June 1, 2008, 4 of July Chutes

The original plan was to meet up with my friend Cody to do some mountain biking, but after he couldn't get his bike to work properly he had to bail on me. Being left alone in Tahoe City with nothing to do I came up with the idea of checking to see if the 4th of July chutes in Blackwood Canyon would be skiable. I drove down there only to find the forest service gate closed. I was determined to find out though so since I had my bike with me I loaded my backpack with only the necessary ski gear and started pedaling down the road. It was a little weird at first biking with a heavy pack on, but I got used to it after about the third mile. It took about an hour and a half to pedal the 8 miles and 1100 feet to the snowline. From there I opted to keep my shoes on since the snow was fairly firm and made it to the top about two and half hours after leaving the car. Looking down into the chute I started to pshcye myself out a little and quickly put my boots on and clicked into my skis. The first turn was a little weird due to the wet sluff that I was creating, but as I skied down the snow became much better. Skied 1000 feet of really good corn back to the bike and descended the last 1100 feet back to the car really quickly on my trusty aluminum steed. Really glad I ventured out there and got my first turns of June.