Skiing, Jan 2006
Stupid me, with a fresh greenstick fractured rib...
 Driving on up - this was the best weather the entire drive (mostly because of the snow lying around) |
 Boring me. |
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I don't have any other pics of the first day, partially because we were in a hurry to get going and I didn't feel like taking the time, partly because it was cold and I didn't want my fingers to freeze to the camera, but mostly because the combination of wind and snow would result in photographs as interesting as a blank sheet of paper. Late start driving, slow drive up, once there, the limited snow depth at 7000' resulted in a replanning over a leisurely lunch, and a side trip to get a snow park pass, we got a slightly late start. The plan was, from Carson Pass, head south along the Sierra Crest Trail through the forest a bit, then turn left and find a way up to Frog Lake. The weather made the lighting odd; we didn't notice the sunset until well after a good turnaround time. Side note: never go to the Sierra's in a storm with a GPS in sub-freezing temperatures, those little things just don't work well in the cold... Falling light, wind has blown away our tracks, high technology needs a good 'ol campfire - we got back to the car (which had very frozen locks) a bit worried, a bit cold, and with 5 minutes of light left. |
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Caples Lake
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We actually do need to get across that... |
The stream split into 2 forks a short ways up of this and rejoined at the base of the falls. A bridge crossed one fork... |
And a snow bridge crossed the other. That was a bit nerve-racking...
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We need to get across this one, per the guide. Broken ice shows the likelyhood of that endeavor. |
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Not really. But the stream we did want to get up was very similar to this. |
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Second day, the
plan
is to start at the western dam of Caples Lake, follow the trail along the
lake and up the stream to Emigrant Lake (the last bit being trail blazin).
Traffic had other ideas. By the time we'd get there, it would be past the turnaround time. Instead, we started before the eastern damn, at about the northernmost point on the lake, and went around the other way. A few problems with that idea: pulling off skiis to wade one stream; fighting brush as we head upsteam for a sturdy enough snowbridge for another stream, discovering that the local wildlife, with far inferior intelligence, knows far more about stream crossing than we do, and that following their tracks will is a good way to avoid thin ice atop streams from collapsing... In the end, heading up the wrong side of Emigran Creek proved impossible (said local bunny having run across a fallen tree that us big clumsy human types dare not attempt).We ended up skiing up a short way to an impass of trees, rock, and snow drift, then spending 1/2 hours bullying our way up the next 10 feet. But such senery there... Day three - see my notes from the first day about photos looking like blank pieces of paper. But I really should have photograph the steep icy hill that cause a distal tibial spiral fracture, + proximal fibial spiral fracture. Ouch. |
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