Timmy K – Donner Lake Run:

“The Lake Run” is a classic backcountry run above Donner Lake. Timmy still finds some fresh after it hadn’t snowed in several weeks.

Ian N., lower Lake Run:

Nimmo, lower Lake Run.

The snowmobiles added a whole new dimension to serious winter exploring.

First, the snowmobiles were much more difficult to ride in deep snow than imagined. After watching a few Slednecks videos, we figured we’d be blasting to the top of steep pillow zones in no time. No such luck. Instead, the sleds were getting stuck all over the place, rolled down steep chutes, and bucking us off without mercy when we tried to double up hills. On two occasions, I was doubling on a sled that cross-rutted and rolled on a steep hill, bucking the driver and I off, and leaving us scrambling to prevent the snowmobile from rolling like a log to the bottom of the hill.

Hazen and his Ski-Doo 800, JP’s RMK 800 in the background:

Hazen and his 800 Ski-doo, with JP’s 800 Polaris in the background

Second, the sleds were machines, and required maintenance. Between Hazen, JP, Tyler and I, we had a limited basket of tools from which to work. Literally, a woven Easter-type basket served as our toolbox. And we had no garage. Hazen used a large multi-colored umbrella as his garage. Tyler and I used an old shed at my house, and left the ass-end of the sled hanging out into the elements. Unfortunately, the sled that Tyler and I had, a 2001 Polaris RMK 700, blew up the top end – the parts of the pistons on the exhaust side broke off. Over several nights in the shed, accompanied by freezing fingers and lots of cursing, we executed a rebuild.

The shed setup:

You can see the broken edge on the left-hand, close edge of the piston

When I did get out on the snowmobiles with Hazen and JP, I took some of the best runs of my life. Tahoe is much steeper than Alta and the terrain is much more technical, which makes for the type of skiing that can give you serious jollies. Next winter, with the sled situation more dialed in, I think Janky will be able to consistently access world-class skiing. Jollies forcast? An all time high.

Hazen dropped me off at the top of this chute in Blackwood, so tasty:

Hazen dropped me off at the top of this untracked line in Blackwood Canyon – so tasty.

Aside from the backcountry, I had some great inbounds days at Squaw and Alpine. There is lots to explore between the two ski areas and the accompanying side country.

Tyler S., atop a cornice on Squaw closing day 2013:

Tyler S., atop a cornice at Squaw, closing day 2013.

It’s June, and I couldn’t be more excited for my next Tahoe winter with Janky.

Scrappy Joe Young mid-flawless-noseblunt-cork 9

Jed Kravitz dropping in with heat and 12,000′ Mount Hood in the background.

Mount Hood sunset with Jed in fine form

One of Jed’s mint opposite tail cork 7s

Jed Kravitz again, rodeo 5 dub-nose. Perfect.

There’s some serious low-light grain action here, but Jed’s style was too good not to post this one

Treefort Lifestyles Jeff Curry getting laid out in a nutty cork 7

Crazy Karl Fostvedt in a perfect blunt 10

Rob Heule in an unnatural 180. Foreground foliage baby!

Hood loc-dog Drew Stew threw down all week with the grossest bic-ed head with a dread rat-tail out the back. Dude is gnarly.

Couldn’t have caught Drew at a better moment here. Go Colts eh?

Joey van der Meer cork 7 trailing tail

All in all it was one of the most amazing sessions to watch, and this was just one evening in a week full of insanity. Make sure you watch the videos here:  http://thewestcoastsession.com/video.html

Our next spot we were determined to build a step-up, regardless of build-time. JP standing at the top of the lip-

Timmy whistlin’ as he works.

The sun sets over 14,000 foot Shasta in fine form as our adventure here comes to a close.

The camper in full effect under the stars.

As soon as we finished our second jump session we packed everything up and drove through the night, sad to leave the beautiful Shasta Wilderness but gripped by excitement to discover what Mount Hood holds for us. More to come…

Enough has been made of the “bad winter” already. Yes, there wasn’t much snow, but hot shit on a shingle is skiing a good time! This winter proved beyond a doubt in my mind that you can’t have a bad season, because you can always enjoy it regardless of precipitation. People enjoy this sport all over the world because it is incredibly fun, and most would say that we live in one of the coolest areas in the world to ski and should have been grateful. Which is true. By the end of the season I had forgotten it all and simply had a blast skiing. I think the rest of the crew had forgotten too, judging by the video. Bring on the bad seasons now; I think I’m ready to just enjoy being on snow.

After surviving the never-ending salt flats we round the corner and see the Wasatch front still wrapped in clouds

A glimpse of the conditions:

Headed back to sunny Mount Tahoe!

Amidst an exploratory mission Hazen and JP decide get off the sleds and take a run down. Yes this is all one run with 4 well distinguished shelves of terrain. Well worth the hike out.

Looking on the zone I’m temporarily calling “Gnarzipan”:

Josh looking down some fun looking options

Standing on top of this chute (the one in the right third) was one of the scarier things I’ve done, I couldn’t really get near it without having skis on

The rock formations right across the canyon were totally different, and the chutes look mellow and fun

And of course there was some good sledding to be had. Josh getting after it: