Index		 Backcountry
Skiing
Overview
Previous

Slide		 Slide 2 Next

Slide

Trail Crest Pass, around 13,000' on Mt. Whitney, CA (4/84)

This is a remarkable photograph because this is the slope where I attempted my first telemark turns. I had rented gear and signed up for a spring break trip up Whitney with the University of California Hiking Club. It is much harder climbing Whitney in April than in the summer (took us 4 days round trip), but also much more beautiful with the snow. In the summer this is just a bowl of scree. The summer trail doesn't go up the slope you can see, but switchbacks up off to the left, passing through the notch on the far left side of the photo (Trail Crest Pass), where it continues past these pinnacles on the other side of the ridge.

This was taken on the way down late in the day. The person in this photo is Francois Guieres, a French exchange student. Francois didn't trust tele gear and elected to walk down carrying his skis.

I wan't too successful at my first telemark turns, falling down on nearly every one (you can't see my tracks in this photo, they are off to the left). On this trip I realized the telemark had potential, and would enable me to ski down slopes with a heavy pack on. After this trip I bought the skis and boots I had rented.