Sam on the loose

God forbid this blog becomes a daily picture show of the cat, but this is a damn cool cat we're dealing with, so deal with it, yeah?


Higher and higher


His domain


Spotting the landing


Swing and a miss


Score one for Sam

Skyscapes and snowshoes

Legs still screaming from the 9-hour odyssey on Saturday, MLK day was spent up on the snow once again, this time with Ethel and Appendix Joe.


Miss Ethel


Mr. Joe

We cruised up to Mt. Rose summit late in the morning and snowshoed around aimlessly until we found a cool spot to kick it along the ridgeline to the west. Our final resting spot was just above a cliff that Kyle and I have sessioned a few times over the years, but there were no snowriding implements with which to explore that familiar airspace today.


This'll do for awhile...


...as will this

On the hike Saturday, I was thinking to myself about how intricate the winter landscapes can be with such a simple palette of white, blue, and green. On Monday, that palette diversified nicely with the complement of some more classic Nevada shades of brown and yellow in the groundcover (we were hanging out near the edge of a big melted patch, courtesy of the persistent high pressure system we've got).

We found some warm rocks to recline on and against in classic reptilian form. The cold mountain air was offset just enough by the few rays of sunlight that had made the low-angle journey through our atmosphere.


Happy and warm


Front row seats

We snacked, chatted, and watched the clouds stretch, shrink, swirl, thicken, and thin. The light breeze kept the groundcover shaking briskly, but Tahoe stayed nearly perfectly glassly throughout the entire afternoon. The barely-diffused reflections of the mountains along the west shore of the lake were only further disturbed by faint wakes from the occasional boat; this is a pretty quiet time of the year out on the lake.


Tallac and Pyramid across the lake

As the clouds thickened more, obscuring the bleak warmth from the winter sun, we became restless in spite of our skyscape and packed up for the short hike back to the car. We couldn't abandon our post, however, without gleefully jumping off some of the rocks on the cliff side of the ridge and digging ourselves out of the mildy soft snow that had been protected from that same low winter sun.


Balancing act


Warped trunk


The day wears on


Happy afternoon


Last look at the lake

Finally on our way out, we ran downhill like little kids, stumbling awkwardly as our snowshoes got caught up in drifts here and there.

For a meager exertion of about a half hour hike each way, we were transported to another world, without an agenda, just ready to soak in a warm afternoon above 9000' in the Sierras.

note: these pictures are split between Ethel, Joe, and me. I did all the cleanup work on them though ;)

Norm's Chute

Norm showed me this picture a week and a half ago:


Norm's Chute

That's Northstar in the background, and the picture's taken from Relay Ridge, but those are the only hints you get. It was this past weekend until we could both get up there to visit the honkin' chute that's dead center in the photo, and Reid came along with his boxer Zephyr, too.


Norm at our first snack break


Reid and Zephyr, same spot

The hike was long; 2 hours to this point and lots more to go. We knew from the outset that the snow wasn't going to be all that good, but that usually equates to stability (good!) and we were just happy to be out hiking for the day anyway.


Lots of snow gone from Norm's shot


That's Lassen way back there; clear day we had!


Norm heading down the ridge


Hiking toward the goal


This should be under 10 feet of snow but whatever


Snow sculpture

After 4 hours of snowshoeing across well-consolidated (read: blown out) snow, we got to the top of the chute and peered down its gullet. I hiked down to the end of the bare patch and could see the rest of it; not as scary as it looked from a few ridges away, but there was a good bit of debris (rock, not avalanche). All things considered, it was a go. I dropped in first and found variable snow throughout.


Our first look down the chute from the top

So I made it down just fine and gave Reid and Norm the "all clear." I really wanted to post up on the next ridgeline and shoot Reid and Norm riding down, but we had doubts about our available daylight and didn't want to wait for me to get up to that ridge. So instead, I just sat at the bottom and shot them from there.


Norm and Reid ready to go


Reid making turns


Reid near the bottom of the chute


Norm takes his turn


Norm is stoked

Reid had gone first and Zephyr wouldn't follow him. After Norm rode and Zephyr still hesitated, we knew it'd be tough to get him down. He was crying and howling at the top of the chute, but he finally took the plunge after a few minutes of all of us motivating him.


