Pacific Crest Snowcats, 2/5/17

Working the photo dump...

LOOKS AWESOME. Details to follow?

For sure, Harvey, and some more pics, and video later tonight.

Let me try this video a couple of ways.....and fail!

Tahoe Backcountry 2/5/17 from Chris Kidd on Vimeo.

excellent looking trip..
did you fly out on the Sunday night red eye? Work monday?....If so way hard core...

Monday is rough, that's for sure!  Red eye back and straight to the office.  At least my soccer team had enough players that I didn't have to show last night.  My better half is ultimately pretty supportive when I take a trip, because at the end of it all she's holding down the fort.  Of course that doesn't mean she's happy about it.  Vacation time is limited, so there's no damn way I'm telling her I'm burning a vacation day and won't be able to take one later when she needs me to have it!

Did someone ask for details?

The Outfit:  Pacific Crest Snowcats, in business for 18 years, with a spotless safety record, never having to perform a beacon search (other than the practice before run one).

The Crew:  Dave (aka, Happy), skier, lead guide and snow safety guy.  As this season progresses he will transition to heli-guiding in AK, then on to sky diving in HI.

Abby, the tail guide, skier.  She’s an east coast ripper from Maine, in her first year of cat guiding in Tahoe.

Tyler, boarder.  Not a regular guide I don’t think, but fitted with a walkie and learning the ropes.

Wade, the snowcat operator.  Amazing the places he can move a big machine like that.

Clients:  Scotty and Greg, cousins from Cali, both ripping boarders.  From somewhere else in Cali there was Andy, another good boarder, and his buddy Dan, a solid skier but not as comfortable as everyone else in steeps and powder.  And me, of course!

For the day we meet up at the trail head on Cabin Creek Road at 8am.  Boot up, introductions all around, getting our shit together.  Abby outfits those without their own equipment with an avalanche beacon.  As people are getting ready and talking Happy and Abby get a sense for the group, their experience levels and such.  Happy is stoked, as it seems like we have a tight group.  Saturday they went out full, 12 clients and two guides, with a tricky upside down snowpack from the recent storm that limited their options.  With a smaller, tighter group, and stability setting up overnight, Happy seems excited to go a couple places in their vast expanse that he hasn’t done with a group in a while.  Turns out Super Bowl Sunday is a good day to go out, everyone staying in for football!  Suckers.



With everyone outfitted and ready to go Happy calls the group together before we board the cat so that we can go over some ground rules.  Cat safety is first.  Then we talk about on-slope rules.  He’s always first, assesses each slope before the run.  Abby always follows up the rear once everyone is down safe.  We talk about both the avy terrain and non-avy terrain we will ski, and spacing for each.  We talk basic backcountry safety, which Abby gets into in more detail on the first cat ride up.  Happy stresses the importance of following on slope directions, as bad choices will lead to consequences.  It’s easy to get on dangerous avy slopes, take yourself over a cliff or waterfall, or end up in the wrong drainage if you zig when Happy says you should zag.  Happy talks about The Door of Opportunity, which can open a little wider each lap if he finds the stability he is hoping for, and if the group stays tight, smart and safe.  He stressed that The Door can slam shut quickly if anyone deviates from the script.



That done, it’s into the cat for the first ride up.  As Abby said upon loading, the first ride up is the only one where she was going to bark at us.  On the ride we talked in a little more detail on some of the stuff Happy went over earlier.  However, most of the ride was spent talking about general backcountry safety rules, skiing one at a time on avy slopes, always keeping eyes on the on-slope skiers, proper beacon usage, and how the group would approach search and rescue in the event of an avalanche.  Approach avy fields  from the flanks, quick zig-zag down the field until you pick up a signal, slow it down at 10m, deep breaths/stay calm, into fine search mode, drop beacon to slope at 3m for micro search, find low distance, box it out to confirm, if you find new low distance box that out.  In our case, one searcher to avoid interference, with the group joining with shovels/probes upon confirmed burial location.  All of this has never been necessary in the history of their operations, but its standard protocol to go over for any day in the BC.  



At the top of the first run we’d do a beacon/search test, with Abby burying a target down the cat track and each of us locating it one by one.  Safety protocols and testing out of the way it was time for the beacon handshake and to click in!  Woohoo!



That first trip up it was hard not to be distracted by the ride.  Huge amounts of snow, tight cat tracks, scary turns, and the wonderful sight of the cat pushing into a track full of un-cat-tracked snow.  It was going to be untracked lines for the group all day!  I can’t remember the names of each line or area, or even how many runs we took, but it was more than I needed to count.  I love a guide who says at 4:00 “well guys, it’s getting late, so………..let’s load up quick to get in another run!”  Off the top of my head a few of the named areas we skied were things like Diamond Bowl, Sluffaluffogus, Love Me Bowl (renamed recently from Fuck Me Bowl for political correctness)…..heck, I’ll remember more later, but you get the idea.  



