Andesite Peak Snowshoe

A snowy day in January meant that it was time to go snowshoeing.  Tons of fresh snow had just fallen.  My friend Kat and I went up to Boreal Ridge with our goal to get out and see all the new snow that was all over.  The snow was really deep, yet the snowshoes kept us afloat on the route heading up towards Castle and Andesite Peak.

Eagle Peak, Yosemite Falls Snowshoe

Yosemite is spectacular in winter.  Henry and I drove down early to the valley to go up the Yosemite Falls trail to Upper Yosemite Falls.  The trail had tons of ice so we had to hike up the edge of it.  The views on this trail are simply spectacular.  Upon reaching the rim we put on our snowshoes.  There was plenty of fresh powder from the previous few days.  

Final destination of Eagle Peak

From the top of the ridge the entire snow-covered valley sprawls out beneath you.  We continued on for several more miles until reaching Eagle Peak.  The views were incredible.  Not a footprint in sight as we had the north rim entirely to ourselves.

 We headed back down in a race against the sunset.  The Yosemite Falls trail was super slick, so we ended up going down much of it on our backside or on the more crunchy snow just off the trail.  Some microspikes would really help to get down this trail.  An absolutely awesome day!

Tunnel up to Badger Pass

Frozen Bridalveil Falls

Top of Yosemite Falls

Genoa Peak Hike

Tahoe's quieter east shore has some great hikes with terrific views of the lake.  Kyle and I went out to hike up to Genoa Peak from Kingsbury. With no snowshoes, I wasn't sure if we could make it the several miles north up the trail and then up to the summit. Thankfully the 4wd Genoa Pk Road wasn't super deep in snow so we could hike north, slightly passing the peak before we made a sharp right to begin heading straight up towards the summit.   

Soon thereafter we came above the treeline and were rewarded with big sweeping views of Tahoe behind us.  A few minutes later we were scrambling up to the rocky summit.  Genoa Peak offers some of the best views of any summit in Tahoe, and being on the East Side it sees much less visitors than peaks on the CA side.  A highly recommended day hike!

Ralston Snowshoe

This winter has been full of firsts.  The past few winters I simply stopped going to the high country when snow started.  This winter I was determined to continue exploring.  Snowshoes have been a great addition.  I would never even consider heading up on a day like today one year ago.  It had snowed heavily over the past couple of days, so fresh powder was going to be everywhere.  Henry and I headed up Hwy 50 to attempt Mount Ralston and see how far we could get

The morning was frigid and my water in my nalogene froze completely within the first half hour of hiking.  We headed straight up the mountain and at times caught glimpses of use trails which had been buried deep in snow.  The wind whipped all around us as we trudged upward without much in the terms of views.  As we approached the summit some of the clouds dispersed for just a few seconds revealing a few stunning views of Echo Lakes and the Tahoe Basin beneath us.  

 Our time on the summit was extremely short due to the extreme cold.  We were both eager to get off the windy ridge and find a spot farther down to grab a snack and some water.   A great day in the snow!

Mount Dana, Tioga Peak