Book Review: A Wall of White

Being that I once lived at the base of Alpine Meadows and am somewhat familiar of the incident I found this book to be very interesting. That is not to say that others will not enjoy this book as well. The many twists of fate and the life and death struggle of an avalanche make for a suspenful story. It was a quick read that at points could not be put down. I would definitley recommend this book to anyone who has lived in Tahoe or vistied Alpine Meadows as well as any skiers and people with interests in avalanches. It will make you think twice before going out in a snowstorm.

Redemption on Jake’s Peak

A couple weeks ago I was turned around on Jakes not to to far from the top. It was such a bittersweet day because my skins were glopping so bad I couldn’t continue up, but the turns were  so good that it didn’t matter. Today, however, not only did I make it to the top the turns were even better than the last trip. After all the fresh I had at Squaw on Wed. I was not expecting the same today. As it turned out that is exactly what I should have been expecting. Although the snow had set up a little and was not quite as blower, it was still just as deep and untouched. If I had the energy I would have tried to go back for seconds, but one run of that is worth every bit of hiking!!

Andrea caught this awesome picture of Chappy slashing the pow

I wouldn’t normally write a post about lift assited skiing, especially Red Dog and KT, but it was just too good today to keep it quiet. The lifts didn’t open till 10:00 as Ski Patrol was obviously cautious after losing one of their own the day before. Thoughts go out to the family of the patroller that died. It takes a lot of work to get the mountain open and patrol takes risks everyday just to make that happen.

After they opened it was on!! Knee to waist deep blower pow everywhere. I have never been so tired after just one run in my life. Just about everything that could be hucked was. There’s a reason they call it Squallywood. Most of the people left around 1:30 which turned out to be great because the patrol opened west face and enchanted forest right after that. Just when I thought there was no more freshies to be had I got waist deep untracked till 3:30. I’ve never before had that deep of snow on KT that late in the day, Awesome!! Only got a couple pictures, but you get the idea.

Ryan sending it under Oly Lady

A radar image is worth a thousand snowflakes!

I live somewhere in the middle of all that white