The first run Happy hit a foul ball, expecting soft snow on a certain aspect off a certain shoulder.  “Head left here, not over the ridge skier’s right or someone needs to pick you up off 89 with a car.  Remember what I said about directions and The Door!”  That first run wasn’t terrible, gorgeous view in an untracked expanse, but it was a firm wind-blown chalk, even down into the trees.  The first run was lower angle, a chance for Happy to see everyone on their skis/boards, confirm skillz and such.  Ski legs under us, abilities confirmed….The Door remained open a crack.  It was time to find a better aspect for softer snow, and to open The Door a little more.

Over the rest of the day Happy delivered, as all of the rest of the runs were in soft Sierra powder for the first 600 to 800 vertical, transitioning to wetter and firmer Sierra Cement for the rest of the runs through the trees, runs which were 1,000 to 1,200 vertical.  You've seen the photo dump, no need to repeat here.  Sierra powder isn’t blower, but it’s the soft yet firm (oxymoron, I know) kind of surface where you feel like you are staying near the top, yet in the most places there is a 6 to 12 inch deep trench in your wake.  

Each run at the top of the cat track we would click in and meet up so Happy could direct us to which ridge we’d be going out and where he was going to stop for the drop in.  We’d follow him out to the designated location and he’d talk about the aspect and line, general safety issues, where the “safe zone” is for each run if something starts to slide or you are uncomfortable.  Happy would ski cut each slope before giving Abby the all clear to start sending skiers and riders.  On each aspect he’d dig a hand pit or other test as necessary.  The only concerns all day were some varying wind slabs just below the Crest on certain aspects, which resulted in certain directions about how to approach the top of certain runs, go through the trees here, stay light on your skis there, etc.  With each successive run The Door opened more, and we just had a blast.  

Given the way the tectonic Pacific Crest was formed, all the runs off the Crest share similar topography.  The top the slopes off the Crest all averaged 36-38 degrees for a good 500+ vertical, mellowing to 30ish degrees for the rest of the run to the tree line, with mellow tree skiing back to the cat track, where our chariot was usually waiting for us.  Of course, given the rocky and rolling nature of the terrain off the Crest there were tons of steeper faces and slots among countless rocky outcroppings.  There’s some scary shit out there.  Another really cool things is that on every line Happy chose there were soooo many interesting features.  Numerous roll-overs that easily put you on 40+++ degrees for several turns, some where my shoulder and hip were unfamiliarly close to the pow for someone who wasn’t falling…..but practically free falling on a face of soft powder.  Wind ridges, boulders, rock faces……just super fun stuff.  For each run you could always head toward the safe zones, shoulders and trees if the pitch was too steep.  Happy is an Alaska heli-guide, and he treated us all like big boys.  Within the designated zone make sure you follow my directions, but hit what you want, and we did.  This day included some of the steepest pitches I’ve ever skied, more whoop-de-doos than could be counted, and even a few (somewhat unexpected, hello!) airs and free falls over blind rollovers and rock features, all with soft landings, and not a biff on the day for me.  Yes, the steep drop-ins were highlights, but even a boulder feature like this can make for one of my most fun turns of the day.  




Shredding pow to an interesting rollover into a big drop off the top of a huge boulder into a ton of powder, right at the bottom of the run in front of the gang, high fives after this, and every, run!  That kind of thing, again and again, and again.  What a day.

The group was pretty solid, all nice guys, and girl.  Cat rides were a mix of excited discussion, sharing of stories and pictures, and resting at times.  Always easy, never uncomfortable at any time.  The cat cabin wasn’t fancy and was plenty roomy for our small group, but I imagine it is tight will a full cabin.  Plenty of bottled water on hand.  Around about lunch time Abby hung at the top of the cat track for one run to prepare a mountain-side lunch.  Cold cuts and the fixings for sandwiches, including avocado and bell pepper, California style.  Chips, hummus, cookies, drinks, hot cocoa.  Not a long or particularly fancy lunch, but satisfying, and quickly back at it.  Upon loading the cat after the last run for the ride down it was a round of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales, what else could it be!  All in all one of the most fun, most satisfying days I’ve had on skis.  It’s not cheap, yet it would have been worth every penny even if it had cost more.  If you are out there and you can find a way to splurge I highly recommend it.

Dude...You are living the life!

Ha!  It was a kickass good time, I'll grant you that!!

THE life?  Debatable!  I like to think A life.  We all carve out our fun.  Some have houses, season passes, get lots of ski days in.  Me, I've got 7 so far this season, probably won't get much more than 15.  I'll put my all in $ cost for 15 up against someone else's 50 and I bet it's not that disparate.  Just choices!

I hear ya - man your last minute trip posts are inspiring....I have a few ideas we'll see if they happen...But JetBlue just extended my credit expiration date for me!

It all starts, for better or for worse , with an idea!  Look forward to when yours come to fruition!  Carpe diem!

Better late than never, hopefully. My first attempt at producing something that is (hopefully) an entertaining ski video, as opposed to random videos of just me skiing. Probably a shade long, and I've got to work on my audio transitions, play with some more effects, etc. but I've messed with this long enough so far....so here it is! Shot using my GoPro shoulder mount (looked like I was skiing with a parrot on my shoulder) which makes for an interesting video angle. Some of the video is better than other, as the camera tended to move/drop down.

Tahoe Backcountry - Pacific Crest Snowcats Feb 5, 2017 from Chris Kidd on Vimeo.