February 26, 2005
Mt. Tallac - Babycham
Joe, Chris, Drew
Hacking my way down the lower section of Babycham. The upper third is not visible behind the left side cliffs.
I've been wanting to ski this one for quite a while. A trip up Tallac on January 15th had given me the opportunity to scout the hidden line. After hearing Toby's favorable report from skiing the long and snaking line a few weeks earlier, all's I needed was the right opportunity. Chris shared my desires, so we were both down for an attempt on Saturday. So along with Drew from Lake Placid, NY (who had never skied a chute until this day!) we set out to see about Babycham.
An otherwise beautiful Tahoe day was marred by a nasty chest cold that was making it's self comfortable in the bottom of my lungs. I lagged far behind on the skin track, trailing Chris and Drew by a large margin. It was wearing and the slog felt eternal; an exaggerated effort in suffer management. However, the thought of the descent still seemed worthy. As I made my way up the lower slopes of North Bowl, Chris and Drew were on the ridge above me preparing to drop down North Bowl for a series of arcs in the sweet and light dry powder. It was one of the only times I had seen North Bowl in such pristine condition and not hammered by the usual east winds. I filmed there savory turns and wished I had the energy to have joined them. I scooted on up to the summit to rest thy weary body and soak up some sunshine with an incomparable view. Shortly behind me Chris and Drew arrived.
The View The Crew
We snacked, recuperated and gathered gear - with Babycham in mind the whole time. Just before heading down off the top, Chris got busy calling his wife to let her know where he was (like she would believe he was anywhere other than the mountains on a Saturday in February!)
In order to gain the entry to Babycham, we had to descend the skier's left entry of the upper cross, then make a hard traverse under a cliff band to the little saddle with the couple of dead trees and a cool rock spire - the entry to Babycham.
Drew dropping into the upper Cross: Drew heading towards Babycham entry:
This is where we were headed.......(reference picture taken on 1/15/05):
It was quite a rush just skiing up to the notch in that rugged and rocky ridge line. Those brief seconds just before you peer into a wild and unseen line for the first time.....when you're wondering just how scary it's going to look, whether it's within your ability, whether you'll commit or retreat.....those moments are timeless and precious all at once. Then, simultaneously, you look down the chute and within your soul and decide rather quickly if your fate lies below you or behind you. Immediately I knew my fate lie directly below:
Looking down Babycham from the top: Cool Rock Spire at the top:
Chris joined me next on the ridge to peer down the throat of this dragon. He had one hand on my shoulder and a boyish grin on his face. He also was definitely "in". Drew came next. The guy from the 'Dacks in New York had never skied a real chute before this day. Understandably he was a bit spooked at the objective below, but never wavered from our decision to give it a go.
Although we could not see around the dog leg, I felt good about the line and volunteered to go first. I decided I would ski down to the dog leg and report back to the guys upon my findings of the lower section. Chris filmed while Drew shot pictures as I slipped through the narrow and steep entry into the "wider" yet still STEEP upper section. The chute was filled with 6" - 12" of soft powder over a firm and runnelled base. I tested the stability with several ski cuts and felt confident it would not slide as a slab. With that being said, it was a serious challenge to manage the slough as it poured down all around me. I would shoot towards the cliff walls from time to time to avoid being too heavily weighed down with the waterfall of loose snow. I made several turns free of any grace and eventually stopped down at the dog leg. I was able to ski far enough out of the fall line to feel comfortable with Chris joining me in the chute......besides I had a killer angle to film his descent of the upper section. I also took a few pictures of my tracks above me, and the remaining and ever steepening line below.
From halfway, looking down: From halfway, looking back up:
Chris made a number of absolutely sweet turns in the steep and narrow upper confines. His slough was outrageous, but he managed it like a champ. He joined me in the middle briefly and then proudly took first tracks down the lower section. Babycham is unique in that the crux of the chute is at the bottom. The chute gets steeper and tighter as you near the bottom, terminating below a rock filled choke and amongst a couple of giant shark fin rocks ready to tear up any would-be tumbler from above. After Chris finished his descent, I called up to Drew that I felt more comfortable finishing my line before he descended. I made a few decent turns above the choke, but then resorted to the side slip technique through the choke followed by a free fall of a hop over the rock in the middle of the choke. Below the choke I still had to keep my guard up to make a few decent turns around the giant shark fin rocks. Once down and out of the way, I turned back to take pictures of Drew's descent.
Here are several shots of Drew getting down the lower section after I skied through:
Views from Below:
And a view from a bit lower, hard to believe there's a line in there from this angle:
After a bit of revelry and celebration, we were psyched to open it up a bit in the sweet powder down to the bottom of the mountain. We took lots of pictures and shot lots of video. Here's a sample of the high times we enjoyed.
Chris:
Drew:
The lone AT skier:
Chris lines up a tough little off camber line:
and Nails it:
One more last little pitch and we were done. Chris and Drew continued on to take a 2nd lap. Nasty cold and flu symptoms kept me from enjoying another one, so I went home to nurse my hacking and wheezing respiratory system back to health.
I was quite thrilled to have skied down a line I've eyed for many years. The only place I know of where you can see a bit of the line is Baldwin Beach. I used to sit in the warm sand while the girls played in the water, looking up there wondering if that line goes. Now I'll look up there from the sandy shore knowing just how it does go.
Click this link to check out another one of Chris's amazing videos with plenty of footage from this sweet day:
Click below to see another Tallac trip report from earlier in the year:
Skiing Corn on the South Ramp of Tallac - 12/11/04