2009March24 Jakes Peak - We've been Jaked! 2,400' descent

Jakes Peak is 9,600 feet - a 2,400 foot climb from Rt. 89 - just north of Emerald Bay. It took us 2.5 hours to climb, 1/2 hour on the summit, and we dragged out the incredible decent for an hour. Stopping often to wonder at the views. Navigation was not difficult on the bluebird day. Next time, I think we'll lap the top 1,000 feet at least twice, as the skiing is amazing. The bottom of the run got heavy and temps were in the high 40's when we reached the car. At the bottom of this post is a link to a great tour guide for this day trip.

(Click on any picture to enlarge it)


Jakes Peak above Emerald Bay. The ski route we took climbed the right hand (NE) ridge. See the tour boat in the bay below?

The trail climbs immediately from the highway, and does not relent until the summit is reached.

We go up, and up and up. One kick turn after another. Luckily, for most of the way, someone else had broken trail and set a skin track. Unfortunately for us, the skin track was steep and unrelenting.

Beautiful trees dot the mountainside as we climb up. They are widely spaced, and their size is a testament to the snow security of the up-track.

Rubicon Peak above the meadow. We skied left and up to Jakes (out of photo). One can ski the ridge between Rubicon and Jakes, or either one as a separate tour.

View of Heavenly ski resort from the summit of Jakes.

View from the summit looking across Lake Tahoe towards Mt. Rose in the NE corner of the Lake.

Jeff and David on the summit of Jakes.

Mt. Tallac from the summit - look for the great ski lines in the summit snow field. Someone beat us to it. Next week, look for updates here as this is our next planned destination.

Dick's Peak from the summit - another destination planned for another day.

View from just below the summit before we jump off for the decent.

Jeff carving light powder - with any choice for a line - this mountain has a 1,000 ways down.

Let's see - what do you suppose happened here?

Can you find the skier in this picture ? Every pitch we stopped, and admired the incredible view.

Jeff squirts by, not wanting to stop for a portrait. How often does Sierra snow do that?

The forest on the way down

Emerald Bay with tour boat departing. Mt. Rose in the distance beyond Lake Tahoe.

Click here for a great tour guide page for this tour.