn snow...

...which continued all the way to the bottom. We were considering one more hike but everyone was pretty knackered so called it a day and just chilled in the late afternoon sun outside the hut.

Day 3


We had a bit of a later start the next day. After breakfast and cleaning the hut we set off for Silver Peak.

On the way up the weather was looking pretty fierce and we had to shelter in some trees to have lunch before making the final short hike to the top of Silver Peak. No-one else could be bothered to go for the summit but I skinned up the last little section for a few extra turns.

Just as we were getting ready to ride down to Pole Creek the weather cleared and we got more great turns in fantastic snow. Here's Graham enjoying it!

We could have made the hike out shorter by traversing closer to the highway but decided just to get in as many turns as we could. Kate...

...Liam...

 ...and finally me!

There was no snow on the logging road which is the route back to the highway so we had to strap our skis/splitboards/snowshoes to our backs and hike out but we made it by around 5pm and waited for Tom to come and pick us up. Another great trip but sadly probably the last to Bradley hut this year. Hopefully be back next year and will definately be heading out there.

Pacific Crest Trail

After doing several back country trips last week we decided to get one more big trip in before Craig left to go back home to Scotland. He was really keen to do an overnight trip so we started researching backcountry huts. The original plan was to use the Peter Grubb hut and ride around Castle Peak but on phoning we were told it was fully booked for the whole week so we checked into some of the other huts. A plan started to form around the Benson Hut just below Anderson Peak and the Bradley Hut between Tinker Knob and Silver Peak. We eventually decided on setting off from Sugar Bowl ski resort and heading along the Pacific Crest Trail to the Benson Hut, then onto the Bradley hut the next day and then finally out onto Highway 89. What gear we couldn't borrow from friends we either rented from the wonderful folk at the Backcoutry store or bought. The weather forecast was for a foot or two of snow on the days before we were to set off and then clear for the duration of our trip.


Wednesday


After a few delays we made it to the base of Mount Judah at Sugar Bowl and got set for our adventure in the wilderness!

Of course, no expedition would be possible without a support vehicle. Big thanks to Tom for the drop off and pick up a couple of days later. :) :)

The first target was the top of Mount Judah and then across to Mount Lincoln. Most of the areas we skinned up were closed but we did have to go up part of a piste and got some funny looks. We had heard rumours that it was possible to but a single lift ticket to get to the top but when I asked in the lodge I was told they didn't do them. Although on the way up we had a chat with someone from ski patrol and they were under the impression we could have got the lift. Never mind, that would have been cheating anyway! We had a quick bite at the top of Lincoln and then started on the Pacific Crest Trail towards Anderson Peak.

Most of it was okay but there were a couple of spots where we couldn't skin through so had to carry our skis/splitboards.

There was a really strong wind up on the ridge, but it didn't hold us back and we were soon closing up on Anderson Peak.

We nearly walked straight past our hut but luckily I spotted it underneath all the snow.

The wind had deposited a load of snow in front of the door which we had to dig out before we could get inside.

We were greeted by a fairly basic set-up, with nothing but plywood sheets to sleep on. But we were just happy to be out of the wind and set about getting the fire going. Shortly after we arrived another four people showed up who were a good laugh and shared the box of wine they had brought with them.

There was a slight problem with the wood burner flue in that it had a big gap near the ceiling so we had to keep a window open upstairs or the hut quickly filled with smoke. We cooked dinner and melted some snow for water and turned in for a cold night sleep with the wind howling outside.

Thursday


I managed to hold in the need to go to the toilet most of the night but when I eventually gave up I was greeted by a stunning sunrise.

After our breakfast of porridge and water we cleaned the hut and got ready to set off. Craig outside the hut with Anderson Peak behind.

Before setting off a quick trip to 'Ken's Place' was in order! ;) We skinned round the west side of Anderson Peak which was hard going on the wind scoured snow.

It wasn't long before we reached Tinker Knob where we had a rest and refuel and studied the map looking for our first decent.

We found a good spot to drop in with no cornice, me and Craig transitioned out splitboards for the first time and we got some GREAT turns! My line is on the right, Craig's in the middle and Liam skiing down on the left. :D

After getting to the bottom there's always that dejected feeling when you know you have to transition back to touring mode, skin up and start hiking again.

The sun baked snow was incredibly sticky and made the going hard. The snow would stick to the skins and stop then sliding forward. It was more like wearing a pair of concrete snow shoes. We picked up a Nordic Ski Trail and followed round the other side of the ridge and skinned along until we spotted our hut in the valley below.

Craig enjoying the ride down. The snow was a bit stickier than we had ridden earlier but still great.

We got to the Bradley Hut and were in for a pleasant surprise.

It was warm, clean, well-equipped and had solar powered lighting.

Sleeping quarters were much improved too, and as we had the hut to ourselves we decided to double up on mattresses to make up for the previous nights discomfort.

Friday


We had a couple of options for Friday. The guys who shared the hut with us on Wednesday night had hiked from Bradley hut up to Squaw and rode down into Granite Chief which we thought would be good as we could then head to the bottom and get a nice meal and a few beers. However, this would have meant a long trek just to ride at Squaw. Instead we decided to head up Silver Peak and then ride down to Pole Creek and out to the highway. This is the view of Silver Peak from the other side of the Pole Creek valley.

We took an indirect route to Silver Peak to avoid losing to much elevation. It was a nice day for skinning through the trees and then up. After spending quite some time on my splitboard in touring mode my confidence on the downhill was increasing and I even managed to get some nice turns in! :)

Liam skinned to the top of Silver Peak while me and Craig transitioned our boards on some rocks just below and hiked the last little bit.

There was a very thin layer of cloud which made a nice halo effect round the sun.

A quick bit of poncing around at the summit while we let our legs rest before the ride down.

One of these lines was a friends from a couple of days before. Time for us to add to them.

We decided to ride down the North face which was a little sticky due to the warm weather. In hindsight we might have been off going down the North East face through the trees. Still got some great turns though! :D

At the bottom it was back to skins and a nice blast down a logging road. It was then on the phone to Tom who came and picked us up from the Pole Creek trailhead. Thank again! :D

Another great experience in the backcountry. I think I'll give my body a few days to recover and then pick out another route, can't wait! Would definately like to go back to the Bradley hut and maybe spend a couple of nights there. There was some awesome snow in the trees below Tinker Knob which we didn't get chance to ride.


This is the route we took with blue representing the hiking and red the descent. Start point, end point and huts shown with yellow pins. On the right hand side you can see Donner Lake and Truckee where Highway 89 joins the I80.