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Lan and I snowshoed at Northstar-at-Tahoe.
We were originally going to snowshoe at Royal Gorge. Unfortunately,
westbound I-80 was closed on the Reno side of Donner Summit, leaving
us stuck for an indefinite amount of time while they cleared some
accidents. We decided to head to Northstar.
The previous day had been perfect conditions -- clear blue sky,
a bit windy, but not enough to chill us. This day, however, was
different. A storm had been predicted to come in overnight and
be finished by morning. Unfortunately, the storm took its sweet
time coming. It finally started dumping snow in the morning, and
it was still snowing when we started at 1pm.
This was my first time snowshoeing with my own equipment -- new
Atlas 1022 snowshoes and new trekking poles. My first mistake
was not having everything ready. I took a few minutes as I laced
up one of the shoes and prepared my trekking poles. I even put
a snowshoe on the wrong foot at first. It's not good to be fumbling
with your equipment with your gloves off in freezing temperatures.
Eventually, I got everything ready and we headed up the Fall Line
trail. The trail is part of the Northstar Cross-Country, Telemark,
and Snowshoe Center. It shares facilities with the downhill area.
In fact, we had to take the gondola ride up to the start of the
trail.
While others were zipping down the mountain on skis and snowboards,
we were hoofing it up along an almost empty trail. We saw two
or three x-country skiers the whole time, and no other snowshoers.
The first problem that became very apparent was that I kept hitting
the backs of my snowshoes against each other. I walk with a slight
angle to my feet (okay, like a duck), and this was a problem.
I had to slightly adjust my foot placement to make it not happen.
The other problem was that I kept kicking snow up at my calves.
As we sank at least 3-4 inches into fresh powder, snow seeped
up onto my shoe platforms, and then was thrown up at the back
of my leg as I lifted each foot. Lan had a similar problem with
her Redfeather snowshoes, but seemingly to a lesser degree.
I find snow hanging on trees irresistible -- I just have to knock
some of it off. Early on the trail, I was gleefully doing this
with my trekking pole when I suddenly realized the cup was missing
from the end of one of them. Lan laughed at me as I retraced my
steps and discovered that I must have lost it while whacking the
tree. I scooped through piles of snow on the ground before she
finally found it -- lodged inside the tree.
We continued underneath the Echo Triple Chair lift, along the
flat Sawmill Flat trail. Soon we came to an intersection and turned
right up the Roundabout trail. The rest of the trail (up to the
halfway point) was up, up, up. I'd hate to cross-country ski this
trail. But we were snowshoeing, so we could enjoy the scenery.
Some trees slumped forward under the weight of the snow on their
shoulders. They looked like they were praying or at least stooping
over the trail, looking at us. The snow continued to fall, but
lightly, and we could see patches of blue sky here and there.
Another section of trees reminded me of the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.
Snow Hoodoos
We continued on up the High Country trail. Breaking trail in fresh
powder can be tough work. I sometimes slipped behind and walked
over Lan's tracks. It was interesting to see on the way back.
Most of the way there were our two parallel tracks. But in this
one section, there was just one. It was if I could tread so lightly
as to not make a dent in the snow. =)
The trail was never very steep, but it was constantly on the rise.
The High Country trail is supposed to be a loop. But soon we found
ourselves face to face with the top of the Vista Express Quad
Chair lift, and no loop in sight. We slogged past the "Do Not
Enter" signs (facing the opposite direction) and tried to find
the rest of the trail, but to no avail. I suspect that the grooming
machine operator decided no one was going to use the trail today,
and didn't finish the loop. Either that or the map is simply wrong.
We went back to the trail and started the descent. Along the way
I had fleeting glances of Lake Tahoe through the trees. It was
nice to see, but not nearly as nice as the view from the Tahoe
trail, further along the cross-country trails (I'd skied out there
the previous day).
The skies started to clear up even more. At times it looked completely
blue directly above us, and yet the snow still fell on us. Unfortunately
for us, it landed on our hiking boots and never left. As we were
descending we started to notice that our boots weren't as waterproof
as we would like. The snow had melted into liquid and had permeated
our boots, soaking our socks and chilling our feet. Gaiters and
more waterproofing are a must next time.
Before we knew it, we were back at the downhill area, back to
civilization. As Lan walked to the cross-country center to return
her rental snowshoes, I stood by a bench and started to put my
gear away. Some of the snow that had landed on my snowshoes had
turned to ice. Some of my snowshoe buckles were encrusted in ice,
requiring a fair amount of force to open. Eventually I had them
off, though, and we headed back down the gondola, back to the
car to warm our feet.
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