Splitboard.com Forums

1-15-06

With the late start to the season and high snow levels we experienced this year Mt Tallac has been a no-go up until the last week or so. We finally got some cold storms and low snow levels so it's now GAME ON!

I went up last Sunday (1-15) after a storm rolled through day before and conditions were excellent. I hooked up with mmcpheet and our plan was to meet gimpy and his friend there. Gimpy got to the trailhead about an hour earlier and had the pleasure of breaking trail through 2 feet of fresh snow. Thanks gimpy and tyler!

The main drainage (non Cross side)


Mmcpheet making his way up the ascent ridge.


Wind sculpted snow.


We caught gimpy on the top of the main ascent ridge before heading over to the bowl. The sun was starting to go in and out and was playing the sucker holes game.


Gimpy was on a tight schedule so matt and I set up for video and stills while they dropped into the bowl.

Gimpy getting ready to drop.


Gimpy getting first tracks after a grueling 4hours of breaking trail.




tyler


Their turns looked great and the snow seemed $$$. We waived goodbye and finished making our way up the bowl in anticipation of our run.

On top of the bowl we gaped out for a few minutes and before we knew it the clouds came in and our visions of bluebird powder were foiled.

Matt in the whiteout.


And dropping into the abyss.


Due to the low vis we played it safe by skiing near the skin track. At the bottom of the bowl we decided to kick back for a few and see if the ceiling would lift. After 15 minutes or so, sure enough the clouds broke and we were created with this.


We beelined it back up the bowl.


Looking back.


On the ridge we got a great view of the crystal range.


We hung out in the bowl for a few laps trying for some post card style pics. This one would have been pretty cool if I didn't miss my mark and my body form was better. O well, the turns and view were still fun.


Lower down in the bowl, bcr slash.




Matt





Down in the open slope next to the trees we found a little present that gimpy left us. They triggered a soft slab on the steepish rollover. We proceeded with caution.


More pretty views.


And Matt making a turn before triggering another soft slab on a steep rollover.


At this point we decided to move to some lower angle terrain on the way out and didn't have any other issues with the snowpack.

God I love Tahoe Pictures. That and Lake Louise makes the best snowboarding/ski shots. Looks like the Tahoe region has the same raincrust as the Mammoth Area . What board were you riding? The bottom print looks like a custom







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Chuck Norris is 1/8 apache. This has nothing to do with his ancestry ...the man ate an Indian

Ah...looks like fun. I'm totally missing out this season...so far.

ugh....

didn't they use the same print as the custom for some of the burton splits? but I thought you had a mountain gun?

That looks like a really fun day. I just bailed out of going there tomorrow because I don't think I would've been able to keep up with the group and I didn't want to slow anyone down.

1-16-06

After a sweet powder day Sunday on Tallac and with Monday being a holiday, it only made sense to go back for more.

I hooked up with some friends from TGR that I've been trying to get into the bc and we finally made it happen.

Hop and his trusty suby.


Soon we were on the skin track that gimpy and tyler put in the day before.

Skier666 and bcr


hop


On the acsnet ridge we saw some skier triggered slides form the day before. You can see how the steep rollovers become sensitive at the convex. The snow looks a little thin there too, the rocks might have acted as a weak point.


Skier666 and hop checking out some of the lines.


And then sharing a special moment with each other.


Due to the low visibility we stayed out of the bowl and skied the trees from the ridge. Group shot with hop's camera and tricky mini tripod. He's currently working on a chest cam attachment too. Next level for sure.

They brought one of the best bc foods (PIZZA) too without even knowing it.


Soon it was time to ski, hop drops first.





This pic reminds me of Santa Clause.


bcr






skier666 with a random skinner behind him on the ridge.


Skier666 pulling the disappearing act

The snow was pretty good so we had to go for another run.


Skier666, this guy gets more cell calls on the skin track than Charles Schwab himself.


hop front flippin' off the ridge.


skier666 going for distance.


hop




skier666 in there somewhere

hop's mad tele steeze


I counted 5 other splitboarders on the hill (probably another 15 skiers) one of which was our very own digdug.




The exit.


skier666, hop, an imac, and the rigs…AT, tele, splitboard


One thing we relized after meeting each other is that we're all the same…we all like powder and we're all a bunch of nerds. Chances are, if your viewing this TR you're one too.


Thanks for a great day yo, looking forward to more.

The splitboard I was on is a Burton 06 proto from last year. Its basically this years Burton 2006 162cm with Voile hardware. They just threw a random base graphic and plain topsheet on it for testing. I dig the board itself and the black topsheet/colorful graphic.

great running into you on the hill BCR. needed a hand finding my way out of there no doubt.

good times, thank god for that skin track. Go Gimpy

Sweet picts. I hope that dude got a killer deal on those pants.

I was up there on Monday (1/16) While hunkering down on top of the ridge, waiting for the rest of the group, I was wondering who would actually hike up a mountain with pizza. You made someone's dog real happy when he was enjoying the leftover crust. (I know it was just some crust, but don't forget to pack out what you pack in.)

"Who would actually hike up a mountain with pizza." The better question is who wouldn't. It was a freakin day trip, shit, I've been known to bring a lot heavier luxury items than that...ie blue cylinder.

I guess your a mtnman so you probably kill all your food...and pack out your poop. Careful when pointing fingers-did you see them leave pizza crust? There were dozens of people on Tallac last weekend.

Hit tallac today(Saturday). Seemed like there simply wasn't anywhere you could go without having good snow. Excellent conditions.

See the note below. Spring Creek road is closed right after the pull-off from 89. Supposedly until may1st according to someone that has a cabin there.
Zoinks!


There's only enough room for 10-15 cars at the pull-off, and about the same across the street. This adds about 10-20 minutes to your approach and gives a really flat ride out if the road has snow on it. Today it did. Felt sorry for all the folks who own cabins there. There were quite a few of them there that we talked to.

One cool thing about tallac, jakes, and the other popular places in tahoe is that ya can always meet up with folks to ski down with incase you're a non-tahoe-ite like me with less and less of your regular skiing buddy's still going every weekend. Chris, here's the photo's bro. Great skiing with ya!




Desolation; coverage is phenomenal!


Mandatory lake photo:


Top of the hanging snowfield:


TeleChris:






Note: right after I took that shot, I had a gut wrenching shock run through me as I realized that a) he had never skied this route before, and b) that he was skiing more towards skiers left towards the mouth emptying over the cliff . I had screwed up the original plan by stopping half way down to take his picture. I'm not sure if he heard me yelling, or I had told him about the cross-over point before, but it turned out to be the latter case, so he stopped and all was good. I woulda felt like a total A-hole. Reasons not to ski with towelie# 2345.

The cross-over pt.: it was glare ice. Seems like it's always icy there but this time we wondered if it was the old rain layer.

in the chute:


off the ridge below. Great snow everywhere. Even on the east side of the ridge still held bueno powder.
Good:

Better:



P.s. BCrider. Nice shots on your TR!. Did ya switch from viddy to photo? Great stuff.

Hit up Tallac on Friday as well. Amazing snow, beautiful sky, great day.

Regarding the road closure, I don't think the extra time is as big a bummer as the limited parking. If they don't plow out the area in front of the gate, there is not much parking near by, at least not after a big snow.

We skied the nub near the top and then skinned back to the south facing aspect of corkscrew and skied that to the base, so I missed the fractures. Well done on that chute.

I heard that Kwood has been shooting the Cirque w/ their Howitzer and some pretty big slabs have been releasing...probably deeper than what ya'll exposed, and hopefully deeper than a skier could trigger.

Another Tallac pic...slightly different angle.