California | T4- WT1 |
15 Dez 17
|
California's weather is currently influenced by a so-called "blocking high" off the Atlantic coast which brought us nice warm and sunny T-Shirt days down in the valley for almost all of December so far (and it doesn't look like it will change any time soon). Unfortunately this prevents the winter storms from rolling in and the...
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18. Dezember 2017 um 16:42
(Fotos:20 | Geodaten:1)
California | T1 |
14 Jan 18
|
What sounds like a politically incorrect statement is what I told my wife the other day: "Can you pick me up at the Negro Bar?" However, I didn't go out to have a drink in a bar, but asked her to pick me up at the "Negro Bar" State Park, after I walked there from home. "Negro Bar" is the site which was mined by African...
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18. Januar 2018 um 20:18
(Fotos:43 | Geodaten:24)
Nevada | WS |
13 Apr 18
|
After a very slow start to the winter 2017/18 with very little precipitation, the Sierra Nevada received a lot of snow in the last weeks to reach an almost average snow-pack by now. This finally gave me the chance to open the ski tour season. This tour had to be short and sweet for many reasons and was also meant to find out what...
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24. April 2018 um 17:45
(Fotos:4 | Geodaten:1)
Nevada | WS+ |
20 Apr 18
|
Same setup as last week with the difference that I wanted to ski a little more. Almost the same start, just "the other" pull-out on Highway 431 at Incline Lake. My goal today was Relay Peak via the west ridge, ski down to Ginny Lake, skin up to Incline Peak and then back to the car via the same route as last week to Incline Lake....
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30. April 2018 um 20:12
(Fotos:10 | Geodaten:1)
California | ZS |
27 Apr 18
|
Whenever I drive to Carson pass from east during the winter, I see the nice east facing slopes of Red Lake - and Stevens Peak, which look very inviting for skiing. David Wonser praises Red Lake Peak's east face on his website as "some of the best corn skiing terrain in Carson Pass". And that's exactly what my plan was for the day....
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1. Mai 2018 um 16:10
(Fotos:12 | Geodaten:1)
California | T4+ WS |
4 Mai 18
|
As you might have noticed by now, Round Top is one of my favorite goals in winter and summer. So far my starting point for this tour has always been Carson Pass. For back-country ski tours, the section from Carson Pass to Winnemucca Lake is somewhat sub-optimal. The main reason is that this part is rather flat with only little...
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7. Mai 2018 um 22:41
(Fotos:12 | Geodaten:1)
California | T3 WS |
10 Mai 18
|
Since I'm still employed in Switzerland, I get the Swiss Holidays off at work even though I live in California. This has advantages and disadvantages. One of advantages is that on those Swiss Holidays almost nobody has the day off in the US and therefore, it's hardly ever crowded, neither on the roads nor in the mountains. If you...
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16. Mai 2018 um 22:55
(Fotos:22 | Geodaten:4)
California | T4+ II |
8 Jun 18
|
Today I had some commitments in the evening and had to be back early. Therefore, I chose a hike with a relatively short drive. I also wanted to check out my original plan from here, the south-southeast ridge to Pyramid Peak. Turns out my plans were a little too ambitious to reach Pyramid Peak in time, but I made it to P.8844 and...
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19. Juni 2018 um 18:13
(Fotos:9 | Geodaten:1)
California | T3+ I |
15 Jun 18
|
The general setup was more or less the same as last week, not too much time for an extended hike so something with little ramp-up time was needed. Since I also didn't have time to prepare any new hikes I just decided to go back to Pyramid Peak once again. In order to make sure I would reach my goal on this day, I didn't only start...
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19. Juni 2018 um 19:02
(Fotos:8 | Geodaten:1)
California | T5 II |
24 Aug 18
|
A friend recently told me about Frog Lake near Castle Peak and how beautiful it is. After doing some www-research about the lake, I found out that it (and it's surroundings) is still privately owned by a family, but will be purchased by Truckee Donner Land Trust and made publicly available in 2020. To get a glimpse of this gem, I...
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28. August 2018 um 20:20
(Fotos:16 | Geodaten:1)
California | T3 |
31 Aug 18
|
This hike is more or less a repeat of Freel Peak and Jobs Sister with a slightly different way back down to the Horse Meadow.
I start my hike shortly after 8 AM and walk along the well maintained trail to Armstrong Pass, there I take a right and follow the Tahoe Rim Trail to the saddle northwest of Freel Peak and then up to El...
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3. September 2018 um 20:33
(Fotos:19 | Geodaten:1)
California | T4 I |
7 Sep 18
|
There are only a few peaks left around Lake Tahoe which I haven't stood on top yet. Monument - and East Peak are two of them. The main reason why I haven't been there was the fact that they are within a ski resort: Heavenly. Since there are several gondolas which take you almost to the top of these peaks, I wasn't too keen on...
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10. September 2018 um 19:36
(Fotos:17 | Geodaten:1)
California | T2 |
14 Sep 18
|
A friend was visiting from the mountain-less part of this country and expressed the wish to accompany me on one of my Sierra Nevada hikes. Whenever someone asks me if they can come hiking with me I say yes, but hardly ever does it happen that someone actually comes along. My choice for this hike was Ralston Peak from Camp...
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3. Oktober 2018 um 14:59
(Fotos:6 | Geodaten:2)
California | T2 |
5 Okt 18
|
Mount Tallac is one of the classic and popular hikes in the Tahoe area. It is well known for the spectacular view of Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe, two small Alpine Lakes and the Desolation Wilderness. The standard route from the trailhead is about a 10 mile round trip with an elevation gain of about 3300 ft. Don't expect to be...
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8. Oktober 2018 um 18:51
(Fotos:15 | Geodaten:1)
California | WS+ |
15 Mär 19
|
The start to the winter in California's Sierra Nevada was rather slow, but picked up in mid January and really kicked in in February. In the Donner Pass / Castle Peak area there were more than 7 meters of snowfall in February, with some daily totals of more than a meter. At this point the cumulative snow fall at Donner Pass is...
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18. März 2019 um 17:01
(Fotos:10 | Geodaten:2)
California | WS |
29 Mär 19
|
Round Top is on my wish list every season and today I was contemplating to start at Woods Lake, like I did here. However, the last winter storm brought more snow to the already very high snow pack in this area and I was afraid to not even be able to park at the turnout there. Instead I planned to start at the sno-park on Carson...
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2. April 2019 um 16:30
(Fotos:10 | Geodaten:1)
California | T4+ WT4 WS- |
10 Mai 19
|
DG aka "Why Wait!?" and I wanted to go for a "hike" a long time already, but for one and the other reason it never happened yet. Today it did and it was a fun showshoe/back country ski outing on a wonderful spring day in the Sierras.
We did the loop from Woods Lake to Round Top and back, like Donnie Darko and I did...
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12. Mai 2019 um 20:50
(Fotos:10 | Geodaten:1)
California | L |
14 Jun 19
|
After an extraordinary long winter with more than average amounts of snow, the Sierra Nevada really lived up to it's name: there was and still is a lot of "Nevada" up in the Sierras and it'll take quite some time to melt it all. One ski resorts for example decided to stay open until August! (click).
I was in the Donner Pass...
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17. Juni 2019 um 01:03
(Fotos:11 | Geodaten:1)
California | T4 I |
23 Aug 19
|
I have climbed "The Sisters" (P. 10153 and 10045) west of Round Top twice already but only from the Saddle west of Round Top. If in the area or looking at atopo map, one can clearly see that the ridge is not only two, but depending on how you count, made up of 4-5 Sisters from the saddle west of Round Top all the way to the...
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27. August 2019 um 23:03
(Fotos:19 | Geodaten:2)