TR: Ultra Deep Powder on the West Shore

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 03-20-2018, 07:07 AM

Date: Saturday, March 17, 2018

Location: West Shore Lake Tahoe (Rubicon Peak)

Skiers: MapleLeafGillies (MLG), SchralphMacchio (Schralph), Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (UCL) and Mike

Photos: Schralph, UCL and Mike. A special thanks for Schralph to being willing to lug a DSLR and take the vast majority of pictures, all of which turned out amazing.

Synopsis: Words can't really describe how fun this day was. We were treated to an amazing day of ultra deep, stable snow. At times, it was too deep to even ski, as we focused on a low-angle zone on Rubicon Peak in light of avalanche instabilities. It was great to ski again with Schralph, who moved up to Oregon last year.

Rather than writing a lot on this TR, I will just let the pictures do the talking. It is all pretty self explanatory: (i) point your skis downhill, (ii) disappear in a wash of snow, (iii) occasionally go over the handlebars and "get pitted" ("so pitted"…), and (iv) repeat.

The brief anti-highlight real:

And…… We're back.

**aragon** · 03-20-2018, 07:52 AM

great pictures, looks like an awesome day!

**2FUNKY** · 03-20-2018, 08:02 AM

Sick

**NW_SKIER** · 03-20-2018, 08:13 AM

Nice!

**whatsupdoc** · 03-20-2018, 08:17 AM

Damn, great shots. So deep!

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

**::: :::** · 03-20-2018, 08:23 AM

x2 sick!

**mcski** · 03-20-2018, 09:26 AM

Phenomenal. Has schralph given in to skis completely? Trail breaking must have been ridiculous, how long did each skin take? Those photos should be on the wall

**Dantheman** · 03-20-2018, 09:43 AM

That'll do!

**stuckathuntermtn** · 03-20-2018, 09:56 AM

Dreamy!

**jorion** · 03-20-2018, 10:00 AM

Nice!

(I’m also amused that UCL published a TR for the location that schralph was being so cagey about)

**SchralphMacchio** · 03-20-2018, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by mcski

Has schralph given in to skis completely?

NEVER!!!!
"SPLITBOARDING!!!"
(that's an inside joke for anyone who's ever been to a TGR movie with me)

Thankfully on trailbreaking we got enough of a late start (parking drama is sometimes a good thing) that we merged into an uptrack about 1/4 of the way up. I have to do my Robb Gaffney namedrop as we ran into him and his kid up there - he and one other crew seemed like they broke trail all the way from 89. Even on the established track, skinning was hard because you basically couldn't rely on your poles for anything - even with powder baskets and fully extended length your hands would just drop right down into the surface of the snow as if you didn't have poles. That sucked!

For the parts we actually broke though ... if you've ever done or seen a cycling team-time-trial, we were kind of using that same technique of rotating from front to back before your legs started to feel overheated or cooked, and it worked really well. The worst trailbreaking was actually on the way out, that short little 3-degrees of uphill pitch on the fire road ... UCL broke most of that trail stomping out in alpine mode and it was tiring as shit, took like 10 minutes to go maybe 100 feet!

**TahoeJ** · 03-20-2018, 10:15 AM

^^ I even had that problem inbounds at Squaw. Breaking trail on Red Dog ridge and wishing I had brought my extendable Black Diamond poles. Talk about exhausting.

Originally Posted by jorion

Nice!

(I’m also amused that UCL published a TR for the location that schralph was being so cagey about)

Haha, I noticed that too. I was just giving him a hard time since I already knew the answer after seeing a photo on Facebook.

Great pics!

What an amazing weekend it was... you really couldn't make turns on anything under ~32 degrees or you'd lose too much speed and get stuck. One of the best 3 day stretches I can remember since the snow was relatively light by Tahoe standards. Friday / Saturday was probably my 2nd or 3rd deepest day(s) ever in California, at least in certain areas.

**AKbruin** · 03-20-2018, 10:21 AM

Nice job, UCR. Glad you guys were able to find the goods.

**TheK12** · 03-20-2018, 10:42 AM

Fantastic!

**snapt** · 03-20-2018, 01:50 PM

Nice, what camera lens combo ya shooting?

**pajamas** · 03-20-2018, 02:03 PM

YESSSSS!!!

**MTT** · 03-20-2018, 02:14 PM

That is a TR

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 03-20-2018, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by snapt

Nice, what camera lens combo ya shooting?

Thanks, but I can't take credit for the actual photos/composition, as that is basically Schralph. ~85% of the shots above were done by Schralph using my 60D plus Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6. He wanted to bring it, so I gladly let him carry it while serving as a photo model

. He shot most in manual, and I edited everything in Lightroom. The other ~15% were from iPhones and Samsung phones (I also edited in Lightroom).

I was just pumped my goggle lenses and florescent green shoulders/sleeves popped so much in the photos!

**SchralphMacchio** · 03-21-2018, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

Canon 60D plus Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6.

It’s a good setup for skiing. Good usable zoom range, fast focus and a hell of a lot lighter than the Canon 7D + 24-70mm f/2.8L I used to carry, back when I had time to care about getting nice ski photos!

**406** · 03-21-2018, 09:46 AM

Nice photos, looks like a good day.

**meter-man** · 03-21-2018, 09:58 AM

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Nicely done.

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