This was my first weekend in over a month where it wasn’t completely planned out and I didn’t have to leave Tahoe. It started off with my friend Lauren’s Texas Hoedown themed birthday party. People dressed the part and there was even a rodeo bike that bucked you when you rode it.
The police broke up the party and we headed elsewhere at 10 pm – we went home since I wanted to get up at 5:30 AM to meet Tim and ski down off Tioga Pass on the border of Yosemite.
We hiked up Mt. Dana with the goal of skiing either Solstice or Dana Couloirs – depending on snow conditions. The 3,000 vert hike was a little difficult with crunchy snow, but we got to the top of Solstice at the perfect time.
The east-facing couloir was looking perfectly soft and we beat the other people looking to ski it by 5 minutes earning the honors of dropping it first… what luck. I dropped in first and it was steep and perfect. The view down to Glacier Canyon and Mono Lake was unreal.
Tim dropped in next. We were pumped about what we just skied and still had another 1,000+ vertical of perfect Sierra corn.
When we got down to the lakes, it is a little hike to get up to Ellery Bowl, but within a beautiful and strange setting.
At the top of Ellery Bowl, we saw some crazy people hiking without shirts on and sitting under cornices – it was difficult for me to watch, but they managed to reach the top without incident. We had some lunch and then hooted and hollered down the last 2,500 vertical to our car parked at the Ellery Lake dam.
4,500 vertical of skiing for June 25th… not bad! It seriously looks like May down there. Here is a little video:
We returned to our favorite campsite in one of our favorite canyons and went for a swim and played some campground games. It was summer down at 7,500 feet.
The next morning I made the easy 2 hr drive and headed back up to Tahoe to demo paddleboards with Pat and some friends and then hit up the beach before ending the weekend at a friend’s birthday BBQ. Summer fun on the weekends!
Meghan Kelly Teles! 