KT-22

My main goal for the day was  Needle Peak. Well, I saw Needle Peak today, but didn't even get close to it. The reason for not reaching my goal on this day was a mix of unexpected rain and disappointment/frustration about a prime example of how nature can be destroyed by the installation of ski lifts.

The name of the mountain I ended up climbing actually has an interesting story behind it and is worth mentioning.It’s named after Kick Turns. 22 of them.

I was scared to death. It was almost vertical. I thought I’d have to stay until spring,” recalls Sandy Poulsen, early Squaw pioneer.
While she and husband Wayne were skiing the resort in 1948, Sandy was terrified and couldn’t link a turn down the steep north face of one of the resort’s infamous peaks. Instead she would traverse the slope, make a kick turn and do it again and again and again.
Patiently waiting at the bottom, Wayne counted 22 kick turns. In her honor, he named the mountain KT-22
 

When I arrive in Squaw Valley, I am rather surprised to not see the sun, but a lot of clouds and fog instead, quite unusual for this time of the year. I park my car in the big, empty ski resort parking lot and get going right away, because my planned hike today is supposed to be more than 30km long with quite some altitude gain. However, for several reasons I can't find the marked hiking path to KT-22. One of the reasons is that I seem to have an outdated map which doesn't show the newer ski lifts. The second reason is that the mountains around Squaw Valley are blemished with all sorts of access roads for big machinery to get up the mountain to do maintenance on slopes and ski lifts. And all those roads are "decorated" with the sign "This is not a hiking trail!".

After searching for quite a while I finally find the "official path". It starts close to the Red Wolf Lodge and zigzags up the mountain underneath the Red Dog chairlift. Soon I get out of the fog and the sun wins the battle with the clouds - at least for a while. After about a mile on the path, I lose it and get confused with more access roads. So I decide to just not worry about any paths or "non-hiking" roads and just climb up the mountain, towards the obvious peak. At an altitude of about 7200 ft I head straight up a steep slope leading to a gap in KT 22's east ridge. This is obviously a ski slope in the winter, because no usual vegetation is really growing here (any more) and I find lots of trash from skiers (a broken ski pole, water and soda bottles, a ski pass and even a cell phone!) and trash from the ski lift operators as well (warning tape, the remains of explosives probably used to control avalanches, some wires and lots of other trash). A not so pleasant sight to say the least!

After I reach the gap east of the summit I scramble directly along the east ridge to the highest point (easy somewhat exposed class III, T4). The summit decoration is a metal eagle and worth visiting, with a nice view to Lake Tahoe and down to Squaw Valley.

Unfortunately the wind is quite strong & cold and some more clouds seem to roll in. It even looks like some rain is heading my way. I decide to continue towards my planned next goal (Squaw Peak) anyway, more or less along the connecting ridge. At the lowest point between the two peaks, the rain clouds catch up with me and - since I climbed Squaw Peak before, I decide to skip this mountain top today and take the directer route towards Emigrant Gap instead. Unfortunately this route leads me through even more unpleasant ski slopes and trashed nature. After I get to the top of the Gold Coast Funitel station, the weather doesn't seem to get any better and the destroyed nature more and more obvious, so I decide to just end my tour here, even though it isn't  even noon yet. However, since the lifts don't seem to be running today, I have to walk back down to Squaw Valley (I follow the "Thunder Mountain Trail" ), which "offers" me even more blemished nature.

Conclusion: I don't really recommend hikes within the ski area of the Squaw valley ski resort. Try to avoid ski slopes in this region in the summer, they are definitely nothing to write home about.


PS: A very similar "ceramic project" like MaeNi's seem to have had (click ) kept me quite busy in the last year as well. I had only limited time for the beloved mountains in the last months and no time for writing reports... This is a start to catch up with some of my outings in the California mountains in the last year)