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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    3,711

    Last Year Was Really, Really Good in the Sierra: A Memorial

    So far, the 2017–2018 season is butt. Sure, I’ve skied a lot and had fun, but I can pretty much count the number of snowflakes that have fallen in the Sierra on one hand. So, like Al Bundy, I’m going to live in the past. Specifically, I’m going eulogize last season, starting with November 2016 and ending in June 2017. Updates to follow.

    November

    November was good as far as Novembers usually go. Pow was skied.

    Skier: whatsupdoc

    Bases were harmed.


    But things were good for a normally ho-hum month.

    Photo: whatsupdoc


    December

    December was also excellent. Tours were done.

    Skier: whatsupdoc

    whatupdoc and I did a 6,000’ Tahoe descent in which the middle 4,000’ was breakable crust.


    There was even a not-quite-ripe-yet tour in the Eastern Sierra.



    Rider: BGnight
    Last edited by AKbruin; 02-26-2018 at 09:08 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    January

    Around the new year, it started snowing and continued snowing for two-and-a-half months or so.


    Which was fun.


    I shoveled this fucking deck so many times.


    10-year-old girls hucked things.


    By mid-January, things were getting deep.


    The snowflakes were the size of silver dollars.

    Skier: sierraskier

    Once, I got tired of shoveling the roof and jumped off it.


    January involved skiing copious amounts of powder.

    Skier: sierraskier

    Which was fun.

    Skier: sierraskier

    Things were good, and they’d get better.


    The season really kicked off when whatsupdoc and I won Eastern Sierra lottery, scoring over 9,000 vertical feet of near-perfect powder on this very large and beautiful mountain.



    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Photo: whatsupdoc


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    February


    The great amount of snow in January seemed novel; in February it became ridiculous. The dense snow slab on my roof, which is 20 to 25’ above the ground, broke off, bounced off the snow already piled up below, and crashed through my garage window.




    And I became rather concerned about the roof itself, which we shoveled multiple times.


    Mind you, this is what it looks like in the summer.


    franzklammer paid a visit, and we began an Eastern Sierra weekend with mellow pow on Saturday.

    Skier: franzklammer

    But we finished it with an 8,000’ descent on Mt. Birch on Sunday.

    Skier: franzklammer


    Skier: franzklammer

    We got 3,000’ of powder from the summit followed by every other possible form of snow below.

    Skier: franzklammer

    Back in Tahoe, it kept snowing, and I kept shoveling.


    And it kept snowing. That deck rail is about 15 feet above the ground.


    The houses and driveways on my street disappeared.


    Again, here’s a similar view in summer.


    Whatever. More touring in the Eastern Sierra.





    Skier: whatsupdoc

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    3,711
    March

    In March, there was more snow.


    But, mainly, it was time to ski corn in couloirs. And, man, March was great. We started with this 3,500’ Eastern Sierra classic, which had corned up perfectly for us.



    Photo: whatsupdoc


    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Skier: whatsupdoc

    We also skied this 5,500’ beauty, which we had spotted in January.





    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Photo: whatsupdoc



    There was yet more snow back home.


    But I neglected home repair to return to the Eastern Sierra to ski Mt. Tinemaha. Tinemaha is on the front left; Birch, which franzklammer and I skied in January, is on the right. I love this view so much.


    This view of Tinemaha, taken from Birch in February, ain’t bad either.





    Photo: whatsupdoc



    6,500’ of descent, summit to sage.


    This skiing thing is pretty fun.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    closer
    Posts
    5,672
    Wow. Nice.
    It's a war of the mind and we're armed to the teeth.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    263
    Epic. Thx for posting. Heres to hoping for a miracle march on the east side

    Sent from my SM-G955U using TGR Forums mobile app

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    LV-426
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    21,128
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    vernon
    Posts
    2,977
    Nice post and pics thanks!
    www.skevikskis.com Check em out!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Boulder
    Posts
    332
    So good! I only managed to get to the Sierra for 4 days last year, but I wish it was 100! Hopefully it happens again this decade.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    SF & the Ho
    Posts
    9,310
    Epic post/season. Where's your house?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Behind the Potato Curtain
    Posts
    4,042

  12. #12
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    Sep 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by mcski View Post
    Epic post/season. Where's your house?
    This is AKbruin's house after all that snow finally melted:

    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Before
    Posts
    27,920
    moist eggsellent.
    Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
    >>>200 cm Black Bamboo Sidewalled DPS Lotus 120 : Best Skis Ever <<<

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    3,711
    Quote Originally Posted by El Chupacabra View Post
    This is AKbruin's house after all that snow finally melted:

    Haha. I had to drive past that property's multiple Trump signs every day in 2016. I don't believe in karma or meteorological retribution, but, well . . . there was a certain symbolism in the collapse of that building in 2017.

    mcski: I live in the nosebleed section of Incline Village.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    3,711
    April

    April flat out kicked ass. More touring in the Eastern Sierra.


    Dhelihiker is unsure which way leads to fun skiing and which way leads to certain death.

    Skier: Dhelihiker

    He chose wisely.

    Skier: Dhelihiker

    BGnight and I also scored this super cool classic. It’s one of the coolest lines I’ve ever skied—it’s just so unrelentingly steep (42 to 50 degrees) for a full 3,000’ to the apron. Having toured the day before and not slept, I was stupid slow, but the snow was soft enough that one could enjoy the steep skiing without any pooh coming out.



    Rider: BGnight


    Rider: BGnight

    Later, klar, freak, and CM came to California and made a TR. They brought powder with them. We skied Tahoe first.



    Skier: freak


    Photo: klar


    Photo: CM

    And then we went to the Eastern Sierra for a three-day tour.








    Can you see the three Innsbruckers?