Zephyr's first day on the slopes

It took us another 2 hours to hike back to where we could ride out to civilization. We still had daylight but we were all tired by now. So we dropped off the top of Relay Peak for some more turns down to the Forest Service road.

On the way out, we stopped at a particular telephone pole we hiked past on the way up. Some earlier visitors had built a ramp up the side of this skewed pole. I spent a few minutes of our hike visualizing just how cool this jib could be with the lighting we were bound to have and the skills I hoped we had. Unfortunately, Reid and Norm wouldn't bite and I've got next to nothing in the way of jibbing skills, so it didn't go quite the way I had imagined it (big pop up onto the pole, rider backlit with board sideways on the pole, magazines come calling, etc).


So much potential...


...wasted...

And I've got splinters in my forearms now.

As the sun set and we were nearly back home, we came across a couple snowmobilers who were having trouble restarting one of their sleds. Norm and I were able to get 'er going, and we rode out as the last rays of light disappeared behind the mountains.

We stepped off the snow 9 hours after we started. The snow was far from ideal, but on the other hand, we got to ride everything we wanted to and did it safely. We saw some awesome country and got ourselves good and tuckered out, so that's a win.

Snow is fun

Spent some time last Sunday snowshoeing around Mt. Rose Meadows with Ethel and her cousin Dude. Just a good excuse to get out for some low-cost fun on a sterling winter day in the Sierras.

Took the time to dig a snow pit for general knowledge's sake after the heavy snows we had. Nothing sketchy was to be discovered; our quickly stabilizing Sierra snowpack worked its magic like it usually does.

Here are a few pics from our little adventure.


Who dat?


Tucked behind the main meadow


Low-cal snack


It's the pits


Dude, sucking air from being a flatlander


Dude gets the credit for this shot


Getting amongst it

Birthday shenanigans

So my birthday's the 26th. Last year, I was in Queenstown, and got to do a local sprint triathlon on a cold and rainy "summer" day both sick and hungover.

Back in the Northern Hemisphere for winter after 3 consecutive summers, I've been itching to get back on the snow. After a week or so of fierce storms blasting through the Sierras, the skies cleared and I made an early break for Kirkwood with a little crew for a memorable birthday.

10' of snow over the last week? Check.
4' of snow over the last 2 nights? Check.
Mountain nearly entirely closed the day before? Check.
Cloudless skies, crisp cold air, and no wind? Check.
Itching to kill it after not strapping in for 22 months? Check.

Kyle aka The Captain aka The Hypotenuse was even kind enough to surrender first tracks down a few lines for the birthday boy. Thanks dude!

Ethel's cousin took some photos throughout the day, but I don't know if I'll ever see those; all I've got is a single cellphone camera photo of a special place on the mountain called Once is Enough.


The pilgrimage back to this glorious land of steep, narrow chutes and bottomless pow is complete!

Exhausted from skipping lunch and riding hard 'til 2pm, we limped back to Reno, and Ethel had made dinner and invited friends over for both dinner and an afterparty.

It was an awesome birthday only enhanced by the Fockler boys' late arrival and subsequent perversion of all remotely phallic shapes in our kitchen.

Cheers to everyone who I got to share all or part of the day with; they don't get much better than that!

White Christmas in Reno

We awoke to a white Christmas in Reno for the first time in a long time. The soft bright blanket muted an already quiet morning, and a walk along the, um, panoramic Steamboat Ditch and through the soccer field at Horseman's Park that I played on 20+ years ago (!) sounded perfect.


The tiniest of snowdrifts on a chainlink fence


A fence between the ditch and the canyon


Pinecone near Horseman's Park

This walk was a welcome break from the oppressive consumerism that is all but impossible to avoid around this time of year, but I sure was grateful for my brand new Patagonia® R4 Lightweight® Jacket that kept the gently falling snowflakes off of my Nikon®. ;)

Meow

We've got a new addition to the household. His name is Sam, he came from the Humane Society, and he's happy to have a home that's bigger than a few cubic feet.

He's got a great personality, he's really soft, and we think he's got a bit of ocicat in him. The Humane Society says he's about 11 months old.


mmmmm


Mousing in the crawlspace


First snow


Exploring


He's good at relaxing, too


Worn out

So that's Sam.