High Sierra Topix

I recently returned from a short but sweet ski trip into the Carson Pass area. The dates were Friday 4/20 till 4/23, and I skied in from two different locations. First from the Meiss Trailhead / Snowpark, which is less than a mile west of Carson Pass, and secondly, from on Carson Pass itself.

These locations are reached from Hwy 88, which is one of the least painful western roads in- meaning it is not endlessly winding like the Mineral King or Lake Edison roads). The wilderness permits can be picked up on the way in from the west at the Amador USFS office in the town of Pioneer. The area to the north of Hwy 88, entering from Meiss TH, requires no wilderness permit, but up until May 30, one needs the "Snowpark Pass" for both of these trailheads- ($5/day, $25/year)

The weather was worth waiting for. The skies were blue, but filled with amazing cloud formations, the air was warm, and mostly still, and the snow surface was fine for ski-touring about. The forests and meadows were great for touring, and the slopes above were just right for my sort of semi-controlled downhill turning. I got up everything I needed to with just "kicker-skins," and at no point did my untreated waxless bc touring skis ever load up with snow. Depending on time of day, there was a nice layer of between 1 to 4" of granular corn snow. The early mornings were still icy.

I arrived to the Carson Pass area via highways 50, 89, and then 88, after at least 7 hours of driving and messing about- I collected yet another set of skis and boots off Craigslist (will I never learn Maverick?), and I hunted fruitlessly for the Snowpark Pass. So I got a fairly late start, and it was in the beautiful, late afternoon light when I reached the top of the saddle, a mile or so northwest of Meiss TH. I thought to take a photo of Bear on the pass, and WTH!- dead battery in a new camera?! This, combined with the lack of the Snowpark Pass, convinced me to set up camp on the ridge just above the saddle, so I could ski out to sort out these missing details the next day. It worked out great, as this put me in the perfect place to view sunset and sunrise on my favorite peaks of Squaw Ridge- from Elephant Back through Round Top, and the Three Sisters, and over to the mountains around Kirkwood. It was nearly windless, and there was a lot of rocky ground to place a tent. The rest of this short trip can be told along with the pictures. I had a really fine time, and got to do some high route things I have had my eye on for some time. And Bear had a blast!



As you can see, much of the ridge running north west from the saddle has melted off. It is still possible to do a nearly 5 mile ski out to Little Round Top along this ridge.

Can anyone see the problem with my gear, aside from there being too much of it?

Yes, my wonderful new old leather boots, made in Italy, have their sole detached, as has happened to me so many times before (this is the 4th!) with the great deals I find on Craigslist. Luckily these boots came with a set of skis with 3-pin bindings, which effectively held the boot toe together, and I had brought a second set of skis and boots in case these didn't work out.

We had just a dusting of snow on Friday from these amazing clouds.

Far in the distance, above Bear are the peaks of the East Fork of the Carson, north and east of Ebbets Pass- "Silver Peak, "Raymond," et. al.

Round Top.

This is that geologically interesting, isolated ridge near KirKwood. I got the idea that the skiing on the north side of Squaw Ridge would be more extensive, and I began to entertain the idea of relocating my camp over there under Round Top.

The saddle sits on the main divide, separating the westbound waters of the Silver Fork of the American River, and the eastbound headwaters of the Truckee River which run first into Lake Tahoe, and finally to Pyramid Lake. Directly to the east is a spur off main divide that separates the waters of the Truckee from the West Fork of the Carson. As you can see, there is still a lot of nice high and low ski touring to be done on the Truckee River side. Little Round top is in the upper left, and the meadows along the Truckee (around 8000') are still deep enough to ski.

This is the view from up on Red Lake Peak (10,063'). Looking down into the West Fork Carson side, north to Lake Tahoe, and along the ridge over to Steven's Peak (10,059), where Bear and I hiked to next. This is nice 6-7 mile day hike from the saddle camp, with beautiful views.

This is the view from the first of the 2 rocky summits of Red Lake Peak. I climbed the lowest one first, so poor Bear had to be tied down a second time while I scaled the second peak. He is pretty used to this by now. See him standing below. A crew of tele skiers had been making good use of the eastern slopes off this mountain- SNOOOW, were those your tracks?

This is the view south at Squaw Ridge and Round Top. Beyond that ridge is the watershed of the North Fork of the Mokelumne River. The cliffs on the east side of Round Top were inviting. I have wanted to check out a possible high route pass at the eastern foot of Round Top, and just to get up under those cliffs for a look up at them. That is another reason I decided to ski in from C. Pass, and move camp to Winnemucca Lake.
I will create a 2nd Part to this Trip Report soon. Thanks to SNOOOW for the inspiration to get out there, it really is great country around Carson.







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The dog was waxless, too, I trust. Very few dogs like the hassles of waxing.

Sweet report. I'm not a skier, but I've spent a fair amount of time up in that area. Nice to see what it's looking like up there. Thanks for the report.

Bear gets in great shape on our ski trips, as for once, I am the faster. After moving across to the Carson Pass TH, and skiing in to Winnemucca Lake, Bear was in for it, as everything was pretty steep up from there, with fast ski descents back to camp. Our final day was a tour up into the steep and nearly un-traveled basin below Round Top's eastern cliffs, then fast back down- that is, fast for an old guy with crappy gear, but still faster than a running dog. And from there, we circled around to the pass between Round Top's west side, and the Three Sisters. I dropped the skis and put on mountaineering boots, and we kicked steps up from there. Most of the south side of Round Top has melted away, so we just summer climbed up through talus.




