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A Few Good Lines | Mount Tallac, Lake Tahoe, CA United States | 02/03/09, by Dark Star

Trip Report:  Mt Tallac 1/27 and 1/28/09.  Isn't it great to get dumped on? We've been having an ok season out here in Tahoe, but truth be told we really haven't seen the big one yet. Nevertheless, last week dropped up to two feet above 8000' feet, so at least some of our higher terrain got a good blanket.
Enter Mt. Tallac.  Even though Lake Tahoe is blessed with a plethora of great peaks to ski, it's easy to put Tallac at the top of the list. With the terrain of six ski areas packed into one, you can always find a new way to descend the mountain. Most riders descend the huge wide open north bowl, which leads down to a great pitch of N-NE facing trees. The run is about 3000 vertical feet and provides some of the most magnificent views of the Tahoe Basin.

This past week, after snow conditions stabilized from the recent storm, a couple of friends and I decided to check out some of the more interesting terrain Tallac has to offer. Tuesday brought the first clear day in the last several and as we headed up, our first potential line into came into view.

We stopped. We stared. We talked. Although all of us could see how we'd ski the line, it just seemed "too early" to ski it.  Jeff asked me what I thought, after perfectly describing how we would descend it, and I spoke from my gut. "I see it, but if we hit something before we cut over that 100 foot closeout cliff...yeah, that just doesn't sound that good." So we kept moving, gradually cresting Tallac's north bowl and summit.

The views from the top of Tallac are just simply amazing. Desolation Wilderness stretches to the west, Lake Tahoe shimmers under a mellow winter sun, and all the new snow covers peaks as far as the eye can see. This view can really be so relaxing; at least until you take a look down the "cross."
The cross is the prominent landmark in Tahoe. North, South, East or West Shore.  People will tell you it's one of the area's most beloved natural formations and its snow usually lasting well into summer.
In addition to its aesthetic beauty, the cross offers backcountry riders a chance to bag a classic couloir. There are two entrances and although the easier riders left entrance may have been more smooth, our group decided to go at it from the top.
After dropping in, we had to billy-goat through the top two rocks seen in the photo, which left us in a tube that was almost too tight to turn. The couloir gradually opened up though, and after a sphincter-clenching descent, we enjoyed some great steep turns with a side order of pow. For dessert, we savored smooth creamy fresh all the way out.
That night, while reflecting on how fun it was to ski the cross again, I decided to ask Jeff if he wanted to ski that first line we had been talking about in the morning. Of course he was down, and we started the morning of the 28th much like the day before. This time, although still somewhat intimidated, I had a good feeling about our choice. The line looked great as we scoped it one last time before heading to the top.

I must have stared down the slope for a solid 20 minutes, taking in every angle; visualizing every turn. I'd been looking at this thing since my first trip up Tallac in 2003. Jeff said he'd been looking at it for over a decade. But I needed to absorb every detail before descending. 

Unfortunately, there was just one small section that we actually couldn't see. Sounds ridiculous, but we were just never sure that we wouldn't strand ourselves on a hanging face with a huge cliff below and no way to traverse into the "safety" of the central couloir.  Is there anything in life that you can be totally sure about?  We took the chance.

In reality, the line skied smoothly and was relatively safe, and the whole big cliff exposure thing made it just a little more spicy. The hanging snowfield was a field of fresh snow, the traverse was only mildly sketchy and once we found the entrance to the central couloir, all was good.

The central chute was nicely walled, great lake views, and surprise, surprise, full of deep fresh turns.

Hootin' and hollerin', we skied another couple thousand feet of great snow in the California sun, stoked to find a few good lines right in our own backyard.