My First Back Country Outing

[BailOut]

While the eastern half of the U.S. has seen extra snow this season we in the west have been missing quite a bit of it. Some friends and I have been wanting to get out into the back country for our first time since November but there just hasn't been enough of a snow pack to make it worthwhile.

That finally changed last week when we had a multi-day storm system come through, and on Saturday 7 of us carpooled in 2 vehicles to the last parking lot below the summit of the Mount Rose Highway at 8,553 feet of elevation. Our goal was Tamarack Peak at 9,897 feet, about 1.9 miles away.

One fellow was on skis, 2 were on split boards (snowboards that can be separated into two ski-like pieces for trekking) and the remaining 4 of us were on snowshoes and snowboards.

Only 2 of the people had a large amount of back country experience (so they were our tour guides), and for 4 of us it was our first time. We all have avalanche beacons, shovels, probes, etc. and have taken avalanche safety and rescue beacon courses.

Our confidence was low but our excitement was high as we crossed the road, climbed the plow bank and geared up. It was a challenging climb and things were a bit slow at times but everyone made it to the drop-in point, and 5 of us made it all the way to the top of Tamarack Peak.

On the way down we found a natural "roller" that someone had built a small ramp on, turning it into a 10-foot "kicker". 3 of us played around on that thing for about an hour. It was my second time on one of these (this is only my second season of snowboarding, my first snow sport), having tried one at Squaw Valley (about half way down KT-22) twice for about 2 feet of air last month and not landing either attempt. There was 18" of fluffy powder in the landing zone of this jump though, so I let fly quite a bit more than I had at Squaw. I made 3 jumps and the second one was my best, catching about 4 feet of air and about 15 feet of distance and landing it solidly (I was trying for my first grab on that attempt, an Indy, but missed it and did the jump with my left hand resting on the board). Sadly, the fellow taking pictures of my jumps totally missed this one.

My friend Matt made 4 attempts and landed none but he got a sick tail grab in on his 3rd attempt. Sadly, he was so happy to have the grab that he forgot to let go of it and speared into the snow, gaining a face full of powder.

Here are some pictures from the day:

1. Me all geared up and ready to go. I look pasty due to the sunblock I had just put on.

2. Ascending the lower areas.

3. Resting around 9,000 feet.

4. Resting around 9,500 feet after a difficult and steep section. You can see the Washoe Lake and Washoe Valley in the background.

5. A view of Lake Tahoe from around 9,500 feet.

6. The final ascent to Tamarack Peak.

7. On the final ascent to Tamarack Peak.

8. I made it! Tamarack Peak, elevation 9,897 feet.

9. A great view of the Great Basin and the city of Reno, Nevada.

10. Matt's tail grab at the kicker on our way back down.