with bad photos …

The winter of 81/82 set a few records in the Donner Pass region (and elsewhere as well).
Nothing like being out in the middle of a record.

In the Tahoe Sierra, that coastal downpour translated into a major blizzard in the higher elevations where more than 10 feet of snow incapacitated New Year’s holiday travelers around Lake Tahoe and set new snowfall records. It is still considered one of the most intense weather systems to ever strike the San Francisco Bay Area in terms of damage and casualties.

The unprecedented squall quickly surged into the Sierra where arctic air infiltrated the storm track and snow levels plummeted below 1,500 feet. In the mountains, temperatures first fell into the single digits and then plunged to well below zero. Blizzard conditions plagued Lake Tahoe where gusty winds whipped the crystalline snowflakes into near zero visibility. It was a stark contrast from the year before when Donner Pass had only 8 inches of snow on the same date.

Snow accumulations increased into the 10- to 13-foot range. More than 100 avalanches were set intentionally at resorts and along mountain highways that weekend by ski patrollers using control guns and hand-thrown dynamite charges. Westbound Interstate-80 was shut down due to whiteout conditions and an 18-car pileup near Donner Summit. Highway 50 closed due to avalanche hazards, as did Mount Rose Highway. Snow slides also blocked the main road into Olympic Valley and on Highway 89 north of Tahoe City at Big Chief and Alpine Meadows Road.

As I recall, Norden had over 800″ of snow that season

Once upon a time when I was young(er) and still indestructible, a group of us from Reno – 2 couples and three single guys (well, 5 guys but two brought their girlfriends along) – decided to spend New Years snowshoeing up into the back country up above Donner Pass. New Years was on a weekend that year. We parked somewhere near Norden, then still an active railroad town (on the original Transcontinental Route); it’s not like we left the vehicles in the boonies.

Norden sits at 6900 feet. We were going higher; we were getting higher.

I forget where we were headed; a rescue shed someplace.
Looking at a modern map, I still can’t be sure but somewhere around what’s now labeled “Lola’s Lookout” seems about right. A bit over two miles as the crow flies.

Seems easy enough. So let’s do it on snowshoes in heavy snow and along a semi-marked trail … when many of the markers are buried in snow. And a storm coming in.
No one does this in winter …

We equipped ourselves and put on snowshoes before we hit the snow.
It was only going to be a couple of miles to the cabin where we would spend the night.

The day started sunny. We headed across Summit Valley and across the Yuba River following a road.
The road was under that snow someplace but the bridge across the river was easily detected.

Then it’s off we go, trudging across the tundra, mile after mile, into the high Sierra.

A pleasant little hike through the woods …

Up the hill, down the dale

And the skies darkened. And a few were getting tired.

We needed to follow that stretch between the hillside and trees.

Avalanche? What avalanche? But we did spread out.

Almost there

At the top. Taking a break. Not too far from our destination. Something around 8000 feet.

I can’t find the photo but of the two story rescue shed with loft, we had to dig down to what would be the escape hatch on the 3rd story. Likely close to 20 foot of snow here.

We all got crawled in and settled in for a fine dinner.

It snowed some more that night. It got a might chilly.
All right – it was friggin cold out.

Our overnight journey turned into 3 days but there was no problem getting back and it was a weekend. Except it was on snowshoes in fresh deeper snow.

And I had run out of film.

Another day might have been a problem.

But all in all, a good time. Plenty of firewood, a good time to be a couple, even if only for the night. For the two couples that were with us.

As I’ve said before and undoubtedly will say again:

“An adventure is something you don’t want to be doing at the time you’re doing it – but makes for great memories.“

Even bad photos are better than no photos for stirring up memories.
And memories are sometimes enough; never did anything like that again.

what the hell were we doing cutting across an avalanche slope during extreme avalanche weather???