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Check older Mt. Tallac posts on this forum for more beta. I started a new one because they were getting kind of slow to load, thanks to all your Trip reports. We appreciate your participation in this fun and informative forum! If you are a regular poster, don't be afraid to ask for a super deal on something in the store by email!
Skied Tallac on tuesday and found some good corn snow in spots as expected on the south side, probably ideal around 11am. Most other aspects were breakable. North facing slopes under tree cover have lost their crust however from the cooling of the snow. Cool tidbit learned in ASI's AVY II last week. When the snow turns back to powder on top unexpectedly is snow's cooling effects winning over the sun's short wave radation.
Sun/rain crust melts at a certain point right now around mid-day, but you're not going to hit that window on all slopes. Be careful out there and don't hurt yourself. Embrace the snow plow, no one is looking.
We parked just a few hundred yards away from the old dead end. I take back everything I said about USFS and TRPA blowing off winter recreation parking needs. Remember to bring a sno park permit now for Spring Creek Road. Park between the signs, and don't be suprised if the spots are all taken when you get there at the crack of noon. We only saw 2-3 other cars on this day.
Snow depth is not as deep as you would expect, but plenty to go where you want. People have been killed climbing and descending near these cliffs. If you are new to Tallac, be sure to find the treeless gully after skiing the bowl, by going way skier's left. Or go down the ridge you came up.
breakable crust in the bowl
Not enough snow to skin to the summit. Or bring your rock skis perhaps. Desolation Wilderness is sick! Kind of sad I'm finally getting up to see it for the first time this season now, but better late than never.
Looking south from the summit at Echo Peak and the Indian Cliff Chutes.
One or two people skied the cross on the south facing entrance. Probably not enough snow anymore to do this. The north facing entrance would be tough to get into without more snow.
Getting into the north bowl from the top is really boney too, but not impossible.
We skied this run called Cathedral Bowl. more of a wide chute, with both east and south in it. This is a tricky run to time. First of all, you want to avoid a similair looking east facing chute just up the hill. Cathedral bowl is the 3rd major opportunity descending down the south ramp from the summit. First is the Cross, which many skiers won't' even identify as a possibility. Then a steep east facing, rocky chute that looks more possible with enough snow (never done this one), then Cathedral bowl maybe 700' below the summit.
There is definately no consolidation of the snowpack this early in the season, just a suppotable sun or rain crust for a brief moment. Narrower runs or sides of slopes near rocks have some safety as the melt freeze occurs more dramatically, condensing the snow a little better in the shallower areas. Rocks lurk beneath however, and you can really get hurt if the snow gets too warm to support you. On this slope, the shade line was well past the breakable crust.
Wet slides are entirely possible in the heat of the day right now too. Don't hang out where snow or rocks can come down on you if you go look for corn snow. Again, it ain't springtime.
I have other pics of this south side of Tallac, on previous Tallac message board posts. There are some other really sweet narrow chutes up there. The chutes that drop from Tallac's South Ridge are rarely skied however, outside of The Cross, and Cathedral Bowl. They have no north or south in them for soft snow potential, and are avy prone from wind deposit, or wind hardened/breakable crust for the most part.
The other trick to skiing the south side is getting back. You can leave a car at the west end of Fallen Leaf Lake Road and ski all the way down the south side, but this is not advised unless you know the snow reaches the bottom. This requires a TON of snow, and it's a long silly car shuttle drive if you ask me. Instead, you have to traverse all the way back around to the front (east) side of Tallac. This involves moments of side-stepping up the hill (no skins required), but offers a few moments of down hill turns as well. You really need either a GPS and map, or a local to show you the route back. If you don't have a good track to follow, you can't lose by just trying to resist losing any altitude until you find all the tracks beneath sweat hill, where you started.
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