November 6, 2004
Flagpole Peak - Run to the Hills
Joe, Chris, Toby, Buddy
Flagpole Peak from downtown Meyers - November 6, 2004. Our descent was through the northeast facing trees to the right of the summit.
Keeping the epic early season dream alive, Chris, Toby, Buddy and myself decided to try one of the backyard favorites - Flagpole Peak. Although Toby and I had made several visits to Waterhouse and Powderhouse over the last few weeks, this would be our first descent down to the valley floor (6,500'). It would also be Chris's first real outing of the year. We set up plans to meet in Meyers around 6:30 AM on Saturday.
I picked up Toby and Buddy at their house, gathered gear, scrambled not to wake his family, and finally met Chris at Chevron near 7:00 AM. Chris met us with a WTF look as we pulled in about 30 minutes behind him. Toby and I live less than 5 minutes from the Chevron, Chris lives over an hour from Meyers, and he still beat us by 30 minutes. After 4 months of hot and dry weather, the dude was itching for some turns, so we couldn't blame him. After Toby had a coffee in hand, we headed to North Upper Truckee, then onto the residential roads to our (somewhat) snowy trailhead.
Bush Whack Skinning
The fire road towards the gun mount was covered well enough and we cruised along the tracks of some 'bilers until we broke off towards Flagpole. Here's Toby and Chris fighting the alders in the lower sections of the big slide path
Toby Feels the Wounds of War
Emerging from the forest of ground anchored, spring loaded whipping sticks, Toby and Chris were ready for the open and spacious upper gully.
Chris and his Split above the Slide Path
Chris pauses for a breather just above the BIG rock near the bottom of the upper gully. Chris is a big advocate in the split board community. Here you get a good view of his set up for skinning. Anyone who says the descent is compromised on split gear should first see Chris rip a few lines. Below him is the lower section of the slide path and our skin track. Flagpole has one of the larger slide paths from top to bottom on the south shore.
Blue Sky, Wavy Branches, Hungry Squirrel and Big Blue
This little dude had better pack some nuts before it's all buried. These two old growth trees have seen some weather. Sheared off by heavy winds, they also have a nice view to the north.
Yes, He is on the Skin Track
Near the summit, the boulders and little trees made for a few tight spots. Toby broke trail all the way up. He liked this spot so much, he came back for seconds......this pinch zone was not a problem for Buddy.
We didn't actually touch the summit. The minimal snow coverage and big boulders were sure signs that invisible and deep hollow spots were lurking to swallow any backcountry skiers who dared to scale to the pole. We hung on some sunny south facing boulders less than 20' from the summit. The day was beautiful; crystal clear, not a breath of wind, very comfortable and vast views.
Pictures from the top of Flagpole:
Echo Peak and Mt. Tallac
Looking north towards Echo Peak on the left and Mt. Tallac on the right, beyond.
Toby and Buddy off the Top
I made the first turns of the day down a little line of boulders. The week old snow was consolidated, but dry on the northeast aspects. Toby and Buddy followed, on a line to the right of mine. Here they are just below the main summit blocks of Flagpole.
The skiing was great on the top 1/3 of the peak. Here's Toby heading into the trees, with Buddy in tow.
Toby heads into the Trees
I stayed where I was to snap a few pictures of Chris making his first "real" turns of the '04 / '05 year. He chose a bold line considering the early season conditions. But, he came through free of rock carnage, so it was a wise choice.
Chris off the top of Flagpole
Chris setting up for the Boulder
Unfortunately my camera ran out of memory just before Chris busted off the boulder directly below him.
The snow in the middle third of the mountain was a bit thicker. In one section the pinwheels were stealing all the fresh tracks with their direct fall line pursuit. But the snow was always fun and bouncy. The boulder terrain and many features of Flagpole made for a fantastic ski.
The timing on my stills wasn't perfect on this day. Here's Chris just before and just after he airs another nice pillowy boulder.
But I got some funky abstract out of focus pictures of him as he mowed the pow all around me.
Afterall, it is still Early November
We had to part ways after the first run. I had fatherly duties awaiting me, so I finished off the lower 1/3 on my own. Toby, Chris and Buddy skinned back up for another lap. The snow was definitely manky down low, and in some places non existent. All in all it was a sweet day of fun turns. We never saw a sign of other tracks anywhere on the mountain, dare we claim the first descent of Flagpole for the year?
I spent a lot of time filming Chris and Toby with Chris's digital video camera. Chris put together a great little mini video of our day. You can check it out at his site www.splitboard.com, or you can go right to his video Here.
Click Below for Additional Flagpole Images:
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