Date: January 13, 2019
Crew: Diana Anthony, Dillon Arey, Hannah Neville, Grant Oakley, Hannah Neville, Kevin Shenk
Area: Deep Creek, Squaw/Alpine Zone, CA
Party skiing!
Fresh off a day of resort skiing at Squaw, the crew was ready to take on our first tour as a group. This would also serve as a gear check for our upcoming Ostrander Hut tour. Our original plans to ski Castle Rock were scrubbed after we learned that a group had kicked off a car-sized cornice in the North Gullies and triggered a D3 deep persistent slab avalanche a couple days prior. Instead, we opted for the mellower and more sheltered Deep Creek area near Squaw Valley.
The approach follows a logging road and is a little bit of grind before getting to any skiable terrain. Upon leaving the car, snow conditions looked pretty awful for the first mile. The snow had been pockmarked by ploppy bombs and rain before refreezing solid.
Eventually we reach the last storm’s rain line, and above it we found the deepest, most feathery surface hoar I’ve ever seen.
Once we reached the skiable faces, the skin track took a sharp uphill turn. The low temps and sun filtering through the trees made for perfect skin track conditions.
To the amusement of all, we practiced our kick turns on the fairly steep, but low-consequence terrain.
Near the top, we found a short wind-loaded face where we observed shooting cracks and other signs of propagation. Out of caution, we took this section one at a time. Upon gaining the ridge, we were treated to wide sunny vistas of Lake Tahoe, Northstar, and Squaw Valley.
Despite low temps and some wind, we had lunch on the ridge line in order to take it all in.
The quality of the run down surpassed all expectations. The hoar frost layer created several inches of “faux powder” that was a blast to ski. It produced an almost eerie static crackling sound as skis passed over top.
We were insanely stoked after our first lap, so we quickly hopped back in the skin track to get in round two before dark.
The last mile back to the car down the logging road was surprisingly spicy, as the refrozen skin track hadn’t softened at all during our day out.
All-in-all, it was a great first tour with the crew! None of us could believe the quantity and quality of fresh turns a week after the last snowfall.
Grant's Loose Parts Bin 