There is a really nice forest above Carson Pass on the route to Winnemucca Lake. This is a huge specimen of western white pine, (p. monticola) and there are a lot of beautiful mountain hemlock trees too.

On the other hand, where the land flattens out and the plants are blasted by the wind, you find these bonzai sagebrush gardens- or graveyards, depending on your perspective. This amazing specimen was only 4-5" above the ground, yet had a trunk diameter of not less than 6"!

In more sheltered areas of the same slope rabbitbrush like this one were in full health.

What is this
plant Bill?

Bear waking up in the new camp above Winnemucca Lake. No tent, so he slept right under the open bag with me. I like the smell of dog Daisy!





Round Top Mountain in the morning. Winnemucca Lake was still well frozen, though I chose not to ski across it this time.

This is the view north from the ridge above the high basin under Round Top's cliffs. The low saddle above the Truckee is in the middle, Red Lake Peak is to the right, and the soft ridge leading out to Little Round Top begins with the slope on the left side of the saddle.... *will someone please tell me if the farthest mountains are in fact the Crystal Range above Echo Summit. What are some of the prominent peaks seen here? Is it "Dicks" and "Jacks" to the right? Which is Pyramid Peak if it's in there? Thanks.

Round Top from the north east. The pass I was interested in is seen at the extreme left edge of the frame. It has a nasty rock band, and is steeper (40-50+) than I thought. Other than the talus slopes, the bedrock formation of Round Top is quite stable, and good for free climbing.


Not avalanche debris, just a mass of "rollers." Signs of wet snow avalanche potential though. None of these were recent deposits. We never felt any avie risk on this trip.



Bear about to climb the south side of Round Top.
We went up the gully at the left, which made the climb harder than necessary. We found the easier route on the descent, at the western side of the peak above the highest snowfield.



View east from near the top, the true summit is at the left. I left Bear tied down at the false summit while I traversed over. It's an easy mountain to climb, but I never take excessive risks with our dogs. He certainly doesn't care if he's on the true summit- neither one of us cares to sign in. I think the farthest mountains in the distance, just left of center, are the "Sweetwaters."

View east, down on the nice cliffs basin where we spent the morning.

Bear in the distance, waiting patiently for me to return. Luckily, Bear never gets anxious during these waits, even when I am out of sight.

Bear with the Sisters behind him, about to race me down, and lose badly. He wipes me out on the uphills, look at that smile!

That is a really nice western white pine. Round Top Lake and Winnemucca Lake have a large number of stunted (Krumholtz) Whitebark Pines. In the summer I have never seen as many Clarks Nutcrackers in one place anywhere in the Sierra. Clarks Nutcrackers almost exclusively eat White Bark Pine seeds and are the primary dispersement mechanism of these wingless seeds. I love watching these loud birds do their thing. They get up at dawn and are very loud. I call them the roosters of the high Sierra.

Awesome Harlen makes me want to go do round top again! I still need/want to go to little round top! That Kirkwood basin or whatever you call it is amazing. Will have to look at my pictures but pretty sure that is Tallac/dick/jacks and pyramid on the left but need to check for sure.

I see that you and the dog roped up toward the top. Who was leading and who was belaying?

You could get that dog some Microspikes, but I don't know how you would keep them on.

I've seen some mountaineers treat their dogs right with dog booties that have a few Microspikes on the bottom.

Dogs have built-in micro-spikes! I do not think spring snow hurts dog's paws if they are used to it. Of course, each dog is a unique case. Different story if it were mid-winter. This trip looks like it had plenty of dry ground to camp on. We always take booties for our dog, but her paws have become pretty tough, so the booties are only for emergency if she cuts a paw. We have actually never used them.

Interesting story- way back in 2001, my husband and I were camped at the head of Bull Lake Creek (Wyoming), right under Blaurock Pass, which was covered in steep snow. We had stopped because it was storming, and we looked up at the pass, and there were two people, wrapped in something (their tent fly), blobs from our distance, working their way down, with a small speck following them! When they reached us, they said they had needed crampons, but the dog (the speck) did not need any - he did fine with claws. They were the first people we had met in nearly a week and were basically reversing the 12-day loop we were doing.

I have climbed in the Carson Pass area in later spring- nice snow gullies. You ought to go down to 4th of July Lake. It is pretty nice too. I have also dropped all the way to Summit City Creek but when the melt is on, the water is so high that I could not cross to continue down to the Mokolumne. Also have poked around upstream on Summit Creek. Actually pretty rough country.

I was not aware that they kept this road open year round. So is entire 88 open all year now?

Highway 88 has always been a year round highway. It's always the last to reopen after a big storm and is sometimes closed for a day or more. People gotta get to Kirkwood Meadows for their skiing. The Mormon Emigrant trail road does close for the winter. That's a short cut connector between highway 50 and 88 that us Sacramento area people use as the fastest way to beautiful Carson Pass. When that snow melts that area also has one of the best wildflower displays in the Sierra.