Backcountry - Donner Peak

Scott, Nancy, Rob and Greg getting ready to skin up Mt. Judah.

Rob and Nancy low on the trail with Donner Ski Ranch in the background.

Rob approaching the notch.

Bret, Rob, Greg and Scott getting ready to strap in.

The notch, with Donner Lake below.

Some of Nancy’s colleagues at TTSA talked her into doing some backcountry after work. And once again, the snow was crappy.

We met at 4:00 with Scott, Greg and Rob to skin up Mt. Judah and drop down to the western end of Donner Lake. This is a popular route because you can shuttle up Highway 40 and save yourself a thousand feet of climbing.

Scott and Greg got hired at the same time as Nancy and they all work together on the Utility Crew. Scott also worked with us in Lift Ops at Squaw for a few years. Rob is a Tahoe local who has worked at TTSA forever.

Nancy and I were on teles, Rob and Greg were on alpine touring gear, and Scott was on a split snowboard.

It took us about an hour to skin up. By that time the sun was going down, so most of our run down was in shadow and darkness.

There was some good snow here and there, but it was mostly crust, and as we descended the crust got worse and worse.

Scott, checking out his line. I-80 is in the background.

Scott gets ready to drop in. Highway 40 is visible below.

We traversed from Mt. Judah to the shoulder of Donner Peak and skied down Donner Peak’s north face, where the snow got really bad. I could make turns in the spots without crust, but after we got below the train tracks I had to abandon all attempts at tele turns because I was flailing so bad. I just made alpine turns the rest of the way.

As we got down low we ran out of light and the crust became truly heinous—not a good combo. Greg wound up in a tree well at one point, and we were all making survival turns to get down through the crust and frozen goober balls.

We made it to the road just before it got totally black. Nancy bought me a headlamp the next day.

Yeah, the snow was lousy, but the nice thing about backcountry trips is that it doesn’t matter all that much—it’s just nice to get out and roll around in the snow.