One of Tahoe’s peaks always draws my attention, regardless of season: Pyramid Peak, the highest point in Desolation Wilderness and the apex of the Crystal Range. Shiny granite in the summer, glistening white in the winter, it pokes above the darker rock of Mt. Tallac and the peaks closer to town, hinting at the wild […]
It sometimes feels like South Lake Tahoe isn’t close to backcountry skiing: it’s easy to get used to driving 20 minutes to Powderhouse, 30 minutes to Carson Pass, or 35+ minutes to the peaks along the West Shore. Yet just behind town looms Trimmer Peak, offering 3000′ of skiable terrain, and a huge variety of […]
Of Tahoe’s backcountry skiing destinations, one stands above the rest- Mt. Tallac. Backcountry Skiing Mt. Tallac is probably one of the most alluring goals for Tahoe skiers, as the peak rises 3300′ from lake level- not the highest summit in Tahoe, but the most dramatic. I had skied it in mid-winter conditions in early 2011, again […]
We’d seen some intriguing photos on instagram of arches in the Eastern Sierras, and when we ran across this article on the Crowley Lake Columns, we thought our Thanksgiving road trip would be a great chance to check them out. A prior attempt to see the columns in August had been aborted when smoke marred […]
In 2012, a friend from the PCT told me about some slot canyons he’d been to north of Mono Lake- but knowing California’s geography, it was hard to imagine anything dramatic in the barren hills of the Mono Basin. This past Thanksgiving, we took a roadtrip down the Eastern Sierras, and thanks to Galina’s recovering […]