    Skier: klar

    I love this photo that klar took so much.




    Can you find our campsite?



    Photo: klar

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    May

    But May . . . May might have been the best. There was no more powder but a lot of corn and a huge snowpack (and fewer homeowner concerns). So I headed back to (you guessed it) the Eastern Sierra.



    This place, man.

    Skier: whatsupdoc

    It makes you feel small in the best way possible.


    Not that access is always easy.


    Split Mountain, another one that kicked my tired ass, was a highlight. 2,000’ of dirt hiking and 6,000’ of quality skiing (okay, maybe 5,500’ of quality skiing).

    Skier: whatsupdoc

    We skied from the summit (14,065’) of its south face, which was steep, littered with little cliff bands, and just a great ski.

    Photo: Summitpost


    Skier: whatsupdoc


    Photo: whatsupdoc

    About that dirt hike . . . .


    More feeling small in the Eastern Sierra.


    Another highlight was doing a solo overnighter to ski a couple classics. The first.










    The second one was also a great ski.






    Naturally, I came home to more snow.


    But at least is was better than before.


    And I took my 10-year-old for her first real tour.


    She’s got oodles of backcountry style.




    But then I went back to the Eastern Sierra to ski the chute in the middle of this photo.


    Ridiculously fun descent.



    Skier: Dhelihiker

    Resort time! On Memorial Day Weekend, I took the kids to Mammoth, which had about 70% of its terrain still open.


    Look at that May 31st snowpack!




    We even threw in a daytrip to Death Valley.



  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    195
    Thanks for bringing back the stoke AK! Last year was a real banger - got in descents of Giant’s Steps, Bloody, Mendenhall, 3rd Pillar, V Notch, and many more - not to mention about a million pow days in Tahoe. What a year.

    I was lucky enough to move to Vancouver this winter, which seems to be one of the few places getting decent snow this year. Was hoping for an Eastside trip this spring, but it seems exploring interior BC may be the better option this year. Hope you guys get some atmospheric rivers and get the snowpack back!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    536
    So much f-ing winning here, holy shit way to get it while you could!! Inspiring to say the least, with any luck, those of us below the 45th parallel will actually have a winter next year, thanks for the stoke!!

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Tahoe
    Posts
    949
    Wow, so awesome and so depressing at the same time. No doubt we will be reminiscing about last year the rest of our lives. Super stoked we got to ski shitloads of pow in the back yard together. You absolutely crushed it on the east side! Inspiring me to step it up...

    I’ll add a few to memorialize the Winter of 2017: Snowmageddon

    It was relatively dry when I left Tahoe in early January to go ski the infamous Japanese pow. It worked out



    I came back from skiing 10 days of pow in Japan to this. Skier: AKbruin



    There multiple times that it snowed so much, and the plows were so late getting around, that I just drove the sled right off the trailer and went for a spin around the hood.



    Blowing and shoveling 3-4 times per day to keep up was common. At the peak the walls were so high the Honda could barely throw snow over the top.



    We skied the shit out of Rose Knob Peak - skin track stoke



    Late April, still skiing pow





    May 12th corn harvest


    Dhelihiker and AKbruin on Tioga Pass May 20th


    Dhelihiker and I skied Lassen right to the car Memorial Day Weekend


    July 16th

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Cruzing
    Posts
    11,911
    What an awesome season Frank. It makes me jealous you have this much dedication to get out after to it. A great year to make the push.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    PNW -> MSO
    Posts
    7,894
    Insto hall of fame. Holy hell, what a ski mecca that place is on a big year.

    Outstanding images, dude.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Truckee & Nor Cal
    Posts
    15,623
    Nice photos, Frank. And what a season it was - I feel like maybe I took it for granted because of all the shoveling. Hope to get out there with you one of these days when we have more snow and try to keep up.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Last Best City in the Last Best Place
    Posts
    7,276
    That is a truly awesome photo essay. What an amazing place. Thanks.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    Quote Originally Posted by lazyasian View Post
    Thanks for bringing back the stoke AK! Last year was a real banger - got in descents of Giant’s Steps, Bloody, Mendenhall, 3rd Pillar, V Notch, and many more - not to mention about a million pow days in Tahoe. What a year.

    I was lucky enough to move to Vancouver this winter, which seems to be one of the few places getting decent snow this year. Was hoping for an Eastside trip this spring, but it seems exploring interior BC may be the better option this year. Hope you guys get some atmospheric rivers and get the snowpack back!
    Whoa. That's a great set of ticks. I'm somewhat interested in Giant's Steps, but I can't confirm whether it's above my pay grade or not. Good year to move to BC!

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3,711
    Quote Originally Posted by sierraskier View Post
    Wow, so awesome and so depressing at the same time. No doubt we will be reminiscing about last year the rest of our lives. Super stoked we got to ski shitloads of pow in the back yard together. You absolutely crushed it on the east side! Inspiring me to step it up...

    I’ll add a few to memorialize the Winter of 2017: Snowmageddon

    It was relatively dry when I left Tahoe in early January to go ski the infamous Japanese pow. It worked out



    I came back from skiing 10 days of pow in Japan to this. Skier: AKbruin



    There multiple times that it snowed so much, and the plows were so late getting around, that I just drove the sled right off the trailer and went for a spin around the hood.



    Blowing and shoveling 3-4 times per day to keep up was common. At the peak the walls were so high the Honda could barely throw snow over the top.



    We skied the shit out of Rose Knob Peak - skin track stoke



    Late April, still skiing pow





    May 12th corn harvest


    Dhelihiker and AKbruin on Tioga Pass May 20th


    Dhelihiker and I skied Lassen right to the car Memorial Day Weekend


    July 16th
    That Japan photo is outrageous. So many good times. The photos of the shoveling bring back mixed feelings.

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