Explorations with the Ski3pins: Backcountry Skiing

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Back To Our Roots - Our Backyard

Snow fell this winter in the Sierra Nevada. On the weekends we did not travel with our truck and camper, and it was not a blizzard, we took advantage of traveling over this layer of white with our backcountry skis.

A storm dropped a few inches of snow on Saturday March 9th. With clearing overnight, early Sunday we headed into our local area. The Lady and I played a big role in the creation of a marked ski & snowshoe trail out the ridge line south of Loon Reservoir called the Orion Trail.

Note: My friend Marcus Libkind authored several ski touring guide books. He was asked by his publisher to update the guidebooks with new editions. Instead, Marcus decided to offer his updated information for free through a website he created. Marcus is that kind of guy, incredibly generous.

The morning was wonderful as we skied east toward Brown Mountain. There was around six inches of new snow.

As we neared Brown Mountain the views opened up to the south and the northwest corner of Desolation Wilderness.

We skied up onto the west shoulder of Brown Mountain, a plug of columnar basalt.

The low pressure system had moved over the Sierra crest into the Great Basin. With the change in the wind direction as the low pressure passed, we had cloud build heading back over from the east.

We took a quick snack break after pulling on layers and looked back our route in.

As we ate I realized we had a confession to make.

We no longer use 3 pin ski bindings - the source of the name ski3pin. A year or so ago I mounted G3 cable bindings to our skis.

The temperatures were warm and the new snow was getting heavy. Although not fluffy cold powder, it was still very turnable as we cut teles down slope on our return. With most of the terrain downhill back to the trailhead, it did not take us long to get back to the car. The storm returned - wrapping around from the east - as we drove home.

We were back out to Loon two weeks later on Sunday March 24th. Cathy, the trailer woman, was along with us.

Another marked trail we helped create, mark, sign, and maintain is the Van Vleck Trail. This was our route today.

We were very pleased to see two back country ski patrollers at the trailhead, our friends Dave and Craig, going into service with our local interagency dispatch center for a day out patrolling.

This was very rewarding for the Lady and I because we helped with their intensive training to get them to patroller status. Good job you two!

The women were anxious to get going.

The Lady led the way on trails she knows so well.

Here is an idea of the snow depth with a covered campground vault CXT toilet.

The Van Vleck Trail took us south from the reservoir.

The trail climbs after crossing the South Fork of the Rubicon River.

We arrived at the Van Vleck Winter Storm Shelter. Here's a photo from February 2008.

With the incredible snowpack this season, we found the shelter completely buried.

The Lady & I went to work digging. My avalanche probe found the peak of the roof down about 3 feet. We continued down to reach the top of the high door that allows access to the inside with a bolted on ladder. We keep a stash of emergency supplies stashed inside - wool blankets, sleeping bags, MRE's.

Here is a photo from March 2009.

And one from several years ago of me with our friend, Marcus.

You may notice that the top of a CXT outhouse building was used for this shelter. It is tough, solid, and damn near indestructible.There is no vault underneath. It's affectionately known as, "The No Shit Shelter'.

Julie and Cathy argued a bit over who was tallest and pushed each other deeper into the snow.

I thought it was time to relax and illustrated how to accomplish it.

Cathy pulled a baggie of moose nuggets out of her pack, at least the Lady and I were pretty convinced, from all our experience in the Rocky Mountains, they were moose nuggets.

Cathy explained that they were chocolate covered espresso beans, very good for us, and a staple of her backcountry skiing diet.

The Lady led the way back down. The new rocket fuel may have been involved.

There was a few inches of wet slop on top of a buried breakable crust. The Lady and Cathy did not break through. I did, I weigh more, especially when weighting only one ski. A mistake and a lesson in basic science and inertia, as in once a skier is in motion he will remain in motion even when his ski is suddenly stopped. "Slapped down like a wet noodle," is the technical term we use. The snow was soft under the crust allowing me to go deep after punching through.

The women greatly enjoyed my sudden stops and subsequent burials but still treated me pretty darn well.

We had one final hill to climb before reaching the trailhead.

March moved aside for April. We received a few days without storms that, we hoped, may bring spring snow conditions. Sunday April 21st we headed out for a quick, longer ski tour.

Julie is always happiest when outside, especially when on skis.