North Lake!

the Ohio boys terrorized Sugar Bowl on Sat...

meanwhile... the kiddos were terrorizing the swings on Donner Lake. 

proof that Kai saw the Wailers...

Had a great weekend staying on Donner Lake last weekend.  There was some new snow, but it mainly came down as Sierra Cement.  Highlights were the short drops into straight lines... groomers... and the terrain park at Sugar Bowl.  My GoPro turned on in my pocket on the ride up to Sugar Bowl on Sat, so it died as soon as I got it out... but I got some pics... and did my first front flip of the season.  But no documentation of that...

Here's ole' Funky... Daffy vs Cossack...

... and yes, it's always St. Patty's day when the Ohio boys visit...

TR: Pear Lake Hut

The 2013 Crew (Barrett, Stefan, Me, Alexis, & Toro)

Our route for the 3 day sojourn

This trip... as all trips are complex.  We drove R2 (as Funk took off to Japan, and I gave him a ride to SFO... I had his car) to the Walmart in Manteca, where Alexis, Toro & I hopped in Barrett's Element with a box on top and a ski rack in the back... 

Met up with Stefan in Madera, where Alexis hopped in his car to provide company... then we stopped in Fresno for gas and burritos... and met a meth head (talking about the homeless missiles in the sky), a ex-vet marine (who knew where to buy 3.49$ pints of vodka), and a responsible dad who didn't turn off his engine so he could keep listening to his music blasting from the car... with his 10 yr old daugher... oh Fresno...

Arrived in Wolverton around noon?  Got going a bit after...

Above Heather Lake?  Barrett chose a sketchy route down, causing a small wet slide.  Weehaw!

Barrett's self portrait displaying his TTS

yeah... it was HOT!

Topless & Shorts

Despite our late start, we still managed to make it to the hut and skin up the slope to catch the sunset...

At the hut.  We had 4 spots... but 5 folks.  But we made friends with everyone and managed just fine.  

Dinner - night 1.  Mmmm....

Water surveyers we met last year at the hut.  Really awesome guys who gave us a can of Sierra after our long day on day 2... 

Toro setting up the long expsure... I was taking a series of 30 second shots...

Here's one of Toro's shots...

Looking out into the night...

Bad Moon Rising...

The next morning.... the hut master telling us where to go. We never got to thank him, but boy was he right.  The corn on the backside of Alta was awesome!

Munching down on my burrito from Fresno at Pear Lake...

The three musketeers... crossing pear lake... photo: Toro

Skin track stoke... photo: Toro

The terrain

?

Toro getting Barretted...

The summit push...

And the summit "gansta" shot

... and now time to cruise down some awesome corn!

Barrett flyin' high

Stefan

And skinning up for round 2... or so I thought.  Toro, Stefan & Alexis cruised back to the hut...

while Barrett & I reached the true summit of Alta peak... 

Not too many winter signatures...

This was another chute off of Alta peak that looked quite fun.  But needs some better snow...

... and while we are at it, here's another chute that I'd like to hit someday.  The watchtower chute... very steep after a mandatory rap...

after Barrett & I did our second lap, we traversed over to Skier's Alta... it's a pretty fun & airy traverse from Alta to Skier's Alta.

And cruised on down...

Weehaw!  After another fun night at the hut, where none of us took pics, we killed all of our alcohol, including the beers that Kevin gave us.  I cooked up a pasta carbonera that could've fed 6 NFL linebackers... after many games of liar's dice and pigs, we bunked for the night.  For brekky the next morning Barrett fixed up some awesome clam chowder.  

Here's a look at our destination on our ski out... the Emerald Chutes.  You get a clear view of Skier's left Emerald Chute... you can see the Skier's right chute if you know where to look...

Looking up the skier's right chute

Me booting up the crux of the skier's right chute...

And looking back down the chute...

the fog had rolled in by the time Barrett and I started down the skier's left chute...

Stefan & Alexis said they didn't want to break their femur... so they didn't ski the Emerald Chutes with us.  So here we are back at the car sans Stefan & Alexis...

Barrett's bike rack...

on the way back we stopped here.  BEST CARNITAS EVER.  Seriously... 

And the long drive home...

Photo Credits: Barrett, Stefan, Toro, & me...