by Alexandra Yannakos, Outpost contributor
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You will start toward the south. After half a mile, you will ski along a ridge. At that point, Tahoe is at your back, Tallac at your right and Fallen Leaf Lake on your left (see pictures below.) Follow the ridge for half a mile. You will gain approx. 500 of elevation. Then, cross through the trees on your right all the way to the bottom of Tallac's southwest face.
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Look what's ahead! |
First you will ski up (doing zig-zags unless you feel like skiing steep) through a wide naked bowl of snow. That will take a little more than 30 minutes and represents one third of the elevation of the face. It's the easy part of the ascent. The view over Lake Tahoe gets better at each step and keeps you motivated. The bowl will soon get flat and you can stop there, sit on a nice warm rock ..and have lunch! The challenging part is coming next, so make sure you get a good rest.
Ready for the steep section? At that point, the best thing to do is to fix your skis on your back-pack and walk up, helping yourself with the poles. The bowl gets more and more narrow and you end up in a couloir, having a nice rock-wall on your right. The face will get steeper and steeper (go straight up, not to close from the wall, small steps) until you have to choose a couloir to finish the face. The more left, the better. From the lunch spot to the top, you will need approx. an hour. This should make a total of 3.5 hours (including photo pauses, lunch etc...) from the bottom to the top.
Here are a few tips: first, start no late than 9am. That way, you will still be in the sun when skiing down (the snow on the top gets crusty and "bone-breaking" after just a few minutes in the shadow). Once you have reached the top of the face, you are not "officially" on the top of Mount Tallac. You still have to ski on the flat ridge to the north for an hour (the view is "aaaah"). But don't do it if you are in a hurry. You also have the option of going down on the other side, the north west face. You will get to Eagle Lake, where you can camp.
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Gear: That day we took our telemark-skis. Tele boots are comfortable and reliable enough for walking up the steep section.
We fixed regular "skins" under our skis, sized to fit them. Skins are long strips made of mohair or plastic that stick themselves easily on the skis and allow you to ski up a steep terrain.They let you glide forward but not backward.
Make sure that it is easy to attach your skis on the sides of your backpack (tips bound in "v" over your head). You can also attach it horizontally but your balance will not be as good.
Don't overload yourself (the descent is fast) but take a generous supply of water, an emergency kit and have fun!
Posted Apr. 13, 1998
Copyright 1998 Nevada Outpost
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