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Went to Dick's on Saturday through the eagle falls canyon. nice ski tour on any kind of skis back here. This shot is looking back towards the west end of Jake's.


View across Dick's Lake towards the peak. Dick's Pass is out of view to the left of the pic. The easiest way to ski Dick's is probably following the summer trail from Eagle Falls, but it's a lot of distance to just ski Dick's Peak itself. It is definately worth it if you are into all the other stuff like views, exercise, and conversations with friends. If you want the ski decents to be as epic as the views, start really early and try to motor around a bit more while you're out there. Getting to the summit from bayview or eagle falls trailhead takes about 4-5 hours for the average enthusiast.


View south from the top. From left to right: Pyramid, Jack's, and Price.








Below the Janine Ridge. I think this is Tallac Lake. Sweet spot.


above the south end of Azure Lake. We went out Cascade Drainage, which can take some time and effort. We hitch hiked back to the car left at the avy gate closure.



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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[tomatoskier]

Sort of a follow-up, at least conditions-wise, to Mike's recent tour 12 days ago. I spent four days camped
south of Azure Lake in Desolation and toured around Dick's Lake mostly. Really nice weather, tough slog in though on
first day due to idiotic late start (10:00 am).

This pic is of my descent of Dick's N-NE face. Nice lines on looker's left are leftover from Mike & crew's powder run. I was up
there fairly early, got to middle of face and bailed on going to top since I wasn't wild about the conditions
(3-4 inches of chalk on top of ice). Traversed down until I found some decent corn - should have skied the south side (um ... yeah).
Good times from here down to Dick's Lake.



View of considerable avie on east face of ridge leading northwest from Dick's.



Close-up of same avie path. Doesn't seem like it in photo but crown was at least 6 ft. Appears to have released off of old early-January layer.



Earlier shot taken of Dick's Lake area, from Janine's Ridge while moving toward's Dick's Peak.
Later in the day I skied up to the saddle heading to looker's left. Great mellow corn runs on east-facing slopes, great views of
western Desolation.



View from saddle on Dick's north ridge towards Crystal Range. Still in amazing shape.



Parting shot is Jack's Peak from eastern notch below Dick's Peak. 6-7 days of 20 degrees above-normal temps and still
looking pretty good.


FYI: Exit over Maggie's to Bayview Campground still has decent snow to the gate.
_________________
It is not enough to fight for pale ale; it is even more important to enjoy it. (Edward Abbey, paraphrased)

[backcountry]

Thanks for the pics. I'm (stuck) in Florida and can't wait to go skiing again. Spring Tahoe BC skiing is here. I hope everyone goes before it's too late.
_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[backcountry]

Trying for Jack's Peak area, we got stopped by rock hard snow and high wind at Dick's Col. I'll have to look up col in the dictionary. Above the pass, below the peak, where you can go through.

We ended up being very suprised to find wind textured boot deep powder almost the whole way back to the car on north exposures.




























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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[deub]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the online guidebook, a great source of info for this tour!

Started and ended at Spring Creek trailhead. From Tallac, wasn't able to traverse the ridge to Dicks without taking my skis off more then a few times. With current conditions, a better option would be to head down to down to Half Moon Lake then start for Dicks? I was solo and without boot crampons, so I avoided what a appeared to be a tricky Dick's summit. I did see a boot tracks towards the summit and 3 snowboarders ski the northEast facing slope, so it is doable. I'm not sure how they got up there since I didn't see them ascend when coming from Tallac, any ideas? After enjoying Dick's south facing corn, It was a treat to refill my bottles with the water coming off the rocks just above Half Moon Lake. A full day, for me it was 7am at trailhead and 4pm back at car.

[backcountry]

I did it from Tallac one time, and it wasn't as easy as Bayview going out. If you go from Tallac, you really should drop down to Half Moon Lake to avoid the up and down along the connecting ridge.

Coming back from Dick's to Bayview however will have you climbing that extra vert. It's way too long to go back without skiing anything else, you'll want to ski Janine and Maggies.

Right now the top of Dick's south side is burned off, and steep loose rock. You can skin with crampons or boot up the northeast side, and pop over onto the south side corn run a few hundred feet below the summit.
_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[deub]

[backcountry]

Went to Dick's yesterday, wed 1/7/09. Kind of wordy here, I'm hoping to motivate some people to get back there if they haven't.

Awsome snow conditions if you time it right out there right now. I skied the south side from the summit down to Half Moon Lake, feeling out the snow and being careful of course...it ain't consolidated corn, but it feels like it on south exposures right now. Basic clues for beginners are:
if you see rollerballs and/or if you can stick your ski pole basket right throught the snow easily, the slope is close to falling apart. Don't get in a wet slide please because you saw this post. A few more skiers and we could have gotten some snow moving perhaps. Wet slides will flush you down the mountain just the same as cold snow slab avalanches.

Then I found some nice powder amazingly on north exposures in spots above 8000'. The melt freeze crust from that warm spell we had apparently wasn't too bad.

Desolation Wilderness is covered well with snow. Certainly enough to go where you want. Stay away from covered boulders and bases of trees, they aren't covered that well and the snow is faceted (sugar snow). Worst case is triggering a slide or getting hurt. Best case is wrecking your skis. Backcountry skiing is really good right now, but be pick your route careful and ski slower than normal.

I went up Cascade Drainage, not sure where I was aiming for yet. I popped up on the ridge inbetween Tallac and Janine's/Dick's in about 2 hours. This is NOT the best way to Dick's, although it seems like it when you do this first half of the route. You are certainly travelling in more seroius avlanche terrain going this way too, compared to the relatively safe Bayview/Eagle Falls Trailhead routes out to Dicks' Peak.

The second half along this long ridge is very inefficient. A jumble of rocky terrain to wreck your skis and frustrate you with post holing. As usual, I dealt with it when I should have just dropped down to Half Moon Lake and climbed up from there. Took me a little over 4 hours to get to Dick's summit. I wasn't racing, but you should expect longer on this route with a group.

Dick's is on the right, Jack's is on the left. This is the south side of Dick's, rarely skiable from the summit due to snow melting and/or blowing off up high.


I didn't skin up the south side fearing wet slide danger, and crossed over to the north side at the gap. Snow was wind hardened over there and booting was easier than skinning. It's not as steep as it looks on the true north side, the east ridge is what is intimidating looking.


Jack's Peak in the forground, Pyramid Peak on the left.


Looking back at the Lake from Dick's Summit. West side of Tallac over on the right. The two little treed bumps left of center is Maggie's Peaks. This is a good way to get to Dicks', threading through them over the actual Bayview summer Trail.








Going back from Dick's can be really good, or a total turnless, schlog if you don't think it through. I usually climb back up to the Janine Ridge and pick out a good ski descent to Azure Lake. From there you can go back up to Maggies if you have water and energy, or schlog out Cascade Drainage. Anyway you cut it, you're gonna be tired, thirsty, and hungry. If you do go out that far, start really early and choose your partners wisely. Nothing new in that advice obviously.

This is the view halfway back, from the summit of Janine's Ridge. Not called that on the map, I just adopted the name in the summit register a hiker called the peak a long time ago, after a friend who passed. No story known. Sounds like a good name to me. There is definately a summit along this ridge worth calling something. Azure Lake is down on the left. This lake is really beautiful the way it's tucked down so deeply with granite cliffs around it. A worthy adventure just to get there via snowshoes or skis.



_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[David Belden]

Mike,
Thinking about coming up for a day trip on Sunday, as I've gotta get in shape for a week of skinning in BC in Feb. What would you suggest for this weekend? We were thinking Tallac, but I'm open to suggestions give that you've been in the backcountry much more than I recently!

Thanks!
David

[backcountry]

Right now the best skiing is on south facing terrain if you time it right and be careful about it, as it's not consolidated beyond the top few inches. Avy danger is low, but south facing slopes can get disturbed into a wet slide quite easily if it gets warm enough.

North facing snow is firm but wintery in many places.

Views from Mt. Tallac are so awsome, it doesn't matter what the snow conditions are like to have a great day.
_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[David Belden]

Mike, thanks for the recommendation. We had a gorgeous day on Tallac on Sunday. Perfect weather, great friends, and gorgeous views. But the snow was a little desperate. Great fun none the less. Hopefully I'll post the best pic or two from our trip once I get them on my pc.

-David

[Sundog]

Mike,

Dave's last reply to you describing "desperate" skiing at Tallac has me wondering what else would be a good choice for a one-day bc adventure this weekend (MLK Day weekend). I'd be by myself so that's a big consideration. Thanks for any advice you could provide.

Sundog

[backcountry]

although thin, backcountry skiing is all time right now. safe, sunny, warm. What else do you need? Snow is soft enough on all aspects.

Don't expect much snow on west as usual.

South facing slopes are a bit tracked out and thin at the bottom unless you go into desolation.

North facing slopes will suprise you with winter snow and not too much crust right now (not sure about next weekend).

East slopes have great corn on a supportable crust all day if there isn't wind.

If you aren't comfortable guessing on conditions based on current forcasts of wind, sun, temp, etc... email me the day before you go and I'll do my best to give you some advice.
_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[hardboiled]

Skied Dick's, Janine's and Maggie's on Saturday. From the looks of the board people were getting after it all over the place, but we only saw one other group all day, on their way to Janine's.

As expected, Dick's north face was variable, held some pow, some wind affected crust and semi bulletproof snow in the little chute I skied off the summit. Janine's and Maggie's held fantastic low density pow. Here are a few pics from the trip out to Dick's.

Kalmia peaklet, on the ridge from Tallac to Janine's--the skinny little chute near the top was pretty bony but looked like it would be fun with a bit more snow:


It was my first time back here and the terrain did not disappoint. We skied a nice steep shot off the top of Janines, left of center in this pic. Still holding amazing snow all the way down to Azzure lake.


I messed up my camera settings on the next few pics, they're pretty washed out but I tried to salvage them. Crossing Dick's lake with Dick's looming above:


Looking south from the summit to Jack's, Pyramid, Price:


Dropping in off the summit:


No pics from here as we had to start hustling. Our final pow turns on Maggie's were lit by headlamps and the starry sky. What a day!

[backcountry]

Here's today's adventure through Eagle Creek Canyon, Skiing Dick's, Janine, and Eagle Creek Drainage.

Conditions were fantastic on north exposure below about 9000'. Wind textured powder with crust inbetween that was easily avoidable if you look for it. Then about 8" of dry faceted surface snow in the Eagle Creek Canyon.

Snow depths are okay up high, but hurting down low.

I haven't skied on the north side of Eagle Lake, but it looks like really cool terrain when it gets covered better.


We started skinning at 7:45am. Yes, the picture at the bottom is us returning in the dark, not starting in the dark. It was such a nice day, we were so psyched to be out there we didn't race back.

Ice climbing on the small wall at the end of Eagle Lake looked pretty thin. We saw some really cool ice flows of about 80' on average, up the Eagle Creek Canyon, above Eagle Lake. They looked pretty thin too.











































_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[divisadero]

Cross-posted from TGR: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155453

Date: 3/20/09

Skiers: madturtle, divisadero

Location: Desolation Wilderness

Route: Bayview Trailhead-->Maggie's clevage --> Dicks (via Dicks Lake) --> Jacks --> Tallac (via Half Moon Lake and Gilmore Lake) --> Spring Creek Road & 89 --> Bayview Trailhead (via kindhearted hitchhiker picker-uppers)

Timing: Bayview Trailhead: 6:45 a.m.; Dick's: 11:30 a.m.; Jacks: 1 p.m.; Tallac: 5 p.m.; Car: 6:30 p.m.

Distance and Vert: 12+ miles & 6000'+ vert (according to my topo software)

Good Photos: madturtle

Crappy Photos: divisadero

(1) Topo of our route:



STAGE 1: DICKS PEAK

(2) Obligatory goofy trailhead photo.


(3) Looking back through Maggies at the big blue lake.


(4) Madturtle powers on with Jeanine's (?) in the background.


(5) Divisadero boots up the saddle in a stupid but utilitarian hat.



(6) Divisadero ready to ski off Dicks summit.


(7) Jacks in the foreground; Pyramid and Agazzis in the background.


( Divisadero.




(9) Madturtle.





STAGE 2: JACKS PEAK

(10) More skinning. (Jacks in the background.)


(11) Left to Right: Pyramid, Agazzis, Price. (This would also make another nice Desolation trifecta trip.)


(12) Dicks Peak.


(13) Angora and Echo on the left; Cracked Crag on the right.


(14) Madturtle.






(15) Divisadero.






(16) Jacks lower north-facing bowl. We descended the skier's left part of the bowl.


(17) Looking up from Half Moon Lake at the many, many options offered on the lower half of Jacks.
[url][/url]

[divisadero]

STAGE 3: TALLAC

(1 Extreme skinning!



(19) I will ski Cracked Crag at some point. (But I won't provide a photo because Picasa blows.)

(20) [URL="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153886"]Hall of the Gods[/URL], looking sexy.


(21) The last skinning of the day.


(22) From once we came: Jacks in the center left; Dicks in the center right.


(23) Madturtle coming down the North Bowl of Tallac. Sadly, these were the best conditions we had on Tallac. We had wanted to hit the top of the Cross, but it had spent too long in the shade after a warm day and was literally rock hard.


(24) That was probably my best turn on Tallac.


(25) Madturtle drops into the (skier's) left arm of the Cross. The first two turns were sludge, the next 15 turns were boilerplate, and the last 60 turns were character-building breakable crust. Yep, that comes out to about 3000' vertical feet of contiguous survival turns. We probably should have gotten there a couple hours earlier at 3 p.m. to get decent snow.



(26) Catching a ride back to my ride. (Thanks benevolent Taco drivers!)



BONUS STAGE

After 3000 vertical feet of character-building snow down Tallac on Friday and half a day of in-bounds character-building snow at Kirkwood on Saturday (thank god we had the comp to keep us entertained), Ullr rewarded our well-developed characters with about 30" of light, dry, overnight snow and a closed Carson Spur on Sunday. I was generally too excited to take photos, but here are a couple that we managed to take on the last run of the day. Mind you, every run on Sunday was like this:

dhelihiker


divisadero

[backcountry]

great tour guys. thanks for getting me psyched on our deso coverage too, I've been out of town.

those bluebird, wind hardened days let you move fast and are just as memorable as the pow days eh? (just went to canada) Then you say "you betcha".
_________________
Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net