Peter Grubb Hut Ski Trip

You know the cliche: when it rains, it pours? Well, we've been having a severely dry winter up until three weeks ago. Then it started pouring. And it's been that way every since. 

Rain here brings a smile to my face, and not because of the positive ions. Rain down here means snow up in the Sierras. And it couldn't have come at a better of time. 

Flash back to November, when K made reservations for the Peter Grubb Hut near Donner Pass (NW of Lake Tahoe). There are a few huts in the Tahoe area and reservations fill up quickly for winter weekends. K was able to make reservations for Sunday through Tuesday. The timing lined up with Spring Break, and seasonally usually means good snow and longer days. 

Flash forward to the Saturday prior to our trip. It was raining here, snowing up there. Not just snowing, but dumping. Multiple feet per day of fresh snow. I don't think we would have gone on this trip had this giant storm system not come through. 

Our trip was a great success. I can't thank K enough for organizing this trip, and B for flying half way across the country to join us, and E for being E. 

Peter Grubb Hut.

A few notable things from this trip:

• We didn't have a map or GPS. This is pretty standard for me. However, we were trying to find the hut in a near whiteout snow storm, which covered most snow tracks. Using our memory and a few navigation techniques, we got pretty close to the hut. Eventually we resorted to using our iPhone which showed the location of us, the trial, and the hut. It was almost too easy. Of course, this is not something to be relied on. But still, it's amazing!
• The Peter Grubb Hut is really well designed and in a fantastic location. However, the enjoyment of your trip is related to many things out your control, mostly weather (in our case: snow!) and hut-mates (in our case: a huge group with several snorers)
• While skiing on day two, we met Louise, a 70 year old woman who was backcountry skiing by herself. She is an incredibly athletic, accomplished person that was kicked our butts up and down the mountain! 
• Louise mentioned the Tahoe Vertical Challenge.  This is a fairly new website where backcountry skiers can log how much vertical they ski each day. In addition to building the backcountry skier community, it also benefits the Sierra Avalanche Center. Alpenglow Sports has agree to donate a certain monetary amount for each foot of vertical recorded. As of today, skiers have logged 5.5 million feet! That sounds great, but it's still a far way from the target of 15 million feet. So if you ski, snowboard, or snowshoe in the backcountry, please sign up at TahoeVertical.com and start logging your activities!

All smiles on the way in . . . until we got lost in a white out. 

E. skiing along Castle Ridge

We started the second day with avalanche transceiver practice. This was B's first time using a transceiver, or backcountry skiing for that matter, but you would never be able to tell! 

B. on her way up. 

We had to quickly adjust our group photo as my camera, on a 10-second timer, started tilting downwards. 

Discussing our options.

Who wouldn't be happy here?

And this is why we do it! E. getting in some great turn on her tele skis. 

Our day: skin up, ski down. Repeat. 

Winds were supposed to be gusting 70-100 mph. I don't know how it didn't wipe the smile off of B's face!

You can see the snow whipping across me.

Taking cover behind a tree while planing our descent. 

My favorite photo. 

They keep coming back for more.

We followed Louis' advice to find the best powder. It was worth the extra climb.

Sporting our Berghaus Velum Smock (l) and Jacket (r).

The hut one morning after a good snowfall. 

We dug a snow pit to test the snow layers. E. Measured the snow depth at almost 2 meters, which is quite low for us.

How many people can we fit in this snow pit?

E. isolating a column of snow with her Black Diamond Saw.

K. thought she'd bring home an snow block.

Last descent of the trip and it's coming down hard!

B. - a natural rock star.

Second favorite photo. More subtle.

Do we have to go home? 

*     *     *     *     *

1 Year Ago: Southern France

Published photo essay: Argentina's Lake District

2 Years Ago: Bogota, Colombia

Shasta Silhouettes

Mount Shasta, California, USA. July 2010. silouettes 

Summer Bloom

Nevada Falls, Yosemite National Park, USA. June 2010.

New Photos

Of the many projects currently under way, I am trying to catch up on my photo albums. As I go back through my photos, I realize that my camera is capable of taking some pretty incredible pictures. For your visual enchantment, please follow the links:

Lake Titicaca

At the border of Southern Peru and North Western Bolivia, this lake is at the heart of the Incan world. We hiked and camped on the Isla del Sol, Puno, and Copacabana in early June. Big thanks to Todd for stitching together this super rad sunset panorama:

(This picture is giant! Click on it for bigger viewing options)

Mount Shasta

14,179 feet tall and one of the most prominent mountains in America, this volcano is always a spectacular climb. This year's conditions were particularly good. I summited with both of my climbing groups - the first trip was a private group from the Bay Area and the second trip was part of a summer youth camp (Adventure Trek).

Gotta love those 2am alpine starts - headlamps on!

It was a particularly scenic week on Shasta.

Quite frankly, this is the worst packing job I have ever seen. There is more outside the backpack than inside, yet somehow he didn't lose a single item on the descent.

Upcoming photo albums include: The Cordillera Huayhuash in Northern Peru, La Paz and the Cordillera Real, Salar de Uyuni in Southern Bolivia, and recent photos from our California break.

And if you haven't yet checked out our article, please visit BackpackingLight.com. 

I Need a Vacation!

The last two weeks in California have been quite the blur. We visited my family in SF, went to a wedding in Napa, and spent one weekend with Kristin's parents and one weekend with her sister. I guided two trips for Shasta Mountain Guides and Kristin went on a three-day trek in Snow Mountain Wilderness (Mendocino County). We have been eating really well (and too much!), enjoying fine California wine, and visiting as many friends as we can.

As if that wasn't enough, our first travel article was published today. We wrote about having one small backpack with which we could see the world, what's in that backpack, and how we decided what to carry.  We wrote this article in March and April for BackpackingLight.com. Kristin is submitted a second article today: a trip report on our fantastic and challenging trek around the Huayhuash Mountains in Northern Peru. We have a third article due soon, which will analyze our backpacking setup - basically, how good were our initial gear choices and how did everything perform.

To top it all off, we bought tickets to Helsinki, where we'll jump ship to St. Petersburg and start our 10 week Russian Journey. After that, our best guess travel plan is Mongolia, China, Nepal, and India until February, when we head to Italy. We will spend the subsequent six months touring Eastern and Western Europe, Scandanavia, and maybe Northern Africa.

Our friends, now happily married. 

Summit of Shasta, 14,179 feet.

Descending with my four climbers after having summited Shasta. 

The sunset before summit day - the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen on Shasta. 

Two more happy climbers. Happy to have summited, and happy to now descend. Last trip of the season and what a good ending!

Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

 

 We got married today. It was a surprise wedding for the few members of our family that were there. It was at Crissy Field under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. We had chocolate chocolate chocolate cake, took lots of photos, and drank wine and champagne. It was an important event, but still just another day in our wonderful life together.

All summer long we've been singing the song "Jackson" by Johnny Cash and June Carter:

We got married in a fever

Hotter than a pepper sprout

We've been talking about Jackson

Ever since the fire went out

We're going to Jackson

And that's a fact

Yeah, we're going to Jackson

Ain't never coming back

Summer Snow?

A few pics from my guiding this spring & summer with Shasta Mountain Guides . Click on any photo to see all of my Shasta albums.

North Side Hotlum-Bolum Route. From Shasta 7.31.09

Campsite, West Face. From Shasta 7.06.09

Summit For Someone, West Face. From Shasta 6.19.09

American Liver Foundation, Avalanche Gulch. From Shasta 6.06.09

Early season training, Avalanche Gulch. From Shasta 4.03.09