Renodump

After a week of positively springlike and beautiful weather, our local "meteorologists" got caught off guard and allowed us to wake up to over a foot of snow Sunday morning. Perish the thought. I gathered Riley from his cave and we walked around downtown and by the river for a while. Here's my haul.


From our patio, heavy trees


Copper door


Copper door, abstract


Newspaper man surveying the mayhem


Situational irony

It was a heavy snow, so we saw lots of downed tree branches and even some downed power lines.

Promptly went home and spent the rest of the day shoveling our driveway and some key parts of the cul-de-sac. Between this frivolity and the time moving big blocks of snow for our backcountry jumps, my arms are wrecked and I can barely tpye.

Quick Booter Sesh

I got invited to go along with some doods into the backcountry on Saturday for a day of building jumps. We cruised up to Mt. Rose Meadows and hiked up into the gullies high above Little Lake. We were greeted with less-than-optimal snow conditions as we'd had some sun and no snow, so we were backed into a corner as far as what exposure had any decent snow. This unfortunate fact greatly limited our available terrain.

On top of that, a storm was rolling in, so we just got right down to it and started shoveling. We ended up building a couple of jumps that took advantage of our available terrain and had some fun.


Justin airs over the Liver Splinter stump


Ben styles it


Justin bonks the Splinter


Corked out


Busting through

As the storm intensified, we packed up and rode down. During a moment when I was riding at the back, I unknowingly dropped a snowshoe off my pack. By the time I figured that out, I had a ways to hike back up...silly rookie move!

Good day, much snow moved, and mucho tired arms.

Little Miss Sunshine

Tromped around a bit this morning with my good friend Riley, who's spent his winter making amazing photos of many different subjects.

Anyhow, one could argue that the brilliance of an artist is roughly proportional to the chance that he or she will throw a tantrum at any given time.

Here's Riley in one of his finer moments.



I'll post more photos from this morning in a day or two, but this one just couldn't wait.

Cessnastyle

Ed was kind enough to pack Riley, me, and our combined trough of camera gear into his rented Cessna 172 SP for a quick cross-country flight last weekend. We departed Reno under clear skies with the plane pointed along the east side of the Sierras. All photos except the first were taken through the plane's window, so there's some funkiness here and there.


Hittin' tha switches


Toward Virginia Lakes near Mono


Different perspective of Mono's tufas

Our ulterior motive beyond helping Ed tick away the hours towards his IFR rating was scoping rideable backcountry lines, and the Eastside is chock full of 'em...


Big ol' Dana Plateau


Near Mammoth...any takers?

Our original plan was to fly from Reno to Bishop for a touch'n'go, but we were a bit pinched on time so we cut our flight short and stopped in Mammoth for a few minutes before turning 'er back around for home.


On final to MMH; 395 alongside


A propped view of Mono Lake

Thanks to Ed for putting up with Riley's incessant bickering, thankfully cut short by a nap on the way home, and for taking me along on a beautiful flight along the Sierras' Eastside. [ed. note: I played no part in any bickering. Whatsoever.]

Crossing Pavement Occasionally

Murphy and I bailed outta Reno for a quick lap of some of Nevada's dirt roads and ghost towns. After spending Friday night in Tonopah, during which Ethel beefed up on spotting signs of methamphetamine use, we hit the road early Saturday morning.


Before sunrise near Belmont


In no hurry


Beautiful and unique snowflakes make all the trees look the same


Out of place in Manhattan


Middle of absolutely nowhere


Prickly


Bright


Prickly


Icthyosaur State Park, where big fish roamed the mountains


Berlin ruins

Fortunately, most of these dirt roads are quite well-maintained, and we were able to travel at a good clip. Actually, a lot of the dirt roads were in better shape than nearby asphalt. We had to turn back on one road that went over the mountains as it was snowbound and untraveled, but the lower road was all good.

Our itinerary was as follows: Reno-Tonopah-Belmont-Manhattan-Berlin-Ione-Austin-Middlegate-Reno. Not bad for 24 hours!

Plunder at Carson Pass

Ed and I headed down to Carson Pass for a couple laps on some tasty Sierra terrain. We never found Justin and Hannah at their snowcamp in Meiss Meadow, but we got to make turns on Red Lake Peak and an unnamed (?) peak to the west of Meiss.






Round Top, saving her lines for another day


Looking across Meiss Meadow to Red Lake Peak


Ed works the terrain


Ed works the camera

Wholesome Evening at the Cal-Neva

I've got Riley to thank for inviting Ethel and me along as his assistants. The Cal-Neva hosted an oil wrestling contest, prize $1000. Between the girls and the crowd, well, um, we'll let the photos tell the story.