To save time and get a good rest, Jennifer graciously allowed me to stay at her place in Nevada City. She was a great host and I do look forward to returning to that quaint little town.
To get the Bradly Hut, the approach requires just less than 5 miles of trail with roughly 1200 feet of elevation gain. We took our time and enjoyed the fresh Sierra air, the ample snow pack and mellow incline. We stopped for lunch and I set the camera on a timer and tried to take off my hat, but wasn't quick enough.
It didn't take us too much longer to get to the hut and we arrived to meet a cool European couple, Paola and Torsten. I talked them into putting down their books from reading in the sun and following the trail of the others who were out on a ski tour to the ridge above the hut. It was certainly all smiles from everbody on the way up!
The gipfel (summit) is near!
At the top of this ridge we all posed for the usual summit pose, aided by the timer.
And of course I posed for a cheesy mountaineer pose, made famous from my trip to Austria.
The panorama of Lake Tahoe was spectacular, I don't think even a 180 degree shot can contain it all.
I always love playing around in the snow and examining the trees, this time was no different. Yu, a friend of Chaincys' helped me dig a deep hole next to this cluster in a desperate attempt to find regeneration of young trees on the leeward side of this cluster afforestation. We dug perhaps 8 feet down to find no trees- it was pretty much bottomless!
Since I putzed so long up on the ridge, clouds came and froze the wonderful corn snow we had anticipated on cruising down. As a result, the ski back down to the hut turned into "survival skiing" (as observed by Yu). It was so nice to get back into the Bradley Hut which was stocked with so many comforts, including a stew that was marinating for most of the day. I brought some weissbeirs (hefeweizen wheat beer) which brought much applause and were crushed real quick. If there was anything I would change about our weekend tour it would be to bring twice as much beer or wine! I reckon the others would agree with me too. There certainly was no shortage of good food this trip, myself and everyone else certainly know how to eat when in the mountains!
After sleeping in on Easter Sunday a bit, I awoke extremely refreshed and rested, albeit a bit sore. Chaincy cooked some delicious quesadillas, which we all enjoyed. Then, Yu, Victor and myself embarked to climb to a different ridge than the day before. Victor is colleague of Chaincy, a real dude that seemed to believe I'd eat anything given to me and climb while carrying him on my back. He was of course European, and a capable skier, when going downhill that is (-;
On the way up I wanted to take a good photo of this huge cornice, but went too high for a good perspective. You can't quite tell, but that cornice is 50 feet or more deep, deep enough to build a snow palace!
I continued upwards by following the backside of this knob. A bit of scrambling and some exposure (there was a 150 foot sheer face to one side!) got me to the top.
The saddle next to the knob to my right is where we skinned up to next. From my high vantage point I could yell down to Victor, see if you can find him:
Victor certainly found the best snowfield to ski down. It was candy-coated in a sugar frosting that left me with aching teeth from smiling too much into the wind. I love it when linking tele-turns makes my teeth ache like good mint chocolate chip ice cream (-:
Up on the ridge was full of apple-eaters!
Chaincy had a totally sweet sled set-up to drag her gear up, I was a bit envious and had to snap a photo so I can build my own. Sleds can be such efficient mechanisms for carrying gear.
It was quite sad to leave the Bradely Hut behind, we all such a great time. From left to right: Victor, Eric, Torsten, Paola, Chaincy and Yu. Behind the camera was Jennifer B. Check that solar panel on the hütte, sick!
Yet again the mountains out here keep my heart beating ever stronger.
1 comment:
you sure did get a hell of adventure over that mountain, by the way if you were planning to visit others sites as well, might as well visiting Alpine meadows, they had has some killer deals on next years season passes and we are just trying to get the word out to everyone to take advantage of it before it expires on May 31st. Season passes start from just $299, check it out if you are interested. Though this is a bit shameless, you have to admit that the pricing is pretty good.
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