Wednesday, April 4, 2012

East Side Mt. Judah - Backcountry skiing with Jeff

Yesterday it was 50 degrees and the snow surface had turned to cement and pudding. Last night the temperatures dropped fast, it was mostly a clear night and the snowpack consolidated and froze up - then miraculously, 4" of fresh, light powder appeared by morning.  The wind was howling over the ridges, but just below on the south east aspects, the air was calm, and the skiing was superb.  Apparently no one else got the memo, because Jeff and I had the backcountry side of Mt. Judah all to ourselves and repeated our run from the summit ridge 5 times with fresh lines each time, following the Judah loop trail down to the resort's base to catch a lift up to the top to repeat the fun.  Last run we did a modified Lake Run and found a steep chute leading to a break in the train shed that led us down to the wooded basin below the cliffed side of Donner Peak.  We climbed up to the train shed and back to Donner pass and finally hitched a ride back to the resort.  Wow!!!

From 2012


Skiers dropping into Judah's East face in the Sugarbowl backcountry...


From 2012


Creamy fresh snow on an untouched slope.  We managed 5 runs on this slope with no other skiers today... amazing.


From 2012



From 2012



From 2012

Wind howling over the summit - glad we could duck out of it just over the lip.

From 2012



From 2012


After an day of skiing we had completed 5 runs on the back of Judah - with no other skiers...These are all our tracks.

From 2012

Deciding on where to drop in next...


From 2012



From 2012



From 2012

Skiing on north east side of Donner Peak

From 2012

Can you find Waldo?  Look top of looker's left chute.  This chute drops right to a break in the train shed leaving a clear path with no major gaps all the way to the streambed.

From 2012

Climbed back up to the shed to find a way back to Donner Pass.


From 2012



From 2012

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