Back-country skiing Guides and Trips in United States
Trips
I sneaked away from another trip I was on to do a quick mid-summer ski of Lassen Peak. Since it was so late season the easiest way to get up is to hike with skis on the pack. Snow coverage all the way to the trailhead was doubtful. I headed up anyways. The hike up is fairly quick and the ski down is even quicker. The coverage ended up being very good...
Skiing Hotlum-Wintun Ridge on Mount Shasta
Andesite, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 10.5 miles
Back-country skiing | 10.5 miles
We planned a late season ski trip on Shasta. Luckily for the great snow coverage this year we were able to ski pretty much from the car all the way to the summit. We made a bivy at about 10000ft to split our ascent up. The second day we got up early to summit and ski all the way down. Skiing down 7000ft from the summit was pretty amazing. A unique experience. ...
Not knowing that there is a winter gate blocking off public road access to National Forest land we were stopped 3mi away from the trailhead. Instead of driving all the way over to the Wintoon Rd access point we decided to just walk the road. The upside of the long walk is 2000ft of powder for us to ski. The trees on the north side of Angora hold powder nicely. Once at...
Our group planned on starting the ski into Ludlow Hut at 10am. Many delays later, we didn't start until 2pm. This was a huge concern considering that we had 4ft of new snow to contend with and 5-6mi to go. After trodding along for 5 hours, half of which were after sunset, we finally made it to the hut. On our second day a small group of us did a bit of...
Round Top and Elephants Back Ski Tour
Kirkwood, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 7.9 miles
Back-country skiing | 7.9 miles
Went on my first backcountry ski trip of the season at Carson Pass. We skinned out to the saddle between The Sisters and Round Top to see if the bowl to the south was skiable. Not really-- it was windy, thin, and wind-crusted. After skiing back down to Winnemucca Lake to have lunch, we decided to try and ski down Elephant's Back. The first chute we looked at on Elephant's Back looked...
Backcountry Skiing Mt Tallac, Revisited
Spring Creek, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 7.3 miles
Back-country skiing | 7.3 miles
Decided to come back to Mt Tallac to see if I got any better. This is the first time I\\\'ve skiied down Tallac without falling a dozen times. Conditions weren\\\'t that great. Up high the snow was somewhat hard. Down lower it was better, but very much tracked out. Makes me wonder when the best time to ski it? After the snow stabalizes following a mid-winter storm?
Backcountry Skiing Red Lake Peak
Sorensens, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 3.5 miles
Back-country skiing | 3.5 miles
We skinned up the east side of Red Lake Peak to attain the ridge. After tagging the summit we headed back towards the top of the east face for the ski down.
We skined up the east ridge of Echo Peak on softish snow. From the summit we traversed the southeast ridge a bit before dropping down. The conditions were prefect corn.
Backcountry Skiing Ralston Peak
Twin Bridges, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 4.3 miles
Back-country skiing | 4.3 miles
We headed up the south face of Ralston Peak on an overcast day. Once getting past treeline we noticed that the snow was quite hard and icy. Our skins didn't even make tracks. At the very top winds were howling. We didn't get a chance to scope out the awesome bowls on the north and east sides. After taking a few summit photos we headed down the same way we came. ...
Backcountry Skiing to Bradley Hut
Alpine Meadows, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 9.0 miles
Back-country skiing | 9.0 miles
The Bradley Hut is in an ideal location for backcountry skiing. There are many nearby skiable slopes.
Backcountry Skiing Waterhouse Peak
Hope Valley, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 6.9 miles
Back-country skiing | 6.9 miles
Skiied Waterhouse Peak on Saturday and the north peaklet of Waterhouse Peak (aka Powderhouse) on Monday. The terrain on Waterhouse is a little less steep, but also sees less traffic.
We started at Badger Pass ski area, traveled along Glacier Point Road a ways before turning north on trail 18 towards Dewey Point. No camping is allowed at Dewey Point so we veered slightly west towards Crocker Point. On the second day we made a side trip to Stanford Point and Dewey Point.
Overnight snowcamping trip near Carson Pass.
Mount Tallac Backcountry Ski Trip
Spring Creek, California, United States
Back-country skiing | 7.2 miles
Back-country skiing | 7.2 miles
Decided to give ski mountaineering a try by taking my skis up Mt Tallac. The most direct ascent starts from Tallac Springs, which also means that the route has the steepest average grade. After going up the NE Ridge to to the summit, we skied down the beautiful NE Bowl